Hi Terry,
To your shopping list I'd add a hood and suit to keep the sand away from your
bod, and heavy rubber gloves to protect your hands. A respirator or quality
dust mask is a good idea, too.
Yes, a pressure type blaster will work faster, delivers a lot more media to
the job.
There are many places to buy. I got my small siphon blaster from Sears, and
my blasting cabinet from Airgas. Shop around, the main thing I'd worry about is
replacement parts, which will continue to be needed as things wear out. Check
out J.C. Whitney, Harbor Freight and Northern Tool, too.
Speaking of extra parts, add lots of nozzles to your shopping list too. The
size of nozzle determines the CFM needed, thus how large a compressor is
required. It also decided how much media is delivered, and how fast the job
goes.
Also look at the "duty cycle" of any compressor. Blasting a large area keeps
the compressor running nearly continuously, perhaps for an hour or more. Some
are not rated for that type of operation, may need to "rest" for half of every
hour, or will burn themselves up.
Ceramic nozzles wear too fast with harder abrasive media, use steel in these
cases, or carbide.
Also add rubber caps and plugs to your list, useful when blasting parts to
keep media out of internals and areas you want to avoid.
One other thing, don't use heavy, highly abrasive blasting on the centers of
larger body panels (doors, fenders, trunk lids, hoods, etc.) or you can badly
warp them. It's possible to use plastic media or walnut shells on body panels,
or just blast the edges and sand the center areas separately.
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
AMfoto1@aol.com
http://hometown.aol.com/amfoto1/amfoto1.htm
I have researched archives, and am still confused. I think the following is
suggested as advisable:
Pressure blasting is preferred over siphon. Two stage compressor, minimum 6
to 7 horsepower, somewhere between 60 and 90 gallons? To this, I add
sandblasting paraphenalia, including a gun, special nozzles, sand bucket,
anything else?
I wrote in my notes from the list, but can't find in archives anywhere,
recommendations for an Eagle brand blaster that (I can't read my notes) gives
10.5 cfm @ 90PSI? Sound anywhere close to right?
Does anyone give me a better understanding of the specifications I need, that
are better than those I cobbled together from archives? And maybe a hint
where to start shopping?
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