Sand/Media Blaster Options
 

Ok gladiators of the garage space, what is a good home-brew media blasting setup?
I have scraped together enough bicycle frames and parts, and car parts that I'd have to pay more for a professional to do it than I could buy a kit myself.

Problems:
1) I have an air compressor, it's the small donut type and it serves all my construction needs very well. I use the shyte out of it for my various nail guns. DOWNSIDE, it can't even provide enough volume to run my air impact wrench.

2) I don't want a big tank compressor hogging up space in my garage or burning up my budget.

3) I want a media blaster that holds a lot of media for infrequent refills, but again, I want something that's small and inexpensive. I'm not starting a freaking powdercoating business here or anything.

4) I'm not made of money like you working folks.

*After perusing my Northern Tools catalog I beginning to think that what I envision doesn't exist....

Options?

I used 100 feet of 8 mil plastic sheeting and built a 20 ft x 12 ft x 8 ft high booth in my garage in order to blast my 911. Suspended a 20 ft beam from the ceiling to support one side and secured the other sides to the wall folded over 2 x 4s to prevent sand from escaping.

Used my 80 gal. 5 hp IR compressor to drive a pressure pot. It kept up well, it's in the basement shop with lines run to the garage. The benefits of having the booth meant that I could recycle all of the media. You need a good compressor for blasting as it's pretty much just shooting a high volume of air out the entire time.

Ya see that's the kind of overkill that I'm trying to avoid, but I like what you did there.

I'm looking for small footprint but potent.

I found this link while surfing CL:
3 1/2 horse air compresser&sand blaster

Tell me, is his story BS and rather than selling the project car did he discover that the compressor in question was too small to run that sand blaster nicely??? I'm leaning that way.

is a bicycle frame the largest thing you need to do?

Yep.

for the space constraint, you could calc. how large a tank you'll need - it'll be smaller than for a whole car, since the surface area of the frame involved is small

the other space constraint is the area/volume for the container to blast it in - can you do it outside? (how excitable are your neighbors?)

FWIW, sand blasting creates a huge mess if done inside. Sand WILL BE EVERYWHERE if you do not create a booth like Scott did. I have a pressure pot for blasting large stuff and have blasted large things outside (trailer frame, airplane fuselage), but I hate it. I am a cheap SOB and rarely pay anyone for tasks I can do myself, but the last time I needed a motorcycle frame and parts blasted, I paid a local shop to do it because I positively hate blasting with my pressure pot.

I do use my indoor small blast cabinet quite often however (it does not make a mess and works great for small parts).

The problem with any type of media blaster is the fact that you need a large volume of air. A small nailer compresser like you have will not be able to handle it.

I have a medium size cabinet. and its hooked up to my 2hp 40 gal compressor, and it constantly cycles on and off.

Maybe I should make some clarifications/additions...

My goal is to use this outside.

I want it to pack away into a unobtrusive footprint when I'm done. That's the problem with the cabinets, they're GREAT, but they're huge, and the ones large enough to hold a bike frame are too pricey. And, I just don't want to commit that much real estate in my shop to blasting equipment.

So a recap...
Outdoors
Small-but-powerful compressor and blaster.
Small footprint when packed away.
On the cheap.

I built my own cabinet with parts and instructions from TP Tools.

Abrasive Blasters - Kits - TP Tools & Equipmenthttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1287152577.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1287152635.jpg

I started out with the siphon system, but because it is outside and it is very damp here much of the year, it didn't work that well. I got the pot blaster from Harbor Freight and ran it through the cabinet. This works perfectly.

Best,
Tom

The pot blasters are cheap at HF or Northern and are easy to roll around. That said....YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY a decent sized air compressor if you expect to be able to sand blast for more than a few seconds at a time.

How frequently do you need to do this? Unless you want to get a much bigger compressor I'd look around for a local machine or fabrication shop. They might even let you use the machine for a few bucks or some beer.

I just bought one of these:

NorthStar High-Pressure Abrasive Blasting Kit Handles up to 3500 PSI | Air Accessory + Tool Kits | Northern Tool + Equipment

But haven't used it yet. I need to clean up a couple of rusty steel door frames in a concrete block building. I don't have a large air compressor, but have a pressure washer, so this looked like a good solution. I was also concerned about the mess from air sandblasting. I'm hoping that the sand will stay fairly close to what I'm blasting.

Your four criteria exclude a media cabinet. If you want to learn more about them, read up on the TP tools link above.

I'd suggest an angle grinder with wire brush wheels. Will take off paint and rust, inexpensive, and will not take much space, no compressor required.

Yes, my plans exclude a cabinet, I specifically don't want one.

I'm using wire brush wheels for paint removal now, it takes hours and hours and hours, and there are intricacies that wire brushes can never get to.

For that reason, and the many parts and frames I have accumulated to do is what has me thinking seriously about a blaster.

Better Living Thru Chemistry!

you can use a Rubbermaid tub instead of a cabinet & use soda - maybe check into CO2

you will definitely want to make sure there is no lead paint used on anything - you'll never be able to sell your house if there is lead in the soil

a friend of mine set his HF(?) cabinet outside to do some blasting and it still created an unholy cloud of dust

so watch it with the neighbors

I believe your last line about says it all. What you want to do, with the air supply you have, just won't work. Sucessful sandblasting needs; air volume, pressure and of course a volume of media that will do the job. The little suction rigs are only good for small jobs. I tried one of the blasters that goes on a high pressure washer and whatever I blasted seemed to rust before I could get it primed. I use a 300# pressure pot and a 185 CFM air compressor for most of what I do. That being said I also have one of the small Harbor Freight pressure pots (holds 40#) and power it with my small compressor with a 5 HP Honda engine on it. The little pots are around $200 and the small compressors can be rented at any rental store. It should work ideally for you. Also, don't forget to wear a good respirator if you blast with sand. It can cause serious lung problems.

I have a 136 year old house with lots and lots of painted woodwork..... Trust me, a little lead in the soil is the least of my problems :rolleyes:

I like the big Rubbermaid tub for recovering some of the media! Then I can pack all of the blasting items (minus the compressor) away into the tub when not in use. I like to compartmentalize.

Ok I'm completely onboard with needing a larger compressor, but what's the smallest I can get away with while using something like that 40# Harbor Freight pot? Something that won't require a near-constant duty cycle.

I have a vertical 80 gal tank 5.5 hp compressor that keeps up with my HF ressure pot adequately (pump cycles on alot, but it pretty much will keep up with nearly continuous blasting). I have used a smaller (maybe 25 gallon 3hp) compressor before, and it would not keep up with continuous blasting.... PITA for all but small brackets or engine parts.

It can be done for under $500

Here's your compressor: $369
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/oil-compressors/4-hp-29-gallon-120-psi-compressor-65903.html
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1287245386.jpg


Here's your media blaster: $129
http://www.harborfreight.com/110-lb-pressurized-abrasive-blaster-95014.html

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1287245745.jpg