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sandblasters

ryoken

ryoken

Puppy Fabricator
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Ok, I'm quite versed in the use.. Used to run a thousand pound Titan unit restoing the mixers, etc and have rented a few 200 lbers from the rental place over the years... Which no rental place around here seem to carry anymore... :( I've also used the dinky handhelds too..

My question is, has anyone bought and using one in the 60 lb range? Just looking to do medium sized projects, partial floors, a dif here or there, etc...

I have a decent oilless 60 gallon upright compressor that seems to put out plenty for any of my air tools and a straight thru, brakeline blowgun can run for quite some time before losing pressure.. Will this be sufficent or am i looking at tag-along compressor action?

And have the cheapie units performed ok? I'm guessing a Harbor Freight may be much cheaper than some name brand... Any recomendations are appreciated.. :D
 
I have a 20 lb. one from Northern tool and I honestly think it is the exact same one Harbor Freight sells but $20 more. It works well enough for my purposes. I used to have a suction type craftsman one but it sucked so I sold it and bought the pressurized one and its much nicer. My compressor doesnt even come close to keeping up with it though, but its really old. The only problem I've had is the valve fitting on the end of the hose broke prety soon after I got it. When I say broke a random piece just fell off the side of the valve and made it useless. It is a standard plumbing size though so a quick trip to the hardware store and I was back in business.
 
Here's my simple little unit. Sorry I don't know the brand I borrowed it from work. It works really well for little stuff. I used it to blast the rust on the body and some parts. You can change out the tip for more or less or a direct spray. I have no complaints with it.

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I have a friend of mine that bought a Harbor Freight cheapy model sand blaster, and the tank exploded the first time he aired it up. He is lucky he did not get hurt. He returned for another one, and has not had a problem with it since.
 
1-ton said:
I have a friend of mine that bought a Harbor Freight cheapy model sand blaster, and the tank exploded the first time he aired it up. He is lucky he did not get hurt. He returned for another one, and has not had a problem with it since.
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wow, scary :eek1:

Rob, think thats the one i'm gonna go with.. price is certainly right.... :wink1:
 
Pressure fed best....

I have used a 100lb sandblaster before at the junkyard on antique car restorations..they had 2 of them,(ALC brand "Sand Jet")
..the siphon feed was way slower,clogged a lot and wasted time..the pressure fed one worked slick,as long as you screened the sand thru an old window screen,and made sure it was dry..

You need a big compressor..a 5hp or larger with at least 9 CFM at 90-125 psi,and a 60-80 gallon tank is best....smaller blasters like hand held ones will work with less pressure and volume ok..never tried one of those "flea market" small pressurized units yet,I'd like to own one,but the look cheesy and I bet tips and parts are impossible to get..

My co-worker at the boneyard made his own sandblaster out of a 100lb propane bottle..he cut the top off with a sawsall,inverted it,and welded it back on,and he cut a 4" hole in the top to fill it with sand,used a chevy SB water pump pulley ,sealed with an "O" ring to hold the pressure in,and added a handle..he added bungs and valves,hoses and tips, just like our factory built one had..basically he copied that one,and his worked just as good as the factory one did!..only cost him about 30 bucks for ball valves,a hose and some tips..:bow:
 
The 1000 lb Titan I used to use on mixers, etc that I mentioned up top was a scary unit... I can't even find a picture of anything remotely like it online.. Like holding a firehose i suppose..

The smaller guys at the shop couldn't use it cause it would push them around... It would cut cinderblocks in 1/2 in seconds.. Had one guy blast right thru the toe of his workboot... :eek1:

We had an IR tag-along compressor that was about 15 long and $30,000 dedicated to it...

Even with that, you where still talking about a 10 hr day doing a mixer.. If it wasn't deadly for you, it would be fun... Thankfully, we had an air supplied system, but it was still a darn dirty day... :wink1:
 
big rigs are scary!....

I once worked a few days for a local sandblasting guy related to the junkyard owners worked at...I had to stand gaurd at the compressor,which was a 460 Ford engine,with a special cylinder head on one side..it put out over 100 CFM,more than those tow behind compressors on a trailer!..it used a lot of oil,I had to watch the oil pressure gauge like a hawk,and either dump in another 3 quarts of oil every 20 minutes,or shut it down!..also had to smack the govenor,if the engine started racing!..it was a worn out POS,but it sure pumped some air!..

They were sandblasting a warehouse building interior that was gutted by a fire..I saw them using the hose,which was about 1-1/2" in diameter,to sandblast charred beams and posts that were at least 12"X12" ...a few seconds of blasting,and they were 6x10's!.(or LESS!)..I've never seen anything eat wood faster,not even a saw!...the workers looked like scuba divers in those full body suits!..they said sand STILL got inside,even in their butt cracks,despite all the clothing and taping the seams up!...

The owner of the company said one kid he hired ruined a Ford truck frame a customer wanted blasted..didn't keep the hose moving,and it wore a spot in the frame paper thin!..but it wasn't rusty anynmore...:p:
 
haha, good stuff! funny :D

We have a few guys doing boat bottoms in the marinas with pretty nice rigs on big flatbeds... hehe, you can imagine how easy it would be to blast thru gel and fiberglass...

The biggest trip about the mixers was when you where blasting them, painting, etc, you had to run the barrel... always kinda funny when you where painting em. You'd run plastic exhaust out the door, midspray you'd be jumping in and starting it up, get it spinning the right speed, etc, it really was quite comical now that i look back..

I do remember one time we where blasting one, had the barrel spinning, redirected the blast nozzle onto a metal hydraulic line, had some thin area from corrosion, whatever, popped a hole in it and had hydro spraying out about 30' in the air! getting on the freshly blasted steel too, haha, that sucked!

i miss those days tho... greatest job i ever had.. It was like school, learned a ton there... my boss would laugh cuz i'd show up to work an hr and a 1/2 early every day.... :haha:
 
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