Sand blasters

[Lazy-Ferret]

Has anyone had any experience of the small "home" type sand blasters you connect up to a compressor?

The ones I have seen, look a bit like a spray gun, only the can has grit rather than paint in.

Are they any good, or a waste of time?
How much grit do they use?
Can you collect the used grit and re-use it?

Are there better ones for occasional home use you would recommend, if they are no good?

 

[panelbeater]

in my last employed job i used that type of blaster a lot to derust hard to get to rust in corners on bodywork,gets bright metal again but a bit pitted, etc,very good except the grit goes everywhere so you need a good hoover to catch it on the rebound.
safty needed as well,eyes nose face as it bloody stings if it hits you.

 

[jims-terrano]

Im sure I remember something about melisa using one of those on her terrano rebuild.

 

[Terrano Steve]

Not had any experience with that type myself, but the bigger blast pots use a lot of air.

 

[Terrano Steve]

Oh & you can get different types of blast media crushed glass shot etc . It can be reused if it is dry and can be sieved. Some types of media are better second time around for removing paint from panels with out damaging them. ie the more times it is used the less abrasive it becomes.

 

[solarman216]

Has anyone had any experience of the small "home" type sand blasters you connect up to a compressor?

The ones I have seen, look a bit like a spray gun, only the can has grit rather than paint in.

Are they any good, or a waste of time?
How much grit do they use?
Can you collect the used grit and re-use it?

Are there better ones for occasional home use you would recommend, if they are no good?

Complete waste of time, if they did work then you would be working for about 120 seconds and the can would be empty, Rick

 

[AlexD333]

Complete waste of time, if they did work then you would be working for about 120 seconds and the can would be empty, Rick

Yeah I agree, I used the industrial unit whilst back at honda, with the solid metal door with safety folds and big rubber gloves (like in Simpsons intro - handling the plutonium) :lol

Just for my little bike back on my motorbike I spent 45 mins getting all the nooks and crannies :thumb2

 

[solarman216]

I have a sand blaster, holds 40kg plus of sand, needs 120 psi at a rate that my 3kw compressor cannot deliver for more than a couple of mins at a time, enough said, Rick

 

[Terrano Steve]

I recently blasted by Terrano chassis it took around 100 kgs of media using a big pot with a 6mm nozzle compressor is a hydrovane road type delivers around 150 cfm which is ample for the pot and feeds the air fed mask. It doesn't take long biggest problem is visibility as the lens on the mask soon gets scratched with rebounding abrasive.

I have to agree with the above that a small hand held blaster on work shop compressor is bound to be really slow to make any progress.

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I have a sand blaster, holds 40kg plus of sand, needs 120 psi at a rate that my 3kw compressor cannot deliver for more than a couple of mins at a time, enough said, Rick

So basically, don't waste my money. I did wonder, as like has been said, I could not see it holding enough grit.

I currently only have a 50litre compressor, which also only does 3.9cF/M, so is a pain in the butt, as it barely holds enough air to do anything worthy. It takes 2 recharges just to cut through a 6mm bolt!!!

Suz might be getting me a 150litre, 150Psi one for Christmas, with a higher cubic foot per min as well, so will hopefully mean I can use it properly.

I was looking for a sand blaster, as I want to do a few things, most too big to go into one of those "Booth" things that Alex mentioned, like the Garage door for a start

Does anyone have any recommendations for a reasonable, but not ridiculously expensive one?

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I recently blasted by Terrano chassis it took around 100 kgs of media using a big pot with a 6mm nozzle compressor is a hydrovane road type delivers around 150 cfm which is ample for the pot and feeds the air fed mask. It doesn't take long biggest problem is visibility as the lens on the mask soon gets scratched with rebounding abrasive.

I have to agree with the above that a small hand held blaster on work shop compressor is bound to be really slow to make any progress.

Wow, that is some through put of air. Thanks for the info on the mask as well, which is another overhead, I did not realise.

Might have to stick with the dreaded nitromors...:doh

 

[Terrano Steve]

This topic is covered in quite a lot of depth on mig welding forum, as I say I don't personally have experience with smaller pots only used large industrial pots you do see them on e.bay etc.
I don't want to put you off buying one but it would probably frustrate the ( ) out of you with how slow it is and if the media is damp or your compressor produces any condensation they choke.
I have my own set up and still often take stuff to local engineering works to get it blasted as they don't charge that much.

 

[AlexD333]

, most too big to go into one of those "Booth" things that Alex mentioned, like the Garage door for a start

Yeah it was mahoosive :lol

 

[elty001]

will fit in our shotblasting booth at work.
not tried to get the terrano in yet:lol:lol
ive got one of those pot guns at home.no good on my little compressor but fine on the big one at work.
only get abot 45seconds of blasting to a pot though.
I intend to use it to get rid of the awkward to get bits on the chassis before giving it some underseal.