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Sandblasting

Just a little follow up on the sandblasting cabinet. This is a "trinco

24" cabinet, 24x18 inside. I modified it very slightly by shortening its legs a little, so that it would fit where I wanted it to fit. Also welded a grate support rod that was lost during the years.

I filled it with Harbor Freight blast media and it works great for my typical purposes, like sandblasting a bench vise to prepare it for painting.

The blasting gun, at my given pressure, seems to clean relatively quickly. Fortunately, the compressor seems to easily keep up with sandblaster's flow.

The vacuum dust remover seems to work, as well.

I have a couple of questions.

  1. If the blast media gets clumpy due to moisture, despite using a air dryer (say I forgot to turn it on), I could just dry it in my barbeque on a low setting, for a couple of hours, right?

  1. Are the dust and blast media that accumulate in the "reclaimer" meant to be recycled in the cabinet, until the media gets too contaminated with blasting residue, or breaks down? The vacuum is for keeping the blaster's inside visible and preventing outside contamination, not for separating grit from blasting residue?

Reply to
Ignoramus24511
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I've had good results using the sand from the side of the road, filtered through window screen to remove gravel.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

I have seen some very big warnings against using sand, warning us about silicosis and other terrifying ailments. They also say that silica sand breaks down too quickly.

At $30 per 50 lbs, I think that blast media is not that expensive.

Reply to
Ignoramus24511

Reply within;

Never had that much of a moisture problem. Are you draining the compressor regularly? Install a water trap 10 ft from the air compressor in line with the cabinet if you don't have one.

My experience is that what does into my vacuum is beyond useful. More like powder without any abrasive properties. Your milage may vary. Thanks, Steve in OK

Reply to
Steve Monroe

Yes, or just spread it out in the sun, and toss it every 1/2 hour with a garden rake. Unless it actually gets soaked, it will dry quickly.

All of the above.

The vacuum is for

Correct.

Experiment with different media. Glass beads, silica sand, river/concrete sand, walnut shells, all have different properties. Walnut shells will blast paint from soft materials like aluminum, with out removing any parent metal, while silica will remove material from even steel or glass. If you machine will circulate steel shot, you can even do surface stress relieving at low pressures. As someone else mentioned, for everyday blasting and painting, river/concrete sand is real cheap and works well.

Reply to
Elliot G

that's aluminium oxide if it's brown. it tends to fracture and get smaller. the edges on the fractures aren't very sharp, so as it wears, it cuts less and less. it wears out after a while.

if you get silicon carbide (black) it fractures sharp and keeps cutting.

i wouldn't use sand unless i was using a hepa filter on the dust extraction, or at least a very good respirator down to submicron sizes.

regards, charlie

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Reply to
charlie

I could not find any label on the media, but it is dark grey in color.

That's my own conclusion.

Reply to
Ignoramus24511

The brown can also be called Garnet. THe gemstone name. And the name used on sand paper...

Mart> >>>> On Mar 16, 11:02?am, Ignoramus24511 >>> 24511.invalid> wrote: >>>>

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

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