The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Sand blasting

I currently have an air compressor, 5HP, 30 gallon, 5.7cfm @ 90psi. I would like to be able to do some sandblasting myself. Is my air compressor rated for sand blasting? If so, what exactly do I need to fit it. I would like to blast the frame and maybe some sheet metal.
Thanks in advance!

mummdogg,

I think you are WAYYYYYYY undersized. You would end up being very frustrated with the "wait time" for your little compressor to catch up.

If you can take the big items somewhere to be done, and save your rig for the small items you will be money ahead!


Stuart

Yup. Years ago I got a pressure pot and the 20 gal, 5 hp compressor I've had for years. The idea was to do some sheet metal on a 1931 two door Chevy sedan. Drove me nuts waiting for that compressor to recover. Then the moisture would back up the sandblaster.

This time around, I sent the frame out for sandblasting and powdercoating. $475 total. Well worth it! No mess or hassles for me. Now I've found a place to soda blast my Suburban body for about $500. Some things it just pays to pay for. And I'm the kind of guy who likes to make and fabricate as much as I can!

My compressor is 18.4 @ 175psi with a 80 gal tank, I did my frame with 4-100lb. bags of Black Diamond in a mediun grit. Worked the compressor good, never had to wait on it to build up, but it never shut off, unless I was filling the pot up. If I had it to do over I would send it out to get blasted, then do the fab work myself. I am not a big fan of powder coat, looks super, but I have welded on to many race car chassis that were coated and clean up is a hassle and that melted coating sricks to your skin and burns. A lot of local government's wont allow you to sand blast around your home shop, dust and lead pollution you know. The old paints had lead in them and if they test and find lead you will have a expensive clean up.

It's definately worth it to have someone else do the blasting. 'round where I live you got two choices- the headstone guys have a sandblasting booth and charge by the hour in 15 minute minimums. The other option is a guy who does portable blasting- trailers a compressor to your site and blasts for you right there with soda. He'll also do it at his place if you want. The compressor he uses is one of the ones you'd typically see on the side of the road or at a construction site- diesel ingersoll rand turbine I think.

Hey mark do you have the name of the place that is going to soda blast your burb. thanks James

Your reply's are definitly what I wanted to hear! I wanted to weigh out my options, but wasn't sure if the compressor I have would do it. Not doing it a home will make the "Mrs." happy and me too. Not many people here in my area do sandblasting anymore that I'm aware of, maybe some private owners that don't advertise. There were a few but discontinued that service. That's why I was checking to see if I could do it at home. The frame is what I'm mainly concerned with. If a sandblasting facility is located in my area, I'm not quite sure how to take it there. It's a 161" wheel base. I'm sure bolters in here have done it. My daily pickup could pull it but I don't have a hitch. Any suggestions?

http://www.blastingspecialties.com/

I might add that I checked three places, all by phone so far. One place in Upland quoted $1600. One in Whittier quoted about the same. This place, body only, dash, painted surfaces on the interior, all exterior, no flipping the body, $500-600. No doors, hoods, fenders. Not sure if they will fit into the blast cabinet at work or if I'll have them done when I do the body. All soda blasting.

For $1,600 you could buy your own equiptment to do it at home!

Have you tried the headstone companies aka monument companies? They all do sandblasting as part of their daily business.

In regards to the frame- I think the best thing would be to put it on a trailer. You don't want any sandblasting going on with your brakelines, drive shaft, spindles, etc... in the vicinity.

Mumm,
Unless you are trying to blast your frame in one fell swoop you runit is a no go but if you are just trying to clean up some small parts, moldings, or sheet metal areas you cannot get to with a wire wheel or DA, then your compressor, while still undersized, will do the job as long as you are patient. That is the same size unit I have and I have used a siphon blaster off it many times. I do have to wait for it to catch up but it got the job done. If yours is the oil lubed type with the cast iron pump you are good to go. If you have one of the other sytle then do not expect your compressor to last very long. I would sell it and get a oil lubed model. You may even de able to run a small pressurized blasting pot off that compressor but those require more omph to work well than your unit, or mine, can supply.

I have a 20 ga. 5 hp compressor and have tried blasting a few times. Once with a cheap Harbor Freight hand gun wiich did just about nothing. I finally broke down and bought a blast cabinet and put it glass bead to do small parts. Same result, same mess. I'm going back to the wire wheels.

Thanks Mark

I seem to remember reading a couple of years back in one of the hobbiest magazines that sandblasting is not a good idea anyway. The rationale was the blasting would trap small rust particles by peinning the good metal over the rust particles and the rust would just start back up again. Anybody hear of this and what's your take?

Then a while back on the yahoo Locost newsgroup there was a thread about using electrolosis. The rust is turned into a powder and when removed from the water bath you wire brush off the black residue and seal it up before new rust starts. Here's the site about several different methods of rust removal, Electrolysis is in it...
http://www.antiqueautoranch.com/montana500/adrian/rust.html
Just put in google 'Electrolysis rust removal" for a bunch of links. Stovebolt even had a thread on it according to Google.

Stay away from stainless steel electrodes they produces a bad for you gas or sediment (can't remember which).

I've used pool store muriatic acid dilute 5:1 to derust old tools. Have to watch it though and take out when the rust is removed. And then seal it right away before it starts rusting again.

Wade in Florida

now, one good thing i can say about having an undersized compressor is that it makes you go slower.this generally helps to not warp panels because the air pressure is also generally lower than would be desirable.i had been lucky to never warp anything till i got my big 20 cfm @ 90 psi unit.i could see the panel move.i was lucky it wasn't a body panel. tom

In Southern California its MacPherson Sandblasting at 6765 Paramount Bld, Long Beach. 562-808-2260. This is not an advertisement!!! This guy is great!!!!

I researched the topic for some time. One would need a very large compressor and a dryer due to the moisture problems. Unless you live on acreage where you can get away with such things, neighbors aren't going to be too happy about you sandblasting your truck in the driveway. MacPherson has a booth that is so huge he can put the biggest tractor trailer dump bed in the up position no prob. Took my '57 3600 dump there where he blasted the frame, rear bumper, wheels, dump bed (underneath, inside and out) for $300.

Here in Huntington Beach, Ca. where all those car TV shows are turning up, the local sandblaster/powder coater is the biggest &$##@!!!! I ever did meet!!! My neighbor, a SnapOn tool guy whose territory is in Long Beach, hooked me up with MacPherson. He's friendly and knowledgeable. Showed me his booth and the massively huge hoses they use. It's pretty cool.

Look for someone like that in your area. You'll be glad you did.