you can rent a big compressor and a sand pot for a lot less and probably do as good a job..it's not hard to do , but you may end up with a new career !!

 

Sand blasting is a lousy job and the guys that do it earn their money. To remove paint I prefer chemicaLstrippers but occasionally I need to blast. I have been using green diamonds finer grit with a sandblaster I built from stuff on hand.

 

Yep. It's been ten years since I blasted anything and I did a fair share back then. I don't miss doing it myself one bit.

BTW, what did you use for the pot on your homemade sandblaster?

 

My neighbors cheepo oil free air compressor took a dump so I nabbed the tank, added some pipe fittings and stood it on end. It easily holds a 100 Lb. sack of media.
Never throw anything away till you've used it at least twice.

 

I bought a Texas-Blast pressure pot blaster some years ago at the swap meet and borrowed one made by the same company when they were in Oklahoma prior to that.

Buy a pressure pot and not a siphon unit. Siphon units are temperamental at best and more often just plain frustrating.

When done properly, the sand grain hits the surface and fractures.

I have blasted a bunch of sheet metal and never had any problem with warpage. I think that happens when you use giant commercial equipment at high pressures and very large grain sand.

I still occasionally find a little sand pile in my '55 over 20 years since it was blasted.

 

I just got a sand blaster, hood, respirator, sealed eye protection, and some silica media. After reading about silicosis I am a bit freaked out. I have used it before a long time ago (still alive with good lungs). Is there a better option for sand? I went to Home Depot and they had a 50lb bag of "Play Sand $3.50" that could be sifted but that would essentially be silica too. A 100lb bag was only $7. I looked at the soda blaster when I purchased my sandblaster and made my choice based on rust removal. Should I find a safer media? I will be blasting outside in a rural area, I am concerned with the mess kicking up dust for years after I am done, ect. Thanks

 

country cat i use black beauty from the home store its like 6 bucks for 50 lbs. but who knows what that stuff does to ya I've had a heart attack and cancer throat cancer since i blasted anything

 

crushed glass???
I have to check that out.

 

Personally I would not use sand on anything I planned on refinishing, especially sheetmetal. Two problems: first sand is hard, so it peens the metal surface by impact which work hardens the surface. Second it is hard, sharp and fractures on impact. The particles then become imbedded into the surface of the metal creating what is essentially metal backed sandpaper.

I also wouldn't use sand for it's health hazards. Even if you work outside that fine silica dust ends up in the air and on the ground. It doesn't go away, so if your dog or cat, your kids, etc. run thru it or the wind kicks it up it can end up in your or your loved one's lungs long after you have forgotten about it. There is no cure or treatment for silicosis, and it has a long latency period, it can rear up and get you years later. Is it worth a few bucks a bag savings???

IMHO the only reason soda would ever become a problem is if corners were cut after blasting. A thorough wash down with a phosphoric acid solution will neutralize and dissolve any residue and leaves a temporary rust resistant coating on the metal. If you desire a chemically inert media, then walnut shell would be the best choice.

If you want to remove rust on say your frame and/or unfinished metal pieces, I'd recommend using Black Beauty. It is a crushed coal slag (non combustible remains from coal fired furnaces) it is inexpensive and safe, with a simple particle mask deemed adequate protection in a ventilated area.

Any blasted surfaces should be primed immediately, even touching the surface with bare hands or sitting outside can start surface rusting within hours if not phosphate treated or within 48 hours if phosphate treated, unhandled, and kept in a low humidity environment. The phosphate coating should not be removed until just before priming and any handling done while wearing rubber or clean cotton gloves.

 

This is very interesting I'm needing to do the same thing. I've learned so much from you guys.

 

I mix crushed walnut shells and 140aluminum oxide for blasting paint ,It cuts down on heat build up . Just my 2 cents .

 

Play sand isn't even 100% sand (silica), it's whatever passes thru a sieve after rock crushing. It could include quartz, feldspar, sandstone, etc. I used it to blast some backing plates (thick steel, not critical in terms of finish) and it worked, but particle size was all over the map. No way I'd use it on body panels. It also clogged and lumped up frequently.

 

They dampen play sand when they bag it to keep down the dust. You're right play sand can be anything from beach quarried sand to crushed rock, Most all masonry sand is crushed rock, also called course or sharp sand. There is even a special quarried sand where the granules are perfect spheres.

 

i was at the sema show last year and ran into a company that sells a blasting system for stripping cars that was using chrushed glass they mix it with water to keep the temps down and i belive that they used a lower air pressure than sand blasting they also mixed in a rustinhibitor to keep the bare metel from flash rusting. the chushed glass when bought in bulk say 10 or 20 bags at a time was very inexpenave like 12.00 a bag plus shipping we were looking for some outher bussiness to get into and do on weekends the clean up was pretty easy as they told us that some guys bay a big tarp from harbor freight drive the car onto it and start blasting when done the just waited for the water to dry off and scooped up the crushed glass and ran it threw a sfifter and re used it a couple of times i used sand on my frame and some sheet metal parts like the inner fender panals i used the play sand from home depot there is a couple of grit sizes use the larger number grit the larger number is a finer sand i used a pressure pot from harbor freight and sfited the sand for clumps before using it in the pressure pot and i had little problems i sand blasted my complete frame in about 2/3 hours and used 5 bags of sand make sure that you have no moisture going into to your tank as this makes the sand want to clump i think that i was using about 35/40 lbs of air pressure but you need a good size air compressor to keep up wiht the blasting my compressor is a 10hp 3ph unit that will put out 35 cfm of air a min i have many freinds that used soda blasting on their cars when it first came out most of them didn't have any problems after cleaning the car really really good before painting but i do have a couple of guys that had problems with their paint jobs and the painter would do nothing for them except to paint the cars again for a price i had one friend that had his car plastic beaded and that worked real good as the plastic beading process would not harm the glass or chrome but it does leave a coating on the metal that has to be sanded and removed before paint hope this helps someone

 

So sifted play sand > silica sand? The guy at Home Depot told me they were nearly the same once the play was sifted. They look different Play sand looks like beach sand, Silica sand looks like silica sand.... There isn't many options around here I tried to find Black Beauty with no luck locally, I will have to order some for next time but I really need to get my project going.