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harbor freight sand blaster?

I bought a handheld canister like the HF you posted, I think it was Mac tools been 30 years. It would for awhile then I have to mess with it. I also only had a small 22 gal compressor at the time used a lot of air.

I think the way to go today would soda blast
 
I have the tank-based one and it uses a ton of air. The problem with all cheap units like this is the blast media eats the tip and the ball valves at a rapid pace, so you can't actually turn it off and have to close the supply valve. That said, you'll get hours of use before you need parts, which is already your money's worth.
 
I have a handheld one sort of like that, it has its uses (small parts) but i'd hate to do anything of any size with it.
I use a "Clarke" branded 100 lb pressure pot/tank unit and it does use a lot of air but i have a large compressor that handles it OK. The guns do suck, I tore off the "grip" handle and inserted a ball-valve before the gun to turn it on and off instead. Works much better.
 
I use the tractor supply portable tank model with an 1/8th nozzle but even with 20 cfm at 90psi I could never keep it from clogging with that black diamond stuff they sell. I bought some finer number 4 sand for 4 bucks for 100lbs and haven't clogged since. Works great and so clean
 
Not that you asked me specifically but I get 70 grit silica sand from my local builder supply yard (lumber, tools, etc) and it is about 15 bucks for a 100 lb bag (I think). Wear a mask if you use this as you don't want to breathe the dust. I wear the same one I paint with.
also doesn't hurt to sift this while dumping it into the blaster as you will find bigger chunks sometimes that will plug up the gun.
 
all the places here its either walnut shell $50 for a 10 lb bags
tractor supply is cheap 9 bucks for 50 lbs
 
Kain said:
where did you get the sand from?
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I get mine from a place in Mobile, alabama which supplies the shipyard contractors around here but they also sell to the public. its listed as a "30-60" mesh product and works really good with the smaller setups. I get what you're saying about product availability. we just happen to have a lot of commercial sandblasting around here. it took me a little researching to find the Mobile guys
 
things are hard to come by here to a lot of parts store are out of electic connectors like but connectors and such, also toggle switches
not to mention gaskets. change from the bank is a thing of the past
 
At the junkyard we did a lot of sandblasting of parts on vehicles we restored...we used Black Beauty at first,but it got expensive and made a mess,its slag from chimneys and probably has a ton of carcinogens in it..

We started using "play sand" in 50 lb bags from Lowes or Home Depot ,that was cheaper and seemed to work almost as good,you couldn't re-use it much though because it just turned to dust after one or two uses --we used respirators with that stuff because silicosis is a death sentence..

Towards the end of the run there,we resorted to using sand we'd sweep up off the side of the street in front of the yard--they dump sand and salt on icy roads here in the winter and don't bother to sweep the streets with a street sweeper until the middle of summer--by then,the traffic has ground down the sand fine,almost to the same degree as the play sand we bought,and we just used an old screen from a window over a 5 gallon bucket to sift out the pebbles and other debris..
 
looked on ho,et depot web site and they say $20 min on the play sand.................
 
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Kain said:
looked on ho,et depot web site and they say $20 min on the play sand.................
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So what I would do.. if you have a compressor that'll make around 12 cfm, I would buy the tractor supply pot(much less than what they quoted to blast your headers). The playsand will probably work. Btw I was wrong, the nozzle is actually 5/32. It'll change your life, you will be looking around your shop to find stuff to sandblast
 
i run a HF 20 lb'er.. it does ok.... blasting tests your compressor like nothing else... my 2-stage Quincy does a pretty good job of keeping up with it... i was recently given the 40 lb version, but it needs a couple parts...


edit, and for sand I buy "white sand" from Ace hardware.. not healthy, but it's sifted and consistent.. need to watch many other sands as they will have pebbles, etc...
 
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