Just got a Harbor Freight pressurized abrasive blaster

[Bugfuel]

Will follow up with first hand user experiences.. starting out with a small compressor, don't have a big one yet. Which is what this thing would really need.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=95014

The price was right, 25% off from list price $150

It's the biggest model they have.
Seems to be fairly robust, the only thing I found a little lightweight were the valves. Easy enough to replace if needed. Comes with a water separator, which is nice.
The deadman valve (gun) came with 4 different sized ceramic nozzles which all look really small to my eye, but we'll see.

[craigvwdude]

Actually, for a cheap blaster, it works extremely well. I have blasted several cars with mine!

[Bugfuel]

Well,

just did the first test.

Compressor is a Campbell hausfeld 5 hp, 20 gal
8.1 SCFM/40PSI
6.3 SCFM/90PSI

Used installation/play sand straight out of the bag and the bottom valve clogged repeatedly, as was expected I suppose. This thing is meant for finer stuff.
Next, I will filter the sand to get the bigger particles out.
I also have glass beads I could try but I know it will work just fine.

The short time this thing worked on unfiltered sand, it worked GREAT.
Compared to a cheap siphon feed gun that I also have, the difference is night and day.
With the little gun and glass beads, I spent several seconds breaking through the rust on an old steel generator that had plenty of hard rust on it. I made a penny sized clean spot.

With this big gun, I shot from maybe 1 ft away and IMMEDIATELY wiped the whole side of the generator clean, to the metal. Amazing. Did not have time to "time" it
At first I was worried that the small nozzle size (3mm or 3.5mm) would only give me a small spot. But it fanned out pretty nice, still staying concentrated enough to be effective, and allows for more distance.

Based on this first very limited, "worst case" test, I'm happy with it.
Just need better quality media to prevent clogging. A light tap or two on the bottom valve cleared the clogs easily though.

I plan on blasting a whole floorpan of a car from underneath as well as fenderwells, maybe some lower body panels. Plus whatever rusty loose parts I need to, that I don't want to use a glass beader on.

I'm also planning to build a blasting cabinet for teh glass bead setup, it would allow me to switch media pretty quickly and blast stuff inside the garage.
Blasting outside is no big deal in Florida though, all year round

[craigvwdude]

Glad to hear you like it so far!
Yes, the finer grit sand work better by far. No clogging.
And once you get the mix of air/sand worked out, you will be amazed how good it works and how long the sand will last.
Like i said, i've done several cars with mine. Takes about a day and several bags of sand to do a car inside and out. Much cheaper than having a professional blaster do it!
Just make sure on the flat spots keep the nozzle moving to prevent any kind of warpage.
Also make sure your in a well vented area. Not good stuff to breath!
Have fun!
Craig

[Tom in PA]

If you're using regular sand and not blasting media, I'd highly recommend a respirator. The dust is horrible on the lungs.

Tom

[Bugfuel]

Thank you for your recommendations. I haven't decided on the media yet. Got one bag of cheap play sand type of sand to test the blaster with. (From what it looks like in comparison, its a bit better, consistent size grain than play sand) Knowing it would be about the worst stuff to try and push through. So I now have an indication of how bad it can get
And yea, I need to be careful with what I breathe in. Silicosis, lung cancer and stuff aren't something to take lightly. Got a hood with the blaster too.

[Bugfuel]

The sand I used was Sakrete Multi-Purpose sand, medium coarse.

I did have the bottom media flow control valve opened up pretty wide for a while to see what it does, and I got a steady flow of sand coming out at lower speed.. but TONS of sand. What I thought was clogs towards the end of my test run, probably was just sand running low in the tank. I didn't put much in there to begin with. Of course, this thing uses a LOT more sand than the little siphon guns.

I also filtered some of the sand to see what I get, and I found that there's maybe 1/3 of coarser stuff in it, from total volume of sand. Too much work for too little gain to separate it from the finer stuff. It should go through I think... I'll test some more this weekend I'm sure.

For those that haven't used sand blasters in the open before.. I strongly recommend recycling it. You end up using LOTS of sand. I put a big tarp under the area where I'm blasting, after removing the bigger clumps of dirt and undercoating. The used sand mostly ends up on the tarp where I can collect it and filter it back into a bucket (you can use a large stainless kitchen strainer) for reusing it. The sand wears out over time as the sharp edges round off, you will notice when it doesn't cut as good as it did before. Then dump it and put new sand in. Further recycling ideas include flower beds, patio tiles, other landscaping uses, cat litter boxes...

[craigvwdude]

you might try turning your sand down. On a full tank i usually go all most 1/2 an hour. It doesn't take much sand at all. Too much and your just wasting it.
Just expeirment and you'll get it all dialed in!

[Tom in PA]

I almost forgot about a hood. Very nice to have, keeps sand out of all kinds of nasty places

[Bugfuel]

well the weather has not favored outdoor blasting, even here in Florida.
So I've been lazy and done practically nothing. Also trying to shake a nasty cold that's been bugging me for 2 months on and off.

But this blasting thing is really growing on me.
Today I went to HF again for an A/C gauge set and walked out with a media blasting cabinet
It was on sale. $115 or so. I had been planning to build my own which I have done before, but my materials cost was getting over $70 and I figured it's not that much more to get a ready made cheapie and improve it where necessary.

So my first modification was to buy a cheap fluorescent light fixture, a slim, one 18" tube.
I mounted it to the ceiling of the cabinet and it works great!

[kingsburgphil]

well the weather has not favored outdoor blasting, even here in Florida.
So I've been lazy and done practically nothing. Also trying to shake a nasty cold that's been bugging me for 2 months on and off.

But this blasting thing is really growing on me.
Today I went to HF again for an A/C gauge set and walked out with a media blasting cabinet
It was on sale. $115 or so. I had been planning to build my own which I have done before, but my materials cost was getting over $70 and I figured it's not that much more to get a ready made cheapie and improve it where necessary.

So my first modification was to buy a cheap fluorescent light fixture, a slim, one 18" tube.
I mounted it to the ceiling of the cabinet and it works great!

I hope your HF media blast cabinet is better than mine. Mine had/has leaky seams, glass bead go's everywhere. A crude nozzle/gun, size "small" gloves and a flimsy wire mesh work tray. Buyer beware !!

[Bugfuel]

yea I noticed all that. I bought an extra set of long sleeved gloves and I may beef up the work tray screen with a second one... or a better one and discard the original. Looks like it won't take much weight. And the white seam sealer they used is peeling off just by gravity alone I'll take it all off and use real seam sealer. But all in all, it's a decent start, I just need to finish it

[Chris V]

I'll add my experience with cabinets...

My first HF cabinet was just a little 20x16x12 or so, it was a top-loader, it was better than nothing, but a POS...Dad got me their big'un for my last birthday, floor standing, funnel reservoir, vacuum port, end loader...Both came with light fixtures - though the lamps they come with are poor and didn't last long for me.

On the smaller cabinet I had a problem with the gun, ended up buying a replacement from Grainger.

[turboblue]

I almost forgot about a hood. Very nice to have, keeps sand out of all kinds of nasty places

Keeps sand out of nasty places or keeps nasty sand out of places?.............

I don't have a pot blaster but have a Clarke blast cabinet that I like very well.

[Bart1958]

My 78 Bus is in pretty good shape but, I am going to be setting aside some time next year to pull the body off my 78 F150. Thanks for the info, I had been looking at some options for cleaning up the frame it. This looks like a possibility.