Sandblaster?

[MaxKlinger]

I'm thinking about buying a sandblaster for stripping paint, rust, and crap off of my truck. Do any of you guys use a sandblaster? Does anyone have any specific recommendations for what I should get?

[worldsmysterie]

I wouldnt get one with to high PSI. Depending on quality of the metal on your truck. It could damage some of the metal.

[1971fordcustom]

I wouldnt get one with to high PSI. Depending on quality of the metal on your truck. It could damage some of the metal.

Well it can damage the metal if you use the wrong stuff!!

There is ,Glass Beads, Ground Glass, Walnut Shells, Silicon Carbide, Poly Plastic, All that you can use!!! Some stuff is good on steel and other is good for brass or aluminum

Even if you get one with high PSI make sure it has a knob where ya can turn the psi down

[1971ford]

basketcase,
thanks for that link!
i plan on buying that sand blaster soon if it doesnt overwork my compressor.
i have only 8.1 cfm on a 26 gallon tank with max 160psi. will this be to hard for my compressor? i know it says at least 6cfm, but i want to be sure

[71Ford100]

basketcase,
thanks for that link!
i plan on buying that sand blaster soon if it doesnt overwork my compressor.
i have only 8.1 cfm on a 26 gallon tank with max 160psi. will this be to hard for my compressor? i know it says at least 6cfm, but i want to be sure

I think you have kinda sorta the same compressor we have/had. A few simple tricks: put a fan to where it is blowing on your compressor to help keep it cool, give it a rest every once in a while, let the compressor build back up and let it sit and cool off.

[FORDification]

With a sandblaster, you're going to get all kinds of moisture in the lines if you don't rig up some external lines with droplegs to allow the compressed air to cool, which will condense the moisture and allow you to drain it. In other words, do NOT attach your sandblaster directly to the air compressor. Here are a few links to peruse:

http://www.oldsmobility.com/air-compressor-piping.htm
http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22229
http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13431

[1971ford]

that oldmobility link is a little much for me. thats for a shop, im in a little tarp shelter.

[FORDification]

I wrote that tutorial for OLDSmobility after I made the newbie mistake of hooking my blaster directly up to the air compressor....and then having to constantly clean the mud out of my blaster caused from the condensate in the lines mixing with my sand. It might be overkill for your situation, but if you want to learn from my mistakes, don't repeat them. You gotta do what you gotta do.

[1971ford]

is there a way to scale this down ALOT? im really low in room in my garage.
or

so a couple inline driers wont be enough?

thanks

[FORDification]

If you're talking about an in-line water separator...no, they won't be enough. I had two of them at first myself, and it barely made a difference. The air needs time to cool so the water condenses, and the longer lines allow that. With something as air-intensive as sandblasting, you're using up the air a little faster than the compressor can even supply it, so there's very little time for the heated compressed air to cool. And without the extra droplegs, there won't be any way of draining the condensate....it'll find it's way into (and past) the water separators very quickly.

[1971ford]

ok, i guess i wont be getting a sandblaster. oh well.

[basketcase0302]

Ryan,

I can't speak for Keith, but I don't think that he is trying to discourage you. Just as he said, learn from our mistakes. Your sand blaster would still work without all the above mentioned piping, (it would just not be as efficient).

I maintained 4500 PSI IR four stage air compressors on a nuclear submarine for the U.S.Navy, (I do still remember a few "tricks" from there).
As Keith said keep the air cool and moisture free, very important.
You can also do this a couple of other ways:

Volume is your friend here.
Pipe in an additional tank to increase the volume of your air supply. The downside here is waiting for your compressor to "catch-up" or cycle.
Another item, (but costly) that we use for building control air supply is a dehydrator similar to this:
http://www.tcpglobal.com/AutoBodyDepot/ ... IS+080-000
It will cool the air, (but does require daily maintenance).

And also an automatic drain on your tank similar to this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Automatic-Air-Compr ... dZViewItem
We had these on all our compressors in the Navy, (but on a larger scale).
They will aid in keeping the moisture out of the air supply, (not as good as the piping depicted above/but will suffice).

Moisture in the air will drive you crazy while attempting to sandblast!
It plugs the sandblaster nozzles.
It gets on the part you're trying to sandblast, (making it impossible for the beads to perform their function).

Hope this helps.

Jeff

[averagef250]

Get someone else to do it!

I've built and run a lot of blasters. I currently have three, a monster blast cabinet that I use everyday for all kinds of small stuff. A small harbor freight cabinet that I have clean glass bead in for delicate stuff. A large pressure pot setup I custom built powered by a 280 CFM ingersol diesel and supplied air respirators with tear-offs.

I use the big blaster maybe a couple times in the summer. I get all my stuff ready and all my friends get there stuff ready and we blast like mad for a day. It'd strip the side of your truck to bare steel from 10 feet away in minutes.

Everyone I have known who's bought a small blaster has used it a couple times and sold it. They suck. It's not usually the blaster, but the air supply needed. You'll spend 90% of the time waiting for the compressor to catch up even with a bigger compressor. Blasting needs tons of air. My 280 holds 90 PSI through a 2" open line and maintains 120 even through the biggest 3/4" Norbide nozzles I've run.

My big blast setup works great, but it's not practical for most people. That's why I suggest finding someone who has one and giving them a couple bucks to do what you need.

[MaxKlinger]

Ok, so how much air, in CFM, would I be looking for? How much would really be necessary for sandblasting? 16 CFM? 20CFM? 30CFM?

I realized from the beginning I'm going to need another compressor to do this. I'm just trying to get an idea of what I'm really looking for (and can I afford it?).

[FORDification]

My compressor is a 60-gallon upright rated at 13 CFM. I set up a large squirrel-cage fan blowing directly at the compressor pump while using it, to help with keeping it cool. I use the 40-lb Harbor Freight blaster, and with this setup the compressor will kick in after the blaster tank is about 20% emptied,
and I'll typically just start running low on air about the time the tank is empty and have to stop. That's about 10 minutes worth of blasting. Since I recover my sand, it'll take me another 15-20 minutes to sweep it up and sift it back into my recovery barrel, during which time the compressor is recovering.

What I'm trying to say is, this setup is probably the absolute minimum...and I'm probably working my compressor a bit hard....but it's worked for me so far.