The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Sand blasters ??

Has anyone had any luck with sandblasters? my buddy bought one of the tank type blasters from a big box . we filled it with sand (recommended by the sand guy) and put some air to it (a 2hp 30 gal 6.5 cfm @ 40 psi) It blasts then if you stop it clogs and you have to empty and restart. What do you think we are doing wrong? Or is this just not the right equipment.? we are in fla and the humidity is usually 75% or higher could it be damp.

You definitely have to use dry air. You at a minimum need a moisture separator in your compressor discharge. A refrigerated dryer would be even better.

I have a small sandblast gun I got from Grizzly Industrial, and it works fairly well. It's a small job unit though. It recommends a compressor that will put out 11 cfm.

South Florida. There's your trouble. Too humid on the best days.
You don't have enough compressor either.
Save yourself a lot of grief and find an affordable sandblasting shop.
I have gone through what you are trying to do, and I like to do it all myself, but I don't do any more sandblasting any more.

52Carl has, for once spoken the truth.
I HAD one of those pressure tank set ups from Tractor Supply, which is what most sale these days, and after I finished blasting my chassis i sold it for $100 to an unsuspecting guy. If it won't go in my bead blaster never again will I do it myself. The money to buy the tank/set up, then the sand, is a total waste of money.....but if you have a lot of blasting to do on small to medium parts, buy you a blasting cabinet and it will pay its way. I purchased a Skat Blast cabinet in 2001 and it still works great and I've blasted enough small stuff for folks to pay for it.............save your money, save your lungs, and save the stress.......just my two cents.

....example, just took the truck lid off my 50 coupe and had a fellow set up professionally to do it, and for 50 bucks left it one morning and picked it up that afternoon. Best money I ever spent.

What the heck, Alvin?! I will ask you just like I have asked many others. When have I ever lied to you? (Misled with malicious intent does not count.)
Carl

Agree, not near enough compressor for sandblasting. A few questions about the pot itself: does it have both a air and sand control valve PLUS a bypass air hose from the air inlet line to the sand discharge valve. For small home jobs there is a moisture filter that uses a roll of toilet paper which lasts around 30 minutes in 80% humidity ( in Texas we call it the "Houston" filter). Have a case of TP on hand and change at first sign of spitting/clogging. Our big 240cfm compressor with a John Deere diesel engine has a baffled water separator first in the discharge line followed by an air to air separator which is followed by an air to water cooler/separator. We STILL get clogging at 85% and above humidity. As one of the guys said, "If your compressor is pumping water things are going to get wet". I'd bet this also applies to Florida.

With all respect due to Evan, I have to agree with Carl and Alvin. One of the best things I ever did was get rid of my pressure pot sand blaster. I'm with Alvin -- if it doesn't fit in the blast cabinet, I pay someone else to do it. If you don't have a professional set up (ginormous compressor and water filters/separators sufficient for the task), it's just an exercise in frustration.

I gave away a couple pressure pot sand blasters on Craigslist (I did not feel right about trying to sell them).

I kept, and used/use:
- a pressure-tank soda blaster (I gave it to a friend when I moved from NY)
- a nice Skat- Blast cabinet, using a mix of glass media and aluminum-oxide media, and an air cleaner/filter

Thanks for all the in put . It sort of follows all the product reviews online. A lotta air low humidity. But since I am into self abuse I brought the thing home and am gona put some fine dry sand in it and give it a try.My buddy hopes it will work so we can do his frame and rear end. His wife is happy its outa the garage. Backup is I found a local guy with a big professional rig that can come to the house.

The problem is water collects at the bottom of the air hose where the sand is introduced...as soon as you stop blasting for any reason the sand gravity feeds into the hose and forms a wet plug.

I have a water separate right at the sand hopper, as well as at the compressor. My poor man's air dryer is 6 vertical sections of 3/4" copper tubing mounted on the wall making the air go up and down and back up again. I installed a 12" dirt leg on each air up leg with a valve at the bottom of the dirt leg, It's amazing how much water I blow out when I crack the valves open. If I do this set up again I'm going to use copper fin tube pipe (hot water heating pipe) as it has the alum fins and will help condense the water even better that the bare tubing.

If your sand gets wet, spread it out on a sheet of plastic on a hot driveway and mother nature will dry it out for re-use later.

If your sand is pulsating out the tip you need to restrict the sand flow a little bit, as your trying to flow to much sand.

Mike B

That aftercooler setup is a good idea. A friend did a similar thing. I had a spare finned tube section that I gave him to use. Saw a video of a guy who welded up a 4 stage water to air condenser setup that probably worked awesome, but he spent days and $$ building it. It had two tubes inside a water jacket for each stage. Total overkill.