Portable Sand Blaster - Any Good?

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Has anyone bought and used one of these portable sandblasters? It has a 37 Litre (18 US Gallon) capacity and runs at 60-125 PSI.

I would like to sandblast a chassis and firewall; plus some steel 20 inch radius truck rims.

There are larger capacity versions of the same style of unit available.

Would this machine be up to the task?

Kind regards
Lionel

[rob love]

It won't be the sandblaster that will cause the limitation on what you can accomplish, it will be the air supply. You need a very good supply of air. I have a 7.5hp 2 stage compressor, and it does not quite keep up with the sandblasting operations.



If you do have a good air supply, then a pressure pot like you show is a little on the small side, but will get the job done. And, of course, make sure you use a good mask with particulate filters.

[hrpearce]

Lionel, that is the sand blaster I used and as Rob said keeping the air up to is is the problem. When I had three compressors hooked up to a 60L air tank it ran fairly well, but as Ganmain Tony can confirm when the biggest compressor blew up we had to constantly stop to recharge the air tank.

[paulnewman]

Hi,
I have one like that.As stated keeping the air up is the problem so I hooked up a 85cfm compressor to it and made a lot of difference. The problems now are the brass tap on the bottom that controls the sand only lasted a short time,the sandblaster hose wore out very quick so I put a double braid hydraulic hose on it and the sandblaster nozzle assembly wore out so I use the old nozzle off a wet sandblaster unit I had. Cleans quick but a dirty job. Old heavy raincoat gloves and an full hood air fed mask a must.

[Mike Kelly]

Lionel

For the larger pieces like a chassis and wheels/axles and more , do it yourself blasting ,its not a easy operation for the back yard restorer. If you can find a commercial blaster nearby who is reasonable, use them. It's a dirty, messy and very noisy process. You have to buy the correct blast medium as well, most of them use garnet I think. If you do try it, use good ear/hearing protection. I use a local chap, he charges very reasonable rates. You drop off a whole trailer load of bits and he blast and primes it all, usually he charges $100 to 150 which is a great deal. Last time I was at his place, he was blasting the local RSL 25 Pndr . Used to be a Stuart hull there too and a bren carrier

[rob love]

Personally, 6 inches below the soil here, it is all sand. Two buckets full with the tractor, and I have enough for the season. I have to let it dry, then sift it through an appropriate screen. I reuse it a couple times until it is getting too fine, then use fresh from the pile.

If you are buying sand (or whatever medium you decide to use), it does tend to make the whole operation cost just as much or more than taking it to the local blaster. I could not imagine trying something like this in a residential area.

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

Hello All,

Has anyone bought and used one of these portable sandblasters? It has a 37 Litre (18 US Gallon) capacity and runs at 60-125 PSI.

I would like to sandblast a chassis and firewall; plus some steel 20 inch radius truck rims.

There are larger capacity versions of the same style of unit available.

Would this machine be up to the task?

Kind regards
Lionel

Hello All,

It is has been quite some time since I first posted about the portable sand blaster. I saw one advertised second-hand on a local "Marketplace" and it was for a reasonable price. Supposedly bought new and never used - as the person was waiting for inspiration to get into their motor vehicle restoration. Inspiration exited the building so they put the blaster up for sale.

I just needed to buy a $10 connector so it hooked up to my air compressor hose. Plus, I replaced the unit's el-cheapo hose clamp with a better version and the only air leak was fixed. Oh - and I had to remove a mud-wasp's nest from the air inlet port. Luckily the inlet tap was turned off.

I am aware from your earlier contributions to this thread that I will be on the market for a more "professional" grade ceramic nozzle in the near future. However, I am still in front of the cost of a new unit.

The first use of the unit will be to strip the rust and paint from a truck chassis. After that a couple of ex-military Land Rover chassis too. There are also two sets of truck tyre rims off the REO and the Chevy - both with a dual rear axle; plus spares to blast and restore.

Kind regards
Lionel