Ive been wanting to get a sandblaster for a while so i can blast my parts my self and have them powder coated. I am eventually going to get a home powder coating kit by summer. My question is will a a 2lb hand held blaster work good enough for now? I only want to get that size to see if its really worth it before i spend $150 I plan on using it on calipers and my UIM and things like that, nothing big. Campbell Hausfeld has a 30lb blaster for like $30 more but it is all plastic and looks like junk.

Second Question is what is a good blasting media to use for those kinds of things?


Link to the Blaster I'm Considering.
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

 

I would look into sodablasting actually. There's a thread on this forum from a member who sodablasted a RX-3 Wagon, and it seems to be a better idea than media and sand.


Edit: It's an RX-4 Wagon, and here's the thread. https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...t=sodablasting

 

good thread but im my case im not worried about warp because it is all solid parts. Plus soda blasters cost much more than a sand blaster as far as ive seen.

 

No worries, at least if somebody reads this thread, they will read that one. As far as sandblasting goes for parts, I am not very sure on what would be better.

 

Those small blasters are for SMALL things. Your calipers..sure........UIM......................... .yeah... But much bigger then that and you'll be holding that thing for days.

The biggest factor in blasting is the nozzle size, and AIRFLOW. A typical 220V 20-25CFM compressor would be too small to feed anything larger then that handheld gun, so you'll be limited by the air you can flow more then anything else.

A good media for things like aluminum is a fine sand, or a fine glass like ECO-Glass. Other finer medias like walnut will leave less of a profile, but take much longer to strip the part.

 

i dont think i would use it for anything bigger than the UIM for the hand held and if i needed to i would just go buy a bigger setup. As far as compressor i have that covered with the old gas powered compressor i have if need be.

 

PA is a very humid place. What I found stopped our blasting (we used glass beads) was moisture in the air. It would condensce and then clump the media.

We could get by with the in-line desiccants for a while. But eventually I built a cooler desiccator. TX can be humid too.

 

wallnut shells work great on softer stuff. glass beads clump up but work great as well.

heres a pic of my sand blaster cost 199.99



u say your going to get yourself a self power coating system? how are you going to bake it? i bought a powder coating system on sale for 49.99 it worked great but i had to use a old eletric oven. and ur limited by the size of part due to the size of the oven

 

btw the above setup is nice because it recycles the media and keep u clean and clear of flying particles i also have a gun like the one you were thinking of buying for big stuff and its a total mess

 

I'm eyeballing that same blaster...

 

im not worried about the mess as i have a small room with a bench that has a 3gal shop vac that sucks the stuff off the bench when sanding or dremeling.


As for powder coating i will be using an old oven for small stuff but for big stuff my friend has a large parts oven as i call it. He does powder coating for a living but he lives a good distance away and it doesnt make up the cost to me for small parts. Plus my friends want all the calipers done and small stuff too so i would make my $$$$ back.

I probably will consider the blasting cabinet though if i find i blast enough stuff and it will make it worth it.

 

What I cant find is a shop vac filter that does not clog and looses suction after every 10 minutes of use with the cabinet.
Walnut shells are nice, but have had problems with them as well. Glass bead is what I normally use, but after a few uses the stuff really breaks down and clogs the filter in the vac... that is where I have been stuck for a few years now... maybe someone has the answer for me.

 

I was in harbor freight the other day and there was a sale in the store (one in NE Philly) for like $149 for the same one. Was in the Vineland store a few days earlier and it was $249...

 

damn talk about price gouging!!

 

thats harbor freight for you... every time I go with the intention to buy something specific, I check the fliers I get in the mail (member one and local store are both different) plus check the website... none of the prices are ever the same. I guess that is how they make their money, but you can save a lot by doing this...

 

I got my blast cabinate from harbour freight as well. I have had lots of problems sealing the cabinate, I still get media eveywhere. And the siphone doesn't pick up great. But it does work. Shopvac hates the thing but its still works so i keep using it.

Humidity and moisture do cause problems, get a moisture trap for your compresser. I still don't have one but I don't use my blaster that much.

What I want to do is get a pressure pot blaster and make a cabinate for that, but i cant figure out the best way to go about it. And of course I'm broke because my A$$ Hole boss closed my store.

Anyway if you do get the little blaster pictured try and figure out how to recycle the media, make a little "bay" or something other wise its just throwing away money.

I usually do small projects with my setup, brakets mainly, but I have done both the UIM and LIM and they do take quite a bit of time. Bigger is better in most cases. Get as much power as you can in your compresser i run mine at 60-90 psi and I have to pause every 5 min or so to catch up and refill the tank.

DON'T USE GLASS BEADS!!! they pollish the surfice and PC doesn't stick to the part. (Ask me how I know this, first project) us a low grit aluminum oxide. It works great and lasts quite a while, it is fairly cheap and you should be able to get it at a local welding supply. Plus its is quite safe, DONT USE SAND!!!!

Good luck keep us posted