Phil,
This is one area where I have to say go big or go to a shop that will rent you
time with their blast equipment.
I have a Harbor Freight flip top bench top cabinet and a Coleman bhp 25 gal oil
less compressor both where poor choices.
The cabinet is to small to be really useful you can fit a cylinder head or wire
wheel in it but you must open the lid to move the part while blasting.
The compressor is way to small for this application even with the smallest
nozzle on the gun the compressor kicks in after 1-2 minutes use.
Look closely at how the cabinet feeds the media mine has a "V" shaped bottom
with a pickup tube laying on the bottom.
Better cabinets have a upside down pyramid shape to the bottom with a pickup
built into the lowest point.
The really good cabinets have a pressure pot that the media is loaded into.
Another point these little cabinets don't work well with sand it makes way to
much dust to see what you are doing.
I've used the following media in my cabinet
- baking soda, @40psi it works fairly good with this setup but won't remove rust
- #7 glass beads @60 with a small compressor/nozzle a poor choice
- #4 glass beads @65psi works fairly well but the compressor can't keep up
- walnut shells they work better in a tumbler or at lower pressure with a BIG
NOZZLE
- #120 aluminum oxide works very good if you want to pay for it $2.00/lb for
50lbs
My advice is unless you can justify spending about $1k on a compressor and
cabinet go to your local sandblaster and rent time on their equipment.
I took five rims and enough loose parts to cover the floor of my pickup to my
local blast shop, cleaned them in about 40 minutes for about $50.00 it would
have taken all day with my set up.
Doug Hamilton
1960 Triumph TR3A
1963 Fiat Cabriolet
From: Phil Evans [mailto:phillup@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 12:03 PM
To: triumphs-digest@autox.team.net
Subject: Beadblast Setup
I would like to ask the 'List' what are the minumim air compressor
outputs to operate a small benchtop (sand/bead) blast cabinet. Most
cabinets state 5 cfm @ 100 psi, but most compressors are rated around
5.5 cfm @ 90 psi. Also, some makers of compressors are using SCFM. What
does the 'S' stand for? I am looking at compressors with 8 gal tanks to
ones with from 20 - 60 gal tanks. Enlighten me. Thanks
Phil Evans
58 TR3A TS36906 LO
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