The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk home sand blasting

I am ready to start work again on my 54 3100 , I am going to need to blast some parts and I have a cheap blaster . I am looking for a cheap media , I wont be able to recover it all due to doing this outside so I am looking for some thing fairly cheap that I can pickup locally and not pay freight on . I have thought about the sand at the local home store but have some concerns about silicosis (sp)
Thanks for the suggestion that I know will come

Black Blast or Black diamond (coal slag) works very well and can be found at hardware stores and farm stores. A respirator and eye protection is a must with any type of abrasive. I will pass olong a tip to you, lay down a peice of plywood under where you are working. This will help on cleanup and even allow you to recycle most of the abrasive media.

Quick54: Last week I bought a 50 pound bag of Black Diamond at Tractor Supply and it was over $6 a bag. I want to try it in my blasting cabinet.
BUT for the outside blasting I go to the concrete supply place. Here it is called Metromont. They run many concrete trucks and sell lot of supplies. There I buy a 100lb bag of BLASTING sand for $6.25 a bag, last August. It is all "sized" and will not clog up as bad as the stuff from Lowes or the local hardward store as theirs is not sized...at least around here it isn't. I blasted my chassis outside last summer and I spread a big piece of plastic under it. I shoveled up what is left and sifted it back through my stainer(a fine screen wire will do) and re-used some of it to blast on the chassis and some of it to use again in my bead blasting cabinet....and as Longbox stated be sure to use a good respirator. The sandblasting hood alone is not sufficient.....I know!!
Hope this helps.

Just sift it through a metal window screen. That's how I do it because there isn't anywhere close by to get sized sand. There's a Home Depot or Lowes in every town so just get Sacrete General Purpose Sand in the white bag. It's dry, cheap, readily available and sifting is fast and easy.

Get a large tarp and you'll be surprised how much you can catch. I blast on the carport and lose about 15-20% which isn't much, IMO.

Oh yea, Get a GOOD respirator or risk serious health issues.

Quick54,
My local monument supplier sells 100lb bags of blasting sand for 6 or 7 $ a bag.
wearing a paper mask under your blastin hood dont hurt either, but it gets hot an sticky fast, Silicosis is a worry but that is after long time exposure, but keepin the grit an dust outta your lungs at any time is best.
Tim

I wouldn't worry too much about black lung (silicosis) studies show it takes repeated exposure over a long period of time to cause damage. If you're really concerned, wear a respirator.
I worked in the foundry industry so I've studied this a bit...
As Proverbs says, all things in moderation. (is that really in the Bible or did I make it up?)
Bluedawg

Black Lung isn't the only concern. Breathing in the fine dust from sandblasting can have any number of effects from temporary discomfort to more serious things depending on the condition and health of your respiratory system.

i use copper slag (black) with a tarp on the ground to recover what i can. nice thing is this stuff is enviromentally safe to whatever the tarp misses it's not a issue. if i have some things that require les agresive media after i first use of the copper slag it's broken down enough to use for sheetmetal at a distance.i have friends that work in the shipyards doing blasting for a living and done wrong you can ruin a piece very quickly because i'm guilty of it!

Its not just the sand, think about breathing all that lead paint dust you just stripped off. If you have children at your home I would not even consider blasting on your own property because of this, unless you have a remote location and there's no danger of it getting in your house or anywhere your kids are going to play.

I do my sandblasting in the alley behind my shop, no need to try to recover any of the media. Blasting sand is cheap and it's not worth the trouble to reclaim it. Another good thing about the alley location, no need to clean up anything, the neighbors 1000 trips a day in and out carry away any dust and the sand fills the ruts pretty well.

Yeah, pretty much ANYTHING in fine dust form you don't want to breath or have a spark around. Aluminum and Magnesium dust is used in explosives. Flour, sand, slag, cotton, anything.
Down in lower SC the local DIXIE CRYSTAL sugar plant exploded recently and killed about a dozen people.

I think I'm going back to the wire brush

I use sized garnet as the dust is kept to a minimal. The finer grade of blast media is recommended. That way you get a lower profile and need less high fill primer. With low pressure sandblasting you can only really do harm to your self, not panels. High pressure blasting can warp thin metal panels if pointed dirctly(90 deg) for too long. Our trucks have real steel.
Wear all the protective gear you can (steelcaps, overalls, gloves, quality repirator if you don,t an air fed hood, eye shield.
Happy blasting

Brendon

i buy the black blast sand at the local lumber yard its cheape and works good

dont get the stuff in your eares i did the first time wont be a secound just try getting that stuff out

32fire2, when you say cheap at the lumber yard what is cheap??
5 bucks a 100 lb bag?? I get the good stuff at the concrete place for 6.25 a 100 lb bag last August.