I'm in the market for a good abrasive blaster. Not a cabinet, because I like having the ability to go to my workpiece, and work on things that don't fit in a cabinet.

I need a good siphon fed setup, and preferably something American made. Does such a thing exist?

Also, I imagine I'll need a bigger compressor. Is there a generally accepted baseline CFM/PSI rating for abrasive blasting?

You'd think a welder would know more about this, but better late than never

 

Most of my blasting experience is with Harbor Freight stuff, and it generally works well. I have a smaller setup that I used to blast my old LGT120 body, my Curtis engine driven compressor keeps up just fine. The only issue is moisture, you need a good cooler and drier setup. Any moisture and the blasting medium will clog the nozzle.

 

So it's not as simple as hooking up a canister and compressor to your gun and spraying away? How does a drier work?

 

You buy it at HF the el chepo kind and just put it inline and go more than 1 if your doing alot of blasting or buy a 60-70 $ type and just follow instructions on using.... simple. I use the el chepos myself and have been satisfyed for spraying. If you blast in cool weather and leave hose on a cool surface will help or take breaks and let compressor cool some.

 

My personality is pretty abrasive.

 

Purchased both the HF abrasive blaster and cabinet and found they are made of fairly heavy gauge material. Purchased the cabinet with the 2 side doors for large stock material. I found connecting the abrasive blaster to the cabinet works best for me, high pressure abrasive in a confined area. In addition, with the abrasive blaster, regardless how much protective gear I wear; i.e., hood, respirator, gloves, and clothing the abrasive material gets into every orifice known to the human body. Also, With the abrasive blaster the sand can travel for hundreds of yard and may present issues with neighboring vehicles and homes. May want to consider instead of the blasting cabinet, purchasing a growing tent, they come in varying sizes, not sure how well they will hold up to the abrasive material, I purchased a 4'x6' tent for the abrasive blaster, I have not used it yet..Finally, suggest check for local industrial abrasive sand blasting suppliers there's Kleen Blast that's relatively close, also located in a few state, and they carry just about every type of abrasive material at a very reasonable price.