i need a good sandblaster that will be good for cleaning frames, truck parts ang stuff like that. i have a compressor rated at 13.5cfm @90 psi witha max psi of 140. Any suggestions, or recomendations?

 

A 90 lb capacity cheap Chinese pressure pot sandblaster with a 1/8 inch orifice nozzle will (just) work with that air compressor. Be sure to get some extra 3/8 threaded ball valves from Home Depot (they wear out in the sand). Also get some extra ceramic nozzles as the orifice enlarges over time and uses more air -- more than your compressor can supply.

Buy Vitro-Grit or Black Beauty or whatever other non-silica abrasive is available in your area. Number 70-80 in Vitro-grit (fine or superfine) works well for me. Don't use real sand unless you have a supplied air respirator -- too much danger from silicosis. For frames, etc, I prefer to do the blasting outside and I do not attempt to sift and re-use the abrasive. I have plenty of space and no nearby neighbors to object to the noise and dust.

Keep the air hose short. Use at least a 3/8 diameter hose. 1/2 inch is better. Pay attention to moisture control with the piping off your compressor. Wet sand tends to clog really badly.

Blasting a whole frame with this rig will try your patience. It is at (or past) the limit of what I would try. It seems to go well enough at first, and you will be gratified by the clean shiny metal, but the whole frame will take HOURS of loud dirty work and you will get sick of it. Blasting a whole truck would be out of the question. Progress is too slow, the compressor is too small. You need a gas or diesel engine driven large CFM setup for something like that. You might investigate local places to do the blasting for you, for any big jobs like your frame.

On the other hand, the blaster works fairly well for cleaning small to medium size parts -- like a steel wheel, painted valve cover, tractor engine blocks, etc. Make sure you are ready to paint or at least prime the part the same day you blast it -- rust forms really, really quickly on sandblasted metal.

 

oh i would never have enough patience to do the whole frame. No i am just doing a small part of the frame and I beams and radius arms, parts like that. Thanks for the tips. Are there any specific models that you or anyone else would suggest. Im not looking to spend more than $200, and i want it to last. I was looking at this one, http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...ctId=583&R=583. I know some nozzles exceed my compressors cfm, but would it be a good sand blaster?

 

The Northern Tool 5 gallon sandblaster #155341 or 20 gallon sandblaster #155340 are examples of what I mean by "cheap Chinese pressure pot". Harbor Freight and many E-bay sellers sell the exact same product. I suspect the products are made in one factory in China, safely out of reach of U.S. product liability laws, and re-labelled and sold by various merchants here.

These will get the job done with a 14 CFM or so compressor. You won't be able to run the largest nozzle, but the 3 smaller ones will work. Your compressor will run continuously with the 1/8 orifice, so don't try to blast for an hour straight.

There are many problems with these units. You must use dry, uniform media, not sand dug from the local beach, filled with dirt, twigs, etc. Recycling the media by trying to sift it through a window screen will also lead to problems with clogging. The 2 inch opening in the top requires you to pour the blast media through a funnel. (The more expensive units are nicer because they have a much larger opening for filling the unit or cleaning clogs). The units are not OSHA approved for use by paid employees as the valve at the blast nozzle lacks any "dead man" shutoff. You must not try to throttle the output by turning the ball valve at the nozzle partway open -- the sand will quickly wear through the side of the ball valve. You need to slam the output valve quickly from off to on, or from on to off. No stopping halfway. The ball valve will still wear out fairly quickly, but these are cheap and readily available. The next most common wear item is the supply hose, but this is true with any sandblaster.

The rest of the unit seems to hold up OK -- there isn't any obvious wear-out mechanism for any parts except for the hose, valve, and nozzle. As with any sandblaster, it is important to wear skin, vision, hearing, and breathing protection.

I used one of these for restoring a Ford 9N tractor, and found that it does the job fine once you learn to work within its limitations.

 

I have the Harbor Freight Tools 40 lb. Abrasive pressure blaster and it works great for small jobs (I only have a 3HP piston type compressor). Think it was around $85 about 10 years ago. Here in Florida we've got sand everywhere so I just dig some out of the yard, screen it and let it dry in the sun, works good. Use a good dust mask! Humidity is really high here (usually 70-80%) so you can see freshly cleaned cast iron start to rust within minutes. I use OSPHO cut 50% with water as a brush-on or spray treatment before priming. It turns iron oxides to a protective coating of iron phosphate. I've heard that it isn't a good idea to use silica (sand) based abrasives on cast iron because silica particles imbed in the soft iron and prevent primers from adhereing properly, but so far I haven't had a problem with it.
Piffery1