Sandblasting?

[Jordan Baker]

Hi everyone.

This is a follow up question to my compressor posting.

What would be a good sandblasting unit to go with. Im working on a Universal Carrier so it would need somthing that would be good at doing large areas as well as smaller parts.

Ive looked at some of the units that Princess Auto sells. Im not to sure with what kind of sandblasting woudl be the best.

Any help is much appreciated.

Sincerely
Jordan Baker

[rob love]

Jordan
If you only want to do the bits and pieces the cabinet #8046492 is a good buy at $222 when it comes on sale. For blasting the hull, you need a pressure pot like the princess auto #8003897. The only problem with that pressure pot is that it only holds 100 pounds, so you will end up having to re-fill it every 15 minutes. To use the pressure pot type, I would reccomend renting a trailer type compressor for a day or two. They can be had for about $75 a day.
To cut costs on the pressure pot sandblaster, just use the common sand like you would find on a beach. I'm in Shilo MB, so sand is a very common commodity out here.
Sift the sand through window screen material before you try and use it, otherwise you will plug up the nozzle. Also make sure the sand is completely dry, or again, it will plug the nozzle.
You can re-use the sand 2 or three times, until it reaches the consistency of cement powder. After that, you are just raising dust and doing very little stripping.
Stay away from the vacuum cleaner type sandblaster, as well as any of the siphon feed type blasters. To try and strip a hull with one of those would be like trying to paint a church with a 1/4 inch artists brush.
Lastly, you will require protective equipment. At a minimum, some form of a hood with a replaceable window, and a quality repirator, coveralls, and gloves. If the sand is strong enough to strip paint, you can bet it will strip skin. The dust is very harmful as well, especially if you are using the silica type sands.
Unless you are planning to do a bunch of restorations, probably the best bet is to find a smaller sandblast shop that will work for cash and get them to do the big stuff.

[RHClarke]

I think that after my experiences this past summer with portable and older style sandblasters, I can comment with some authority on this issue. There are risks involved with this type of DIY project - respiratory and abrasion risks have already been mentioned. Other risks include exploding hoses (due to damp sand, unserviceable pressure relief valve, and old hoses) and dehydration.

If you factor in the cost of the compressor, IPE and pot rental, sand costs, time and effort, it become very evident that the best way of handling the big job is to leave it to the professionals.

We (the S&P Museum) tried both methods. Using our old equipment and hauling in the necessary sand, we spent about two months on weekends trying to blast one frame. Techncial glitches, equipment malfuctions, damp sand, poor weather and
constant refueling, screening and trouble shooting kept us so busy that we decided that our time was worth more than the effort we put in to that point. Even though we were familiar with the equipment things did go wrong. Our exploding hose only managed to shower us with sand and take a few years off of our lives.

After admiting defeat, we called a local mobile sandblasting chap. He rolled in at 0900 hrs on a Saturday morning with his nice shiney truck, with its great diesel compressor, huge pot, supply of sand and variable output remote control nozzle. By 1800 hrs, he had blasted a Bren Gun Carrier complete, a HUP frame and body, a C15 cab and frame, a jeep frame and quite a few miscellaneous parts. Note, that different types of sand were used by our pro for different finishes.

In the end, it cost us a bit more than it did for fuel, sand, supplies, repairs and servicing of our blaster, but the job got done. We got to sit back, chug beer, rustle up parts for blasting and spray paint the freshly stripped and cleaned metal. In one day, the pro had accomplished more that we had over almost eight weekends.

If you are a patient man and experienced blaster, who is very familiar with the ins and outs of sandblasting, has access to nearly new and serviceable equipment and supplies, indoor facilities and a team to help you clean and paint, then I would recommend the DIY course of action.

If not, swallow your pride, pony up the $s and call in a pro. How much is your health worth to you and your loved ones??

[cletrac (RIP)]

I completely sandblasted my Cletrac M2 with one of those Princess Auto 100 lb blasters on a heavy duty 5 hp electric compressor. I'd blast one area then blow it off and paint it so it wouldn't rust. With matte paint it doesn't matter if some of the sand hits the paint when you're doing the next area as the finish doesn't change. With a fairly new nozzle the compressor would keep up at 100 psi but when the hole wore too big you'd have to stop and let it catch up every now and then. I was usually ready for a break by then anyway. For a face mask I used a welding helmet but I took out all the lenses and just closed the hatch on a piece of Saran Wrap. It lasts several times as long as the hard plastic or glass lenses and doesn't cost anything to replace. I wore a dust mask under the helmet for breathing. As for clothes I just wore loose fitting stuff because you can't keep the sand out anyway. Just give yourself a shake and be rid of most of it. I reused the sand about four times in the shop then the last time I blasted parts outside and let it go. I bought about 1000 lbs of the Sil 4 from an oilfield supply outfit so after using it five times that's a lot of sand. I replaced about $50 worth of nozzles and valves before I was done.