Quote:
Originally Posted by Talewinds
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?
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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.