VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Radios, Tools, Accessories sand blasters

If you where to buy one, what would you get? 100# gravity feed or the 50/60# small pressure type. I cant afford the high dollar ones. Many Thanks Charlie p/s I do plan doing this outside

I have sold tools and sandblasters for years and with out a doubt recommend the pressure type.

If you are talking bead blast cabinets...then the first rule is to never have them outside! The glass beads (or whatever media you use) and moisture do not mix. The cabinet must be kept inside of a moisture free environment where it is dry. The same is true about the sacks of media.......they must be kept dry too.

What kind of cabinet? Well.....it all depends on what your budget can afford, and what size of air compressor that you have. The "Tip" units work fine for a home hobbyist, and they will work with one of those made in China $500 five to six horsepower upright air compressors, because the "Tip" doesn't require a lot of CFM of air. Also, the cheaper units have a filtration system that works like a vacuum cleaner with a dust bag and a five gallon bucket. Again, for a home hobbyist this is fine. You can get these units for around $900 and down.

If you are going to do a lot of bead blasting, and you require a large cabinet, a lot of lighting (my cabinet has 600 Watts of lighting), a lot of CFM (my cabinet came standard with a 3/16" air jet....which requires an air compressor with a minimum of 7.5 horsepower, but a 10 horsepower air compressor is ideal), and a lot of filtration to keep the dust down so that you can see inside, then one of those units is going to cost you around $4,000, and that's without the air compressor. Also, there are a lot of units that you can pick up for around $1,200 to $1,500 as well.......and of course the el cheapo units at $250. It all depends upon what you want. I know fellows that have all ranges of blast cabinets from $250 and up........and whatever the size they are, and whatever they cost........the guys love them!

For an outside sand blast unit, the one that Sears sells (it's a Craftsman) works fine for small stuff, and with that unit you can use it inside or outside. I have one and it works great. I think it cost around $75 with the hood and cape. It is slow, and it is the syphon type but it does the job, and it will work with a smaller air compressor as well. However, for maximum output you should use a five horsepower compressor. With this type of smaller outside blasting unit, the pressure type is better than the syphon. Plan on buying lots and lots of media though because these little guys really go through the sand.

Should someone says something about the health issue when using sand? :eek: :eek:

What safety items should be used? :confused:

If you getting a cabinet, go for the bigger one! it is not like you are going to buy another one in your lifetime. Iwas given this advice and I was glad someone did. I have a fairly large one, but guess what? It is still to small. As far as sandblasting Gator is correct, wear a mask, plug your ears, wear goggles, heavy gloves and you will still have sand in coming out of every opening of your body for three days after. Silica dust is very nasty stuff, I believe they call it brown lung. Also if sandblasting do it on a cool day, to be honest the next car I am going to pay someone to do it.
John

John is absolutely correct! Bead blast cabinets are like garages...........there is no such thing as one that is too big!!! Bigger is Better!!!

I think most home shops that work on their one car restoreing it in spare time will find that a small pressure sandblaster for yard use is ok, for bodys, frames etc. too large to get into a cabinetIf you are going to do sandblasting , spray painting, I would suggest a supplyed air breathing device and facemask that connect to a air pump in a fresh air area with a 38 foot hose, Eastwood has several for around $500, and the health of your lungs and eyes are worth the price, you will need to take the mask off to smoke a cigarette, but if you still smoke you probably won't buy a the mask anyway. These can be used under a blasting hood and with the coveralls used for spray painting.

For bead blasting small parts a Harbor Freight blasting cabinet around $250 and you can get manifolds, even a 21 inch disk wheel and rims inside. You will need at least a 5hp compressor the Harbor Freight cabinet $250 has lighting and a place to connect your shop vac for dust removal will be adequite for occasional work, ( I compare it favorable with the TIP cabinet that sells for twice the price)unless you are going to do production work.

I agree with John, I found a professional shop that will sand blast an entire car, body ,doors, hood, wheels and trunk for $250 and do a good job not destroy the sheet metal inthe process, check your Thrifty Nickles etc., for a vendor.

I guess JYD probably just drives a car into his cabinet and gets after it! Yeah!

I used to do sand blasting in the yard, until I found out that silica dust can shorten your time with old cars. It wasn't good for neighbors either. :eek:

Now I understand different materials use different blasting materials, plastic beads, walnut shells, glass beads (in different sizes), etc. which is used for what I don't know. :confused:

Which is used on ss? pot metal? :confused:

Can I use my gravity feed, 5hp compressor with these other materials? :confused:

Hey Macky Wacky! You are pretty close! I have bead blasted almost all of the sheet metal on my 1930 sport coupe in my bead blast cabinet! Yep! The only thing that I couldn't get in there so far was the roof sheet metal. Everything else was blasted in the cabinet and it all fit like a dream. So there!! ha ha! :eek: :eek:

Many thanks for the advice. I only have the one truck and the rest of my life to finish it. So I think the small Pressure blaster will do the job. Gave up smoking years ago, Will be sure to watch safety concerns for me and all And the driveway could use the sand

I know what you mean about needing sand in the driveway, I have the same kind of driveway in Comanche County Texas. One of the most important thing about sandblasting with a small pressure blaster I can see is, moisture in the air, it is bad news. use a good water seperator, and the small one that is mounted on my Harbor Freight pressure blaster works ok if the humidity isn't high, try to pick a warm dry day to do blasting. Try to get the valves set to where you get a decent flow of sand ,but don't try to get too much sand flowing, it will cause stoppages. Read the instruction book and try to get the sand flow set on scrap before doing your good parts, it is hard to change the valves after you have the mask and hood and gloves on. This is one reason that I prefer to use the blasting cabinet when the parts will fit inside it. You don't have to worry about a mask and the hood. I think some kind of exhaust vacuum is almost a necessity in order that your vision isn't blocked by dust. , again moisture is bad news.

If I had it to do over I would have invested the money I paid for a small pressure blaster into a larger cabinet and use a professional blasting shop for the frames, doors, hood, trunk and bodys that are too large for the cabinet.
I use several different media for blasting and have considered useing several small bench top cabinets, one for each media for small parts that use walnut hulls, glass beads, or other special stuff. I powder coat some parts and they must be taken down to bare metal before coating them, another reason for a larger cabinet. If you have wood working tools TIP has a kit and you can build the cabinet out of locally purchased plywood at a good savings.

Harbor Freight has a small bench mount bead blast cabinet that is fairly inexpensive. This unit is great for small parts and I believe that you can even get a bare wheel in one as well.

I have seen plans for building your own cabinet out of plywood. If you have the time and want to save money it might be an option. :)

You could sort of make it fit your needs and the area you have for it.

I friend of my son build one and it might not be as pretty as a factory one but it works! :cool2: