I'm considering buying the sand blaster shown at the link, however, I'd like a little input as to whether I have enought air compressor before I shell out the $$. I would use the blaster to finish burls similar to the one in my privious post and and other like tasks. I know a blaster takes a lot of air....I think I'd need to run it 15 - 20 seconds at a time then let the tank charge a bit. I've done a search but I think I need to have input from someone who has a similar sandblaster.
My compressor says it will put out 7.2scfm @ 40 psi. and 5.6scfm @ 90 psi. and this is the blaster I'm looking at:
> > Thanks, Tom ===================== Tom, Your system is a medeium output unit, but for intermittent use, the size of your storage tank will have more to do with its' performance than the actual compressor. You can add an auxilary tank to your system and increase your short term output considerably. Just be sure it is ANSI approved for the working presasure you expect to be using.
I don't know why, but I was not able to get your sandblaster link to work, so I'll assume that it is a 5 or 10 gallon pressurized tank system similar in design to the one that I have. Mine is one of the "made in china" pressurized tank type models that are readily available at Northern, Tractor Supply and other retail tool stores. The cheaper "non pressurized" tank type blasters that work on a venturi technique to mix the sand with the air stream are considerably less expensive, considerably less effective, and in my opinion, not worth buying if you expect good results and minimum headaches. Your present compressor isn't big enough to run a sand blaster continuously, but if you add an additional storage tank to your system you will be able to easily run a sand blaster for short periods, even considerably longer than
20 seconds at a time. The compressor will take longer than it does now to recover and shut off, but the added tank capacity will give you much more blasting time at useable pressure. How much time will depend on how big your total tank capacity is and not how big your compressor is. The compressor size will determine how fast the system recovers back to full pressure (how long your break time is) before you can blast again. You will also need to seriously consider adding a good moisture filter to the air line ahead of the blaster or the sand blaster will frequently plug up. Only dry sand and air will work. I found a filter at an automotive paint supplier for about $30 that uses rolls of toilet paper as the filter medium. This proved to be a very effective and economical way of getting dry air for me. A fresh roll before each day's use and I can get dry air all day and the roll doesn't even have to be Charmin. Even the cheapest stuff does a good job. It is also a good idea to filter your sand before you put it in the tank. The bagged blasting sand that is available from Lowes and Home Depot are not graded very well and will have some oversize particles in them that will also plug your sand blaster. For trouble free sand blasting you need well graded sand. You can buy a tool for this, but a kitchen type wire sifter will do the job too, and it's a lot cheaper.
Some years ago I had an 11 cfm 2 horsepower ( 2 real hp) compressor with a
20 gallon tank. When I used it for sand blasting I had an old 100 lb propane cylinder (totally cleaned out and the fittings replaced) that I would connect via a tee in the air line. This combination gave me about 5 minutes of blasting time before the pressure was too low to use. I have now upgraded to an 18.4 cfm at 90 psi system with an 80 gallon tank. When sand blasting with this system the compressor stays ahead of the blaster and I can do continuous blasting until my whole 10 gal tank of sand is gone.
Charley, Thank you very much for a very good discussion about a subject seldom discussed here. I don't know much about the mechanics & equipment required for sandblasting, but I do know that no matter how good the wood artist, he can't use the technique if he can't blast the sand. I still don't know much about the equipment needed, but I know more than I did before reading your post. Thanks again.
I have a pressureized tank sandblaster that I use for automotive work, though I haven't used it in a while - my Sears air compressor was rated 7.2 CFM at (as I recall) either 40 or 60 PSI - it would run the thing for about
15 seconds and then I'd have to wait for it to refill. My current compressor will produce 19CFM at 160 PSI, but I havne't needed to sand blast anything in a long time -
the message we are sending you is that you need a LOT of air, and also that the smaller sand blasters are more of a problem (clogging, etc). you may wish to have a sand blast cabinet and save some $ on media.
=====>I note from the URL page that they don't list any suggested airconsumption rates required for best performance. Perhaps you could email the company and ask them for more information on the unit??
Very interesting what everyone thinks about sandblasters.
But from what some are saying, that they can only blast away for 20 - 30 seconds at a time, then stop to let the air build up again. Or some I think said that they could go for a couple of minutes then had to stop for the air to build up. My friends, If that is what I had to do with any sandblaster, I would throw it away as next to useless, useful only to clean spark plugs. I can maintain a constant blaster operation for hours at a time, non stop, with My cheap open type siphon sandblaster. And have done entire cars with it, as well as anything else I take a mind to use it on.
It is not fast maybe, but my air compressor can maintain 60 Lbs at the nozzle for as long as I keep the trigger pulled. And I have run it up to
4 hours at a stretch without letting up on the trigger. I have worn out somewhere between 40 to 60 nozzles and run tons of dry play sand through it. Having my boys sweep it up and put it back into the hopper till it was just too fine to continue using.
The cabinet type sandblasters are nice when you have only small parts to do, I built my own cabinet once, but what if you need to do something like a car fender, or an engine block? It works good for putting designs on Glass also, and if you are going to sandblast wood, remember that you have to mask off anything that you don't want the sand to hit.
Just my opinion, but just don't take too serious what every one of us is saying. Look over what is out there, and pick something that will do the job you want done. It's your money and there is a lot of verity out there. But keep in mind that there has been,over the years, hundreds more of these cheep open siphon sandblasters sold and used. The design has not changed in almost 100 years because they work. I've been using mine for a little over 40 years now. It still works great.
My air Compressor is a sears brand twin cylinder model 106.154540 rated at 100 psi displacement of 8.1 standard cubic feet per minute.
A rated delivery of 6.4 cfm @ 40 lbs, and 5.4 cfm @ 90 lbs.
Has a 1 hp electric motor and a 12 gal tank.
I use a sears sand blaster model 106.168110 which can be used with either the attached canister or with an open hopper. The canister can be used in either a pressure mode or in a siphon mode. The Hopper in a siphon mode.
The manual gives the following for pressure and volume of air needed.
Can be operated with a non-tank type portable air compressor rated at least 1/3 hp, and delivering a minimum of 2.2 cfm at 40 psi.
When used in the high pressure tank type air compressor in the pressure mode, with attached canister, a maximum of 50 psi is not to be exceeded. (for safety in not blowing up the attached canister.) When used in conjunction with high pressure compressors, it is recommended that the gun be used as a siphon feed operation.
This gun may be used with a sand hopper, or with a gun canister. When this sand blast gun is used in the siphon feed mode, either with a canister, or the sand hopper, it may be used with any air compressor delivering a minimum of 3.5 cfm at 50 psi or more.
Comment: In the siphon mode any pressure at 50 psi or above to the maximum your compressor can deliver as long as you can maintain 3.5 cfm volume of air. Now what the ratings say, and what your compressor can actually put out may be different. Only time and experience will give you those answers.
Other applications: Your sand blast equipment performs equally well when using soap and water for cleaning purposes such as auto washing, lawn chair cleaning, screen cleaning and any number of other cleaning applications. Liquid and owner insecticides, kerosene and other solvents may also be dispensed with your sand blast equipment. When large amounts of liquid are to be dispensed by your sand blast gun in a short period of time, it is recommended that your gun be operated in the pressure feed mode. Otherwise it is recommended that you use your sand blast gun in th siphon feed mode. In order to obtain a high pressure liquid stream it is recommended that you operate your sandblast gun in the pressure feed mode.
Types of Abrasive:
Sand Grit Size 30 (16-45 mesh) ? General purpose use. Light rust and paint removal from metals, seeds, other surfaces, wood finishing, metal cleaning, glass and stone etching, drilling of holes in glass, brick or cement block, brass and silver cleaning, fight brick cleaning, exterior automotive parts cleaning, light stone and cement removal, and water deposits removed.
Sand Grit Size 70 to 90 (40-140 mesh) ? Desirable for fine polish finishes, antique wood finish, bfrass and silver polishing, automotive parts cleaning and polishing, sheet metal surface polishing, and fine glass etching.
Glass Beads - Fine polish finishes of all wood grains, silver and brass objects, automotive parts, fine etching of glass, etc.
Comment: While regular sand blast sand is available and works well because the sand has rough edges, I chose to use a fine play sand which has rounded edges like beach sand, because it is much cheaper. However with play sand, you do have to check the actual sand which is bagged to see that it is a fine sand and consistent for that brand of sand. Many play sands have very course grains, and are more like a builders sand. But note that any sand that you can feed through your sand blast gun will do the job.
Always use some kind of water trap between the air compressor and the sand blast gun. You do not want the gun to be spitting out water instead of sand.
In any case, whenever you use a sand blaster outside of a special box, be sure to wear eye protection, the kind that covers the side of your eyes also. And if you can, a face shield, and long sleeves, because that sand will bounce off of what you are cleaning, and it will sting if it hits bare skin.
When sand blasting a picture or design on glass, reduce the pressure to almost nothing for control, and be sure to cover anything that you do not want the sand to hit. Some ones initials on a set of glasses makes a great gift.
I'm going to agree with Zap here- I've done a little more sandblasting than I care to think about, and it's been my experience that any given generic compressor with at least a 6 gallon tank should keep a little blaster going in perpetuity. I wouldn't use a pancake or hot dog style compressor, but any reasonable shop one should work just fine- it doesn't even have to be a good one, I've used old junkers that looked like they were about to fall apart with no apparent difference.
this really depends on the blaster and what you are blasting - even with the smallest tip, my TIP brand blaster drains my 20 gal crafstman compressor (it's 7.2CFM) in about 20 seconds - my 5 hp Quincy can keep up (19.5CFM at
160 PSI if I remember right) - if you are blasting rust off of a frame you need more pressure than if you are bead blasting a casting or carving wood, and a small tip uses less air but will take forever with a large dirty object.
Yes, that is absolutely true. But then I thought that this question about the sand Blasters was about using one in a home shop environment. I did not think that the reference here was for the sand blasters used in a commercial undertaking.
As I recall, the original intent of the question had to do with sand blasting wood Burls in a home shop. Asking if the air compressor he was contemplating had enough power to do the job. Not for cleaning 100 sq ft of steel plate in 5 minutes.
Yes, I have used those kinds of large sand blasters you are speaking of, and even larger, in metal working plants where the constant air pressure out of the large noel ran to close to 300 lbs psi and would use up at least a thousand lbs of sand an hour, where you didn't hold the noel, you only guided it. I have worked in sand Blasters where we went into the chamber in special suits. But that is not the kind of sand Blasting that the original thread started out with. That is NOT home type sand blasting, and has no place in this thread.
Of course if you are sand blasting a Bridge, you would not use the small sand blasters spoken about by most in this thread. And if you desire to day in and day out sand blast car chassis while being paid by the Job, you would use the proper equipment and air compressors to do the job fast. But if you want to sand blast some wood, you had better not use the kind of sand blaster that you are speaking of, for one blast and there would be no wood left.
I can see the truth in that, but I was referring to the average sandblaster you can get off the shelf at a hardware store- You know, the ones with the 1 gallon open topped red can hopper or the nozzle assembly with the tube you stick into a bucket of sand. I've used larger pressurized canister ones on a big shop compressor, but they're really not all that nice for a homeowner- the place I used that rig was doing production work, and I'd end up standing in a large area of desert-like dunes and bright red all over from flying sand any time I used it. Figured that wasn't the OP's thing, though I could have been wrong.
I'm not sure how large a blaster you're referring to, but those little guys don't do too badly when doing smaller tasks like cleaning up a porch rail prior to painting or frosting a piece of glass. Never did any sandblasting on wood, but they're probably fine for that as well- that's why I figured any given homeowner compressor would be fine.
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