The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest HF pressurized sand blaster

Hi All,

Well I just purchased a HF 40lb sand blaster and I also bought Black Beauty blasting sand from TSC. I tried it out for the first time tonight and it worked very well for about 10 seconds and then I am assuming it got clogged. Very little air was coming out of the nozzle. I took it apart but it did not seem too clogged. Anyone have experience with this blaster or suggestions to make it work correctly? I had a siphon blaster before which was horrible, I thought this pressurized type would be great.
thanks,
skipper

HF tools are notoriously poor quality and pressure blasters are notoriously temperamental. Put the two together and... well, you know. I bought a small cabinet blaster from HF and had to re-engineer the POS to get it to work... but it was inexpensive as well as cheap.

I used a syphon blaster and it worked well... a little slow but it didn't clog much and when it did I just held my finger over the nozzle and gave it a blast to clear the obstruction.

Sounds to me like the trigger mechanism is defective if no air is coming through. Take all the blasting media out of it and try it like that. If no air comes through take it back and get your money back.

Good luck.

Yep, tried them all. Best bet is to take that piece of crap back to HF and get your money back.
They load up at the bottom and you have to keep pulling it apart to get it unclogged. Then the guns wear out the rubber stop pad about every hour of blasting and the nozzles don’t last long at all either. .
Amateur equipment produces amateur results. Got stuck with one of their bench top sand blast cabinets also, another piece of crap. Leaks like a sieve, sand won’t drain back to the bottom, no light so you can’t see what your doing, plastic lens frosts up after a few minutes of blasting, ruined two vacuum cleaners, need I go on!
Last year on someone’s advice from the forum, I bought a Clarke 90# gravity feed abrasive blaster on wheels from TSC, it was pretty cheap so I thought I’d try it also. But, I’ve been so disgusted with the whole open-air sand blasting issue that I haven’t had a chance to make a mess with that siphon bucket.
I’m at the point that I’m convinced that, for the initial expense, the time involved and the mess that it makes of your yard, house and shop it just isn’t worth it for large items and I’ll probably bite the bullet and take any big blasting up to the sand blaster guy on the north side of town.
Since I sold my airplanes and a lot of my antique radio collection I’ve now scraped up enough moolah for a 48x36x36 blast cabinet from TP Tools. I plan to add the optional extension door for an additional 16” to the width and if they don’t make one for the other side I can fab one for that. That means I could get the axles in to blast, fenders and doors also. This one also comes with a real honest to god dedicated dust collector for all day cabinet blasting. At that point I will be able to do any thing up to a cab, box, hood or frame, which I’ll job out while I go out for breakfast. So that’s my take on this whole sand blast issue.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

My take on sandblasting........Let someone else do it.....Blaster, cabinet, compressor all equals mess. Find yourself a blaster, my guy uses a single block garage or a monument company and have them blast your part. My two pennies.....Have fun and good luck
Dan

I know HF equipment is hit or miss but I thought I read on other forums of how well the pressurized blasting guns worked. I guess you get what you pay for. The actual gun-handle does look real cheap maybe I can get a better one.

skipper

I agree with Chev4t6 almost anything larger than a blast cabinet is a huge mess.Keep it far away from everything you want to keep clean the dust gets everywhere.I have a blast cabinet with a vacuum that keeps it in control.
Another thing to do is have a very good water separator and filter to keep the air clean.
My local sandblasting guy CMC blasting is faster and cheaper than me doing the big jobs.My rule is if it fit's in my cabinet I will do it the rest is his to do .
To do the big jobs requires industrial equipment .It's faster work's like it is suppose to .Bottom line is you pay for what you get.

I seen where a guy made a large blast cabinet out of a truck cab. The rubber clove(arms) went through the firewall. The windshield was to view through. And the doors opened wide to take parts in and out. I thought it was kind of a neat idea.

Hey RC356, I think I can help Ya!

I have a larger blaster, (90 pound) that I bought from HF years ago and have used quite a bit on small projects.

My school of hard knocks has taught me the following:

Always sift and screen the media before putting it in the blaster. Even if it is new media. I made a screen out of material used for screen doors / windows. I stretch this over a funnel and pour the media through it. The better you screen and sift the less clogging you will have.

Use a good moisture eliminater filter. This is much more important if you live in a humid climate or if it is humid the day you blast.

Never fill the blaster more than half full with media.
If it clogs and stops working, turn off the valves, relieve the pressure.
Lay the blaster on its side, remove the fill cap.
Open the valve on the handle and using an air nozzle with a rubber tip blow air back through the sandblaster nozzle (in the opposite direction of the normal flow) to remove any clogs.

Use a 20 ft square plastic tarp on the ground and blast above it. I reuse the media (3) times using the screen and sift method discussed above.

This works, sure it takes some patience and attention to detail, but it works.

i wish i had a cabinet, but i am to tight to lay down the money for it.

I hope this helps and good luck!

I've had one of the HF 40 lb. blasters for 12 years, it works ok if you shake it often on high humidity days. It still goes through the sand really quick and blasting is a lot of work. Moisture is the enemy, I recently bought a 15 lb. soda blaster and it's even more susceptible to moisture.
If you want to do a lot of blasting, get a BIG compressor and 10 times more filtering than you think you'll ever need.
I also have a very old blast cabinet that I couldn't live without. I clean all my parts that way.

I found that a larger tip is needed with black beauty media (compared to most silica/sand). My original 40 lb and present 90 lb Harbor Freight pressure blasters worked/work fine.

Moisture is no longer a problem after I set up long lines of black pipe and have "vertical take offs" for tools, as shown in the TP Tools Air Line Installation instructions and diagram.

Wow, volumes have been written on this. I'm with a couple of you guys. Denny is right on. I bought the 90lb TSC blaster. Spent $225 for it plus about 400 lbs of sand on my bad chassis.

Let me shorten this story. I sold the blaster to a friend for $100. I was tired of unclogging it and I did use "sized" sand specially for blasting. The Black Diamond is waaaaay to expensive.
Denny, I bought a TP Tool Skat Blast cabinet 46 wide by 26 high and 26 deep back in 2001. Best dang money I ever spent. I use it a LOT. Just about everything goes in it. Buy the carbide nozzles and you will not be sorry. Ceramics are not bad but Carbide last a lot longer so not as many changes. I do wish I had got the extension....and can still add it.

MY biggerst problem was not being able to dry the air like I should. BUT, a wise man will take the BIG stuff to the pros with a big hose/air supply.Get the job done and move on. YOu will save money in the long run....and time.

The guy with the cab blasting cabinet is "Dakota". I have some pics of it and its pretty cool.

Yeah, Mike is rather innovative isn't he. I like his motorize workbench also. He certainly subscribes to the old saying I have over my work bench; "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
A half dozen more console radios and I may just have room for that blaster Alvin. Every place I've ever worked at has had a blast cabinet so I've not needed one till I retired. I've spent many, a lunch hour standing in front of the blast cabinet.
I'm planning on putting a 10x10 lean-to up at the corner of the barn just to do the dirty work in. Things like grinding, wire brushing, buffing and there is still a need to do a little open blasting on occasion but the big jobs are gong to the Sand Blast guy. I figure since I'm not looking for show quality paint jobs that I can even wet the shed down and shoot some paint in there also. I'd really like to get that mess out of the shop.
Gotta go in now and make the deviled eggs and Rutabaga for dinner. Happy thanks giving all.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I also found that a larger tip with this pressure blaster is required. So I changed the entire set up. With a quality arrangement from I copied from a more expensive blaster. Works well now. But I went through the same frustration.

Black Beauty is all I use to blast with, I use a pressure pot usually run 1.5 bags (75-80LBS) at a time in my driveway...when I run out I sweep it, sift it and re-use it, 3 times MAX. have had great luck. I dont know what brand it is I bought it used on craigslist for 50 bucks. I put a new gauge on it and a new gun I bought from Norther Tool for 23 bucks. It has interchangeable nozzle tips and what not. I have had great success with this. I think its a 200Lb capacity pot i don't know. The Key to successful blasting is a large capacity 60 GAL plus compressor, HIGH CFMS, DRY DRY DRY AIR...and air tight connections to keep the pressure up in the pot.

here is some pics:

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/Silverado_9c3/My%20project%20Bolt/IMG00065-20101229-1732.jpg


http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/Silverado_9c3/My%20project%20Bolt/IMG00068-20101229-1732.jpg


http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/Silverado_9c3/My%20project%20Bolt/IMG00070-20101229-1733.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/Silverado_9c3/My%20project%20Bolt/IMG00073-20101229-1819.jpg


http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac6/Silverado_9c3/My%20project%20Bolt/garage2.jpg
Some guys don't like the mess....I just love seeing the transformations from crusted and rusted to brand new again! That and the blast shop rate is 125/HR

Tons have been written on this.
I shopped for a long time and found the best deal on a pressurized sand blaster was The Texas Blaster. 350.00 for the blaster at the time. They also carry a cabinet blaster. Next check your air supply. If you are not pushing 15-20 sfm, then you are not doing much. I rented an air compressor and blasted all two days and primed the next. 1000 pounds of sand.
It all gets pretty expensive, so... like the guy said earlier, if you aren't using it often, go have it done.

If I had it to do over again, I would have spent my money on a good cabinet blaster and had someone else do the frame and body.