sandblasting issues

[Guest]

OK I am going totally insane here. I have been having really bad luck with the siphon cabinet I picked up a while back so I decided to go get a canister system and use that in my cabinet. Nice idea, except I can't get this damn thing to work either. I have some black walnut shells I am trying to shoot and my compressor is supposed to push 9.9 cfm. I put the biggest nozzle on it and got some media out of it after playing with the little valve on the bottom forever and plugging it up a ton of times but it doesn't keep pressure with the big tip. If I put any other tip on it it plugs up immediately. I got a sack of playground sand (I know nasty I didn't want to waste my shells though) and got it to spray that ok with the big tip, then thought I had it down so I cleaned it all out and swapped back to the shells with no luck.

I wanted the black walnut because I do a lot of sheet metal and the guy at northern said that was the best for sheet, but it seems like the media is just huge...should I get something finer? Is that my issue? or am I possibly just sand blasting retarded?

[51ChevyPickup]

Re: sandblasting issues

Try glass beads.

[Guest]

Re: sandblasting issues

i used the 100-170 glass beads. My compressor is only about 7-8 cfm.

OK I am going totally insane here. I have been having really bad luck with the siphon cabinet I picked up a while back so I decided to go get a canister system and use that in my cabinet. Nice idea, except I can't get this damn thing to work either. I have some black walnut shells I am trying to shoot and my compressor is supposed to push 9.9 cfm. I put the biggest nozzle on it and got some media out of it after playing with the little valve on the bottom forever and plugging it up a ton of times but it doesn't keep pressure with the big tip. If I put any other tip on it it plugs up immediately. I got a sack of playground sand (I know nasty I didn't want to waste my shells though) and got it to spray that ok with the big tip, then thought I had it down so I cleaned it all out and swapped back to the shells with no luck.

I wanted the black walnut because I do a lot of sheet metal and the guy at northern said that was the best for sheet, but it seems like the media is just huge...should I get something finer? Is that my issue? or am I possibly just sand blasting retarded?

[Streetwerkz]

Re: sandblasting issues

We use Aluminum Oxide for everything, including sheet metal, and sheet aluminum.
biggest thing to remember is to turn the pressure down, for sheet metal we usually run about 40-50 psi.
With our blasters we have to adjust the pressure/media (like air fuel ratio for a engine)
In the beginning we had to just play around with it making VERY SMALL adjustments to the media feed valve, the air valve to control the cfm, and psi.
One thing I have learned is that we do not always need alot of pressure (psi) and media for our blaster to work properly.

we tried walnut shell, it sucked and did not work very well.

Try to keep in mind that it's a balancing act and very small adjustments can have a major impact on performance
A few junk yard parts, coupled with patience and you will be in business

Harbor freight media sucks ass big time, do not waste your money on it's not the grit they sat it is, and breaks down FAST

[Guest]

Re: sandblasting issues

I use AO 70 grit form Harbor frieght, I cant find it no were else and it works fine for my small operation mostly aluminum i work with.

[Streetwerkz]

Re: sandblasting issues

I use AO 70 grit form Harbor frieght, I cant find it no were else and it works fine for my small operation mostly aluminum i work with.

I use 60 grit from Trinco, it's about 3 times larger, and last easily 10 times longer, and is probably about 20% cheaper.
I recently had to use some harbor freight AL 70 and 300 lbs lasted 6 hours, where 300 lbs from trinco would last us 40-80 hours for a simular job.

[Guest]

Re: sandblasting issues

I use AO 70 grit form Harbor frieght, I cant find it no were else and it works fine for my small operation mostly aluminum i work with.

Same here... Although I'm really trying to find a better value, just having no luck due to shipping costs.

[Guest]

Re: sandblasting issues

OK thanks guys. Yea my official opinion on the shells is they suck as well. I figured out that a TINY change in that valve is all it takes. It seemed to me that I should be able to blow it at a lot lower than 110 though, man it was driving me crazy. Well back to northern I guess. No one else in town I have found carries media at all.

[Guest]

Re: sandblasting issues

OK the AO is like peeing in the snow. Ripped the paint off with a SERIOUS quickness. That bottom valve is about annoying. Has to be just right and you have to turn it off if you stop spraying or the damn tube fills up and it spits out a nice pile of media. Other than that it is working perfect! Thanks a lot guys.