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I noticed our local hardware/automotive/grocery empire has a Campbell Hausfeld sandblaster on sale. It looks like a small light weight unit. I’ve never used such a thing before. Many years ago I used a shop style sandblaster that ran on a large compressor and was rigged with a serious ventilation system.
I took a look on Campbell Hausfeld’s website to learn more about their unit, but they have no details. I have a few questions that would be helpful to understand.
1. Safety. What is the best gear to invest in when using these small units? What kinds of respirators are best? I presume these models are no less capable of causing silicosis.
2. What is the power of these units? How is power rated? My application is to strip paint and rust from some cast iron parts. I would invest in the unit for this use and then keep it around for occasional metal and masonry finishing. No heavy duty usage (I presume).
3. Do different models use different consumables? What is the typical cost of feeding these things?
Replies
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I've got one, differant brand. Caution they take more air then you can make. I started with a 5Hp. comp. big upright air tank. About 3 minutes of blasting I noticed not much paint removal. sure enough out of air, 10 minutes later ready to go again. 3 more minutes & 10 min. pause.
hooked up with my small portable air compressor and got up to 4 min.
FINALLY BROUGHT HOME A 185 cfm DIESEL POWERED SULLAIR COMPRESSOR. Now I could sand blast untill I ran out of sand. Not sure too many people want to spend the needed $13,000.00
You need leather hood, gloves jacket and long sturdt pants. You better get the best resperator you've ever heard about!
Blast materials vary tremendously in effectiveness. if it's castings or something really sturdy you can use really agressive material. but if you're doing sheet metal, be very careful I saw one nice straight Jaguar XKE turned into a bondo buggy in order to hide all of the waves caused by too much pressure and too aggresive media.
The brand doesn't make too much differance, the nozzle is the real key. The only differance in the variety I've used is how easy they are to unclog when they plug up.
It's very hot under the helmet and in all those leathers. A real nasty job I wish I could give to others. ( maybe if I didn't buy every tool on the tool truck I'd have enough money to spend to hire it done?)
*Just a thought. Have you given any consideration to the type of sand blaster that hooks up to a high pressure washer? It eliminates a lot of the sand floating around in the air. They're not all that expensive either.
*I agree with Frenchy in that it's NOT a fun job. Not only are you getting dust from the media, but also the material being removed (rust, dust, dirt, paint, etc.,) is being blown around. Have done the undercarrage of my truck, and also racecar, have found its definitely good to do it outside and with some form of containment curtain (silica EVERYWHERE!). Go to a local auto finish store for the best respirator you can get, and also a couple of pairs of glasses (the lenses get backblasted too).Have fun!CSR in AZ
*I still have my portable sandblaster from over 20 years ago, and haven't used it much since then. The tip I can give you is to use ceramic nozzles instead of steel, the steel ones wear out quickly. I used plain old beach sand to get rust off a VW and graffitti off a brick building. Worked OK, but messy.-- J.S.
*Thanks Everybody, You have confirmed my suspicions (I think). The unit I saw on sale for $49 Canadian (about $30 US) must be only the beginning of the expense. I think I'll will check out the Rent-All for advice when it gets warm enough to make a mess outside.
*For this low price, the unit must be a suction style. As opposed to a pressure blaster. A typical small suction blaster can be used on a 2 hp compressor, for intermittent duty. It is good for blasting small parts and small sections of large parts. I use one Sears sold in the late 70's. They finally stopped selling parts for it, and I purchased the gun portion from TIP, Inc. These suction blasters have limited power, so progress is slow.Personal protection is still needed, just maybe not as much leather on sleeves. Need a dust mask rated for sillica. Goggles with air holes are bad, sand will enter though the holes. A hood is the best.I now use a small pressure blaster from TIP for medium jobs. It is rated for a 5 hp compressor. As Frenchy says, most pressure blasters need 10 hp and up.If most of the parts are small, a blast cabinet is the way to go. No mess, and built in personal protection. But, high price.Frank
*I have one of these little units; very handy and takes up little room. I gang my two compressors tog. for 40 gal. of storage and use it for all kinds of things: rust on cars, etched glass, blasting tar off my foundation so i could stucco it. It is extremely important to use a water filter close to the gun. The tip should be ceramic, as previously stated.1. Safety. I use painters Tyvek coveralls, a t-shirt over my hair and ears, and goggles with the non-splash vent holes for work with caustic materials. Gloves, of course. 3M plastic-mesh covered respirator--it's only sand, not asbestos.2.Power. These units have no power; the compressor supplies it.3. I normally use 30 grit Monterey sand for rusty parts and etching glass; a 20/30 mixture for rough work like cleaning concrete. This is cheap and lasts for hours. If you blast with more expensive materials like garnet and alum oxide, you'll want to recover them. In recovery, you can sieve them for different grits, as they break down when they are sprayed. Never put unsieved material in the hopper.
*Rein, The cheap open hopper suction blaster is best left in the store. If you want to sandblast any thing you need a pressure pot ,A very good hood( Bullard ) with a cape and a supply of clean air for the hood, 20 CFM for a 1/8" nozzle ,45 for 3/16" , 81 for 1/4" 137 for 5/16" and196 for3/8 " If you plan to do more than 1to 4 jobs a year a carbide nozzle is the way to go . A ceramic nozzle will lastabout 3hr by 4hrs. it has opened up to more than 2x its starting size ,now you need more than 80 cfm instead of 20. carbide will last into the 500 to 1000 hr range . Personal equipment ; gloves long sleves pants that do not have any holes esp. the crotch , And the HELMET ,air supplied ,molded plastic with the cape. The long sleves are optional when the temps are up past the 80s .I only use long sleaves in the summer heat when I have to hold small parts to blast. I use cotton gloves in the summer and lined leather gloves or mittons in the winter. A good Ingersal Rand 185 with a John Deere diesel is the only way to go, Well for me anyway ,John Deere dealer not toofar away .
*Don, Sullair actually makes more of it's rated cfm then Ingersol Rand,with less maintinance. I agree just about every good air compressor will use a John Deere diesel. I used Grimmer Schmidt for a while that had A Ford 302 cu. in. V8 half of the cylinders ran it the other had a special cylinder head that did the compressing. Very light and compact air compressor. Only trouble was it was cold blooded and required use of a hand choke in the winter to get it to warm up properly. When the engine finally wore out, he got a rebuilt engine threw away one cylinder head and got another 6500 hours out of it.
*SGSilica is not carcinogenic, but it sure is fibrinogenic and there is no real treatment for pulmonary fibrosis. You really need a proper respirator, preferably with an external powered air source.Frank
*Frenchy, What maintinance, regular oil/filter change at 100 hr. no big deal air filters when dirty. The only problems I had with I/R was the White gas motor. Too expensive to repair / rebuild . When it blew up I switched it to a Chevy 350 . Got more power and only about 1 1/2 hr. less on a tank of gas. 185 cfm is 185 cfm it is rated 185 at 100 psi . Is Sullair rated at a higher psi ? What would be realy cool would be a600 with the Detriot 6V71 ,good sounds,very reliable motor .
*Have you had to replace you air end yet? good luck when you do.. IR is expensive.. As for 185 cfm, put a meter on it, closer to 170 new then 185. Don't worry they all advertise big. Sullair is 180.point something. Yuk. Detroit! I much prefer the Cat 3406 in that application. At least you don't have to put a drop cloth under the compressor to catch all the oil leaking out! As for sound, I wish I could find a big ol' cover to totally enclose the whole damn thing. I've had my share of noise. (you haven't lived until you've got about a thousand hours of twin unmuffled Wright 1750's roaring away about 6 feet from your ears.) heh, what did you say?
*Guys, guys, guys...Rein Taul stated he wants to blast a few small parts and "No heavy duty usage (I presume)." Now you've gone and wound this up into at least a couple grand worth of "toys".Sheesh.
*Frank, see my post below. Rein can get more dust in his lungs in a heavy wind than he will get wearing a regular dust mask like the 3M 2700 series. Invest in an external air source hood for a little bit of blasting? Next thing, anyone who spray paints a lawn chair will have to have a commercial spray booth! I absolutely appreciate your concerns about health and have seen silicosis up close and personal (father was a miner) and wouldn't recommend anyone go that way, but let's be reasonable.
*Splintergroupie, A 600 cfm compressor is over $50,000. new. I think we're playing a new game now, called my toy is bigger then your toy, the first one never wins. This is called a hi-jacking....HE,HE,HE,HE!
*Yeah, i was thinking he could "get by" with the $1600 low-end 7.5 horse model to clean the occasional part...
*Comeon Splinter,A low end 7.5 hp air compressor!!! you got to be kiddin' ,when you could have a 70 to90 hp rotary screw compressor puting out 185 cfm. Frenchy , I have never replaced an air end on any of the screw compressors , only on the vane . Well only the vanes on the rotary vane compressor . Oh on the Detroit ,a little care in assembly and running just short of the full line on the dip stick it will never leak. Most people get sloppy when they put gaskets on . The only leaker I had came from sloppy shops , Have a real DD mechanic put it together ,no leaks, Its amazing . You can have your cat thankyou
*Is that the portable 70 HP compressor or the one you tow behind the Cummins diesel with the dualies?It's nice to have the horsepower, for sure. I had several 1/4" plate glass panels to stage-blast, so i went to the monument makers in my town and convinced them to turn me loose in their walk-in booth for three days--80 hp compressor, lots of different grits of alum ox to use--what more could a girl want?
*I think I have to go talk to my bank manager now.
*Splinter, do you blast a lot of glass , pictures art work etc. ? Yep you could pull it behind the cummins dualie but I use a real truck.
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I noticed our local hardware/automotive/grocery empire has a Campbell Hausfeld sandblaster on sale. It looks like a small light weight unit. I've never used such a thing before. Many years ago I used a shop style sandblaster that ran on a large compressor and was rigged with a serious ventilation system.
I took a look on Campbell Hausfeld's website to learn more about their unit, but they have no details. I have a few questions that would be helpful to understand.
1. Safety. What is the best gear to invest in when using these small units? What kinds of respirators are best? I presume these models are no less capable of causing silicosis.
2. What is the power of these units? How is power rated? My application is to strip paint and rust from some cast iron parts. I would invest in the unit for this use and then keep it around for occasional metal and masonry finishing. No heavy duty usage (I presume).
3. Do different models use different consumables? What is the typical cost of feeding these things?