Cheap sand blaster

[fasteddieyj]

Has anyone had any real experience with any of the small sand blasting units sold at places like Harbour Freight or Tractor Supply. Not trying to blast anything large, just mainly for small brackets and tight areas that are tough to get at with other methods. Some examples:
http://www.harborfreight.com/20-lb-capacity-pressurized-abrasive-blaster-40925.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-abrasive-blaster-kit-37025.html
http://www.tractorsupply.com/jobsmart-hand-held-abrasive-blaster-3907845

 

[87warrior]

I have and continue to use the first HF blaster you posted. The 20lb pressure blaster.

Here it is gearing up to go. I added a water trap to the inlet.

After a couple weekends of work.

It was slow, noisy, messy, cheap and worked darn good once I got the hang of it. A few things I want to mention. I used Black Diamond 40/60 grit media from the local farm supply shop. It is pretty fine, like beach sand, but anything more course would clog up the nozzles provided with the blaster. I have been unable to get fine walnut shells or corn cob to work with the nozzles. The 20lb tank is about perfect for a 120v 30gal compressor. Once the compressor runs out of steam and can't keep up you are out of blast media.

I recycled the media several times by placing a tarp under the truck and then filtering it with a kitchen strainer. You will need to go to the plumbing section of your hardware store and buy some rubber o-ring/washer things that fit between the nozzle valve and nozzle. They just get chewed up by the abrasive.

 

[souske]

A buddy of mine has the HF one with the red hopper on top of the gun. It works well for small stuff.

 

[bails85]

What size compressor did you guys use to run it? I bought one and I couldn't get it to work so I returned it. It wouldn't even take off spray paint. Any suggestions you guys have to get it to work would be great.

 

[old_man]

Sand blasters need a ton of air to work well. For small projects you can run a small compressor down and then wait for it to pump back up but that gets to be a real pain. For many years I used a 1hp with a 20 gallon tank but it simply wasn't enough. I now run a 6 hp with an 80 gallon tank. That give me about 10 scfm at 90 psi.

Ideally blast on a concrete slab. I then sweep up the sand and run it through a screen collendar and reuse it many times. USE a RESPERATOR and a face shield. The dust is silica and you can get a terminal case of Silicosis. I get my sand at a swimming pool supply and run what is called sharp silica. For my fine work, I have a glove box and run glass beads. Use a good water seperator, not one of the small ones. For it to work the best, the seperator needs to be as close to the hopper as possible. I run a copper coil to cool down the air causing the water vapor to condense so the seperator can catch it. If you also run a plasma cutter, this comes in handy as well. Also drain your compressor regularly. During a busy day of blasting, if he humidity is moderate (50%) you may need to dump water a couple of times. If the humidity is low, you may want to run a ground wire to the blast handle. Mine will build up a static charge, arc through the gloves and almost set me on my ass.

The pressurized hopper units send a lot more sand for the same amount of air.

 

[87warrior]

I used an old 20gallon compressor that was rated for 5cfm @ 90 psi with the 20lb HF pressure blaster. Would have been nice to have more air on tap, but by the time the compressor was out of air, I needed a break.

Long sleeves, respirator, goggles, gloves and a bandana are a must even when working outside. I liked using a tarp to capture the media as it made collecting and recycling a piece of cake. You won't need a fancy sand blast media colander. Just go to Walmart with your funnel and find a metal kitchen strainer that fits nicely in the funnel.

 

[fasteddieyj]

Thanks fro the replies. I forgot that I had started this thread.
In the end I decided not to purchase any of the units I had linked to or any others for that matter. A buddy of mine reminded me how crappy his worked with his compressor, which is basically the same one I have. I ended up finding some wire brushes for a die grinder that worked for what I was doing, and found a place in town that does sandblasting for any larger projects.