Martin Libhart wrote:
Has anyone used one of the small home-type sandblasters, such as the
unit[s] from Sears? I'm looking for an inexpensive method for clean-up
of a chassis, steel wheels, etc. - not sheetmetal or other more critical
parts which would call for plastic media, etc.Anyone with experience with
one of these units?
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Marty - I am very fortunate to have a neighbor who builds hot rods in his
spare time in a pretty neat shop on the back of his garage. He has a pretty
damn big blast cabinet and, having now used it extensively, I can provide
the following observations -
1) You need air VOLUME and PRESSURE. My neighbor has a big 90 gal, 6.5 hp 2
stage air compressor and it barely keeps up with continuous blasting. One
of his buddies has a really trick setup with TWO of these babies rigged in
tandem and with that set up you can go pretty much continuously all day if
necessary. Otherwise, it is "hurry up and wait" for the compressor to
recharge, not to mention the abuse the compressor takes from the constant
running. Also, don't forget your electric bill will skyrocket for the
month!
2) Get the biggest cabinet you can afford (and fit in your space). You will
kick yourself later if you save $50 bucks and end up with a cabinet that
only holds half of your parts. A nice big venturi feed cabinet with vaccum
tanks, nozzle, spare tips and a foot trigger is about $700 to $900 from
Harbor Freight or TIP. Worth every penny if you ask me.
3) Buy a foot trigger - your index finger will cramp up after a while with a
hand trigger unit.
4) Clean the glass window constantly - like every 20 mins. It makes a world
of difference when you can see what you are doing.
It seems to me that if you plan to do as much blast cleaning as I did on my
Spit. restoration you have a difficult decision because of the cost factor.
You can spend a ton of money on equipment you will rarely use after the
project is done, unless of course you plan on doing more stuff/cars later.
You may be better off sending it all out to a place that specializes in
blast cleaning. Anyways, good luck and hope this helps.
Ross D. Vincenti
64 Spitfire 4
64 Porsche 356 C Coupe
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