Portable Sand Blaster - Any Good?

[charlie fitton]

I have one of these very inexpensive sandblast kits that mount on the end of your pressure-washer wand.

Bigger pressure washer is better, but it works well enough to do a few wee jobs. I did a few rims while still mounted on the boat trailer.

Yes - things will rust quickly, to state the obvious. Wipe it down and get the paint on...

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Charlie,

I may have posted this before but this is the chemical we used on ships with our industrial water blaster. Really was great stuff. We water blasted the holds, let the steel dry overnight with fans then painted the next day. No flash rust ever.

Available in Australia too through Wattyl paints and I have 4 litres that has lasted me many years.

Only need a small amount of this in water. I use about a teaspoon in 5 litres. On the ship we had a means of injecting it with the water. After I remove rust be it by molasses, acid, etc I dunk the parts in the solution, let it dry and I can wait even a few days before painting. Again, no flash rust.

Cheers,

[Chris Abraham]

I use a large Wolf Dakota 90 litre 14cfm compressor. I built my own pressure pot from a large Co2 fire extinguisher. Runs like a dream, pressure pots are so efficient. The biggest draw back is not overheating your compressor. With the Dakota you can use it continuously for 12 tank charges but i found that if you get a blower directed on the cylinder of the compressor then you can run it as long as you want without damaging it, as the blower cools it right down. Another trick is to make a pipe system about 6 or 8 upward runs about 2 metres each section that act as a moisture trap which can be drained off after use. You will be surprised how much trouble moisture in a blasting system can cause, a must to build and use.