I was thinking of purchasing a siphon feed sandblaster from Wal-Mart. Has anyone ever used one of these? It is a Cambell Hausfield

 

Hi Alex - Welcome to FTE and the bodywork forum.

Here's an earlier post from this forum:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...ht=sandblaster


and here's a post in the Garage forum:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...t=sand+blaster

Check them out and they may help you decide. I prefer the pressure feed myself.

 

Like Carlene I use the pressure fed. If you only need to hit small spots the size of a dime on sheet metal then the siphon works well. Don't expect it to do any more than that though. On steel such as the end of a shovel the siphon just doesnt have the power to reach deep down into the steel and remove the rust. It will if you hold it there long enough AND you have enough sand AND you have enough time. I think thats a good thing. Those small rust spots can be on the center of a quarter panel. These areas dont have a lot of support i.e., there are not a lot of body lines and body lines provide support in the sheet metal. Think of body lines as 2x4 studs. Sand blasters generate heat and you can place it on a wide open area with no body lines and watch the metal start to bend and expand. Just like using a torch. This is where the siphon works well. By placing the blasting tip at an angle to the surface, 45 degrees works well, and reducing the time the tip is on the metal, you can effectively remove the rust. I should mention an important tip here. I never use a blaster on sheet metal until I've preped the metal first. This involves removing as much of the rust first using other tools. I like the 3M brand abrasive wheel because it does not remove metal. This is important because you want to keep as much metal as possible. If you are creating sparks you are using too agressive approach. I personally find the grinder a really dangerous tool if used wrong. You can remove lots of steel with this tool especially if you are working around an edge. And it seems that all rust likes to live around the edges of panels.

 

Save the money for a pressure feed blaster. They can be throttled down for delicate jobs. You can get by with less cfm on a pressure type.