Just bought a new HF Pressure Sand Blaster to replace my old Craftsman siphon feed that I have had for years. Was a POS this thing is. I can't get any media to flow. I tried Black Diamond 20/40 and it plugged in about 10 seconds. The largest nozzle plugs even with play sand, which seems to have to much moisture content. HF does not have any large nozzles for these things. I can see where soda could run through it but soda makes to much of a mess (blasting in gravel parking area) Anyone have the secret to success with these things?

 

I have owned one of the 40 LB units for about 4 years now...I don't use it too often but when I have, I have had good luck with it. I buy the "dried" sand from HD that is made specially for sandblasting, any other sand is just too wet and will clump in the unit. If you have tried the dried sand and have still had problems then take a look at the pressure/feed adjustment lever on the bottom of the unit. This adjustment is critical to balance the air pressure to sand feed ratio going down the hose to the spray nozzle. If I had any one major bitch about this unit is that the hoses are junk...they crack and split just like all the other Chinese rubber products that HF sells.

 

I've used the 100 lb HF version for about a year with great results. As Charlie indicated, the sand needs to be packaged for blasting and wet stuff is NFG. Played with the air and media valves as needed to get a good flow. I also bought and maintained a quality respirator - that I used!

 

My buddy loaned me his practically-new 40-lb. HF sandblaster about 2 years ago. No matter what media I tried, or what setting I used, it was a POS. Not surprisingly, my buddy won't take it back. It's still sitting in my shop taking up space. But it still looks good sitting there! So don't feel alone--I hate em too.

 

I already found out about the hoses, had one split the first day. Is the sand that you guys are talking about there white bagged silia sand. That's what I used for years and it worked fine but I was trying to reduce the silia. Maybe I will just try it and put on the respirator.

 

I used the black blasting media from menards and it worked perfect with no clogs.

Make sure your air supply has a inline water filter cause moisture in the air line will combine with the media in the blasting line and clog things up that way.

 

I was using that ?Black Diamond stuff from Tractor Supply with an inline water collector. I just simply could not get it to work properly. I ended up buying one of the bigger 90-lb. sandblasters from Northern Tool, and it has worked very well with the same media and setup.

 

I have ran many tons of sand thru mine(110 lbs unit) over the years. Did one commercial iron work job that took 1800 lbs of sand alone...

BUT.....I have almost completely overhauled/rebuilt the dumb thing too. Also I use the finer grit DRY sand....50 or 70 grit. And I have learned how to "cheat" the valves by adding more pressure to the tank.....

Still, it works as good as any other I've used.

 

I run kiln dried 30 mesh sand through mine with no problems. I replaced the nozzle with there deadman handle.

 

I will second the advice given by others. Many years ago while walking around Hershey I found a used Lindsey pressure fed 100# unit having had a Tip blaster first. The Lindsey with it's unique bottom of the tank mixing valve ended all issues. If you find a used one, buy it. Lindsey sold a lot of blasters in their day. They sold the business a number of years back. Last I knew they are under a different name (EDIT: Marco) and are red. If you could find a new one The price would be north of $1k. The Lindsey was the choice of commercial blasters for years. Mine used 20 years ago cost me $140. I considered it a steal. Prescott AZ is a lot dryer than New England. Essentially all of the lesser expensive blasters are touchy at best.

 

Thanks to everyone's help I finally got this thing working the way I want. First I got some medium bagged sand from HD, It's just the right size and it flows smoothly. Next I closed the sand feed valve by about 50% reducing the amount of sand coming out the hose. Next I bought the dead man valve from HF and used the largest nozzle. Now this thing is a blasting fool. The compressor keeps up with the blaster and not one clog running 100lbs of sand through. Now if I could just find an air conditioned hood life would be great.

 

AZ in August...yeah, you need some A/C!

 

So the wife buys bags of play sand. Just what I figured. All not damp but wet.
Call it a 12 pack job. Cardboard box = out in the hot sun stir it up time to time,
takes a couple days. Now totally dry and even hot I screened every bit of it.
I keep it in sealed 5gal. pails. Now another deal, my kid buys the biggest HF
Ind. cabinet model. He made platform with casters. It will take wire wheels etc.
He bought 100lbs of glass bead. OK I machined a bunch of V blocks. Then the first test for the blaster. Amazing the blocks looked like fine China. The next day I blasted a bunch of step blocks again amazing. I WAS impressed, but the
next time to use it- "thats all she wrote"! Drained media, took nozzle apart, many many times, its got suction its got pressue its dry, So we got a red cabinet that looks impressive, even got a light in it. I even keep a 100 watt
drop light in there for heat to keep things dry. The boy even bought the vac. system and its vented through the shop wall to (outside) thats a good thing.
and the casters also good to roll it outside. So we have to buy good guts for
the thing. SO when buying there, I look at it like this. You want a HF drill press for the price, your actually buying the stand. A band saw, you just bought the electric cord. Paint brushes, some kindlin wood. Guess he has not learned his lesson, newest HF one of them 3 pump's floor jacks. Yep 3pumps and the vehical comes down in 3 minutes. Kids a tool gloat.

 

And why are all my posts or reply paragraphs not neatly centered? Is it that I'm use to a real typewriter using the return? I have tried typing without returning and it does the same thing. Oh well I thought these things do it for you?

 

I have a one of these and had trouble. what I found was inside the fittings inside the gun had metal from the treading process half way blocking the entrance of the suction side of the gun..now it works good even with air pressure regulated way down. also I found it easy to see inside if it is night.