I knew I was forgetting something. The big, commercial sand blast systems
don't have a shut off valve in the handle, they have a soft plug on the end
of a lever. You open the nozzle to blast, and let the plug close the nozzle
to stop. This sends the air backwards up the line to fluff up the media.
All the air you send into a blast cabinet needs to be dried. I use two cheap
standard driers in series from my compressor, that totals four drier
chambers, and I still get some water in the last chamber, but not much. I
use that for everything. It's not perfect, but it works.
I do the same thing Richard does--plug the nozzle with the glove and let it
blow backwards. Works.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of Richard Taylor
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 2:38 PM
To: 'elliottd'; 'Friends of Triumph'
Subject: RE: Clogging Sand Blast Cabinet
Don,
My cabinet is more of the garden variety size but when it stops blowing sand
I squirt the gun hard against the palm of my gloved other hand. This makes
the system blowback into the sand reservoir and, voila, it goes right back
to sucking and blowing sand just like it's supposto.
Just a thought.
Richard Taylor
Atlanta
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On Behalf
Of elliottd
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 2:20 PM
To: Friends of Triumph
Subject: Clogging Sand Blast Cabinet
I just paid $500 to a sandblast shop to have about 100 parts for the TR3A
stripped of all the paint and rust. I found the price rather steep.
I have a friend who has offered me free use of his huge blast cabinet which
is big enough to accept up to a TR6 fender or hood. The problem is it seems
to be getting clogged somewhere and the gun only shoots air. Neither he nor
I know what the problem is or how to get it to run so that the blast media
comes out the gun with the compressed air. I assume that something is
getting clogged but may be wrong. The gun is fed by a huge air compressor
(almost brand new) that has a duty cycle of about 20% when sand blasting or
glass peening. In the back of the blast cabinet is a vertically mounted
cylindrical tank measuring about 18 inch diameter and 3 feet long with a fan
in it and beside that is a steel cabinet which measures 2 ft by 2 ft and is
about 9 feet high. This latter cabinet is connected at the top with a 8"
flex duct from the cylindrical fan/tank unit. The front of this opens as a
door and inside are about 36long canvas tubular bags or sleeves, each about
8 feet long hanging there very neatly. At the bottom is a slide drawer
where sand has to be emptied periodically with a shovel.
Can anyone help so I can get this going and keep it going. I could save
myself and the guy who owns the TR that I'm doing for him a lot af money.
Maybe I could start up a small sideline business doing blasting. Anyone
suggest a good web site with cross-sectional diagrams which might help
explain its operation and the maintenance required.
Any other ideas ?
Don Elliott, 1958 TR3A, Montreal, Canada
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