SANDBLASTERS

[the old trucker]

   Dpaulson seeing that your in the steel business, maybe you can help me. I was thinking about getting a bench top sandblaster from Princes Auto or King Canada. They are siphon feed I think. My question is do you think they are big enough to do small jobs like rims & small parts ? will they make much of a mess around the shed ? I have a 5 HP. compressor with a 60 Gal. tank. I think the CFM. is around 8 or 10 ??
   The blasters are around $200.00 @ both places. To get 1 rim blasted here is $15 bucks. I have come accross a bunch of rims in really good shape that just need a good clean up. I thought now would be a good time to buy one. Sorta pay for itself... Any thoughts....... anyone ?? ??

                                                                                                         A Rusty OT.

[dpaulson]

I haven't must experience with sandblasting, and never really needed one until I purchased my old bomber, so I built my own.  I blasted the motor doors only.  It took about 3 bags of sand to complete at a cost of 45.00.   I believe if I had an enclosed cabinet, the sand could then be reused and would be more economical.  It did a great job though.  I don't think your compressor is not near large enough either.  Unless you have some other use for it,  I think it would be cheaper to let someone else blast it. Something else to consider,  I just got new rubber put on my rims and I used a cup wire wheel on an angle grinder.  It did a good job also at a cost of about 15.00 and about 2 hours work to do the 8 wheels. 

[the old trucker]

   Thanks for your thoughts on this. Would you have a pic of your homemade sandblaster?? It must be fairly large to accept a door.... I saw a few homemade units that looked pretty good that were made from a 45 gallon drum.

[the old trucker]

   Dave what do you use for a nozzle ? I now have a sandblaster that was been thrown out. Everything is there. It's a siphon feed model. I checked with the local automotive store & found that they sell the same nozzle & parts. People tell me that glass beads are about the best media to use. What size nozzle do you use ?
   Oldsledz I noticed you have a sandblaster also. Do you have any thoughts about yours ? My nozzle has an opening of about 5/16" I thought this was a good chance for me to try this out... Free of charge. If no good, it's no loss to me. Here are a couple of pics of the same thing as mine.

CABINEThttp://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m366/theoldtrucker/SBC-115.jpg

HOSE & NOZZLE KIThttp://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m366/theoldtrucker/9170kit.jpg

REPLACEMENT NOZZLEShttp://i333.photobucket.com/albums/m366/theoldtrucker/9170N.jpg

 

 
 
 
 
   
   

[dpaulson]

OT, I think mine has about a 3/16 hole.  You'll be able to move a lot more sand with a 5/16 nozzle, but you also need the compressor to sustain that amount of air at a good psi.  The higher the air PSI, the more force the sand will have to remove paint