It sounds as if Tony had some rather heavy pieces of metal sandblasted
professionally. Around Southern Calif, so far as I have found, sand
blasting like that would run closer to $30 per item, rather than per
truckload -- maybe $15 each if you dicker. Plastic media blasting
costs more.
I bought my own pressure blaster, breathing hood, and used the air
from my HVLP turbine as breathing air. It beats silicosis, which you
will get from sandblasting with (cheap) silica sand. There are
alternative media that aren't quite as life-threatening, but they tend
to cost about ten times as much per pound. The total marginal
investment was around $500, which was the estimate for sandblasting
one car around here. =20
With my 5 hp compressor I can only use the smallest nozzle for
continuous blasting. It is slow, and I run around 50 psi in order to
preserve the sheet metal. I know the surfaces of my car very well,
now. :-)=20
I have sandblasted every piece of painted metal in a '57 VW bug. It
is in the final rubdown phase of primer now, ready for the color coat,
and I have found absolutely no sign of warping or distortion due to
sandblasting. Once I cranked the pressure up to 90psi, pointed the
nozzle straight at a flat body panel and held it there one inch from
the metal for about ten times as long as it took to strip the area.
Result, no distortion. But note, I wouldn't even think of blasting
aluminum except with walnut shells or plastic media.
What should you do? If you are only going to blast one car (or
equivalent) in your lifetime it isn't worth the cost of the equipment
to blast safely. If you plan to do more, I think it is worth the
money and effort to know that the job was done the way you wanted it.
There are a few books on sandblasting that you would benefit from
reading if you decide to buy the equipment.
-Roland
On Fri, 21 Aug 1998 17:36:23 -0500, Tony wrote:
:
:Ken wrote:
:
:>So what should I look for in sand blasters?
:
:In my opinion (and I have one of those blasters) this is something that
:should be "farmed out" to commercial services and here's why:
:
:Huge air requirement . . horrible uncomfortable bounce-back of media =
. .
:. breathing
:silica dust, . . . fouls the area for engine building, even leaks =
of
:dust from a cabinet.
: . . different media and equipment needed for various jobs, etc.
:
:I recently had a pickup load of material blasted (eleven wheels and 20 =
items
:of drive train and suspension parts. Took 30 minutes and cost $30. =
It
:would have taken two days of miserable work to do with my little blaster=
and
:a 3 hp compressor.
:
:Tony
:
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