Welding Tips and Tricks

Hey guys, I’m tempted to get a sandblaster, does anyone know If these are any good?

This is a cheapie ($175 aud) which I was tempted to take a gamble on, I get they will be governed by the compressor they are hooked up to as well.

The first job I’d tackle with it is to strip the paint off my rusty bullbar but honestly I can get it professionally sandblasted and powder coated for $600 so if anyone knows I’d these are crap then that’s just what I will do. Anyone got any reviews (not specific to this brand, just something comparable)
thanks in advance
James


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I have used one, they work pretty good fr small jobs. I use a welding hood with clear plates instead of the cheezy hood they include with the pot.

With a good compressor it works OK.

I have a portable sandblaster for stuff that I need to do outdoors or that won't fit in my blast cabinet, I rarely use it. I understand you won't be able to get that into any sand blast cabinet so you're pretty much relegated to one like you're looking at. Personally, I would get one that is plastic and much cheaper. Then get a blast cabinet if you really want to have something nice.

https://www.harborfreight.com/portable- ... andblaster

That price of $600 to refinish a brush bar is insane. I bet my sandblast and powder coat guy would do something like that for me for under $100.

Apparently it is getting Powder Coated in Gold leaf!

BugHunter wrote:I have a portable sandblaster for stuff that I need to do outdoors or that won't fit in my blast cabinet, I rarely use it. I understand you won't be able to get that into any sand blast cabinet so you're pretty much relegated to one like you're looking at. Personally, I would get one that is plastic and much cheaper. Then get a blast cabinet if you really want to have something nice.

https://www.harborfreight.com/portable- ... andblaster

That price of $600 to refinish a brush bar is insane. I bet my sandblast and powder coat guy would do something like that for me for under $100.

Have you used that harbour freight one because that’s an awesome price!

Thanks for the help guys, very helpful as usual


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Hey everyone, for anyone wondering I’ve been researching sandblasting and every unit I see has terrible reviews, I’ve done a bit of digging and from what I can tell you need a massive compressor.

The compressor I’m looking at getting is $890 which is a 18cfm 100% duty cycle unit, it looks massive, from what I’ve read you need between 18-22cfm to run it so it’s at the lower end. I’m just hoping it does it.

Hope this helps someone as it took me ages to find this out


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Nethergate wrote:Hey everyone, for anyone wondering I’ve been researching sandblasting and every unit I see has terrible reviews, I’ve done a bit of digging and from what I can tell you need a massive compressor.

The compressor I’m looking at getting is $890 which is a 18cfm 100% duty cycle unit, it looks massive, from what I’ve read you need between 18-22cfm to run it so it’s at the lower end. I’m just hoping it does it.

Hope this helps someone as it took me ages to find this out


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i suspect at that price its chiesium. take the 18cfm with a grain of salt and i highly doubt 100% duty cycle.. figures are usually optimistic at best.
how much HP is it?

also its well worth investing in an air cooler. drop out as much moisture as you can.

Do I dare ask...... what are you using for a respirator at home ?

Blasting outside with "sand" is nasty.... the dust is nasty stuff.

At a minimum, you'll want a rock solid respirator. Spend more on your respirator. Skimp on the respirator, & fast forward 25 years.... be prepared for the diagnosis.... you've got a cancerous tumor, that lung lobe needs to come out.

You can survive with 1 and a half lungs, but it sucks.

Lots of options when blasting outside at home, but bottom line..... do NOT skimp on your respirator.

Nethergate wrote:Hey everyone, for anyone wondering I’ve been researching sandblasting and every unit I see has terrible reviews, I’ve done a bit of digging and from what I can tell you need a massive compressor.

The compressor I’m looking at getting is $890 which is a 18cfm 100% duty cycle unit, it looks massive, from what I’ve read you need between 18-22cfm to run it so it’s at the lower end. I’m just hoping it does it.

Hope this helps someone as it took me ages to find this out

It does take a lot of air volume, but if this is a once in a long while affair, you can just stop and let the compressor keep up if yours isn't big enough. It just depends on what amount of use you expect. A big blaster takes BIG air. Keep in mind, it's like running a 3/16" open hose.

I would imagine you can get enough compressor for $900, it's not that demanding. I take HP ratings with a grain of salt, they're mostly lies. They will say "Compressor HP" which is 100% Pulitzer prize winning fiction. Literally, if you even see a compressor with "Compressor HP" in the description, don't buy it.

Have you used that harbour freight one because that’s an awesome price!

I have an I have done plenty of stuff with it, but either small stuff, or things I had time to waste with. Mine isn't exactly like that, but it's close. Mine has a larger hopper and is on wheels, but probably holds a total of 50# of sand. The sand is one time use, and you want about the finest stuff you can get. It flows nicer and it blasts cleaner and faster. If you can put down a tarp, you might be able to save and re-sift through a screen and re-use some of it. It goes everywhere though so don't expect to catch much.

That rig you have could easily be done with my small home compressor and blaster. Yes, I'd need to wait for the compressor numerous times. Grab a beer and listen to the music!

And I don't say this trying to talk you out of a nice new compressor and larger blaster. But realistically, you wont' like the mess to a point where it'll get very little use. Ask how I know.

Hey fellas, this is the compressor I’m looking at, the main reason I’m looking for the upgrade is because mine is only a cheap $200 job which won’t keep up with my spray gun.

https://www.bluedm.com.au/piston-air-co ... l-125-psi/

As for respirator I haven’t got one yet, there isn’t much info on which one to get, I’ve even been looking for one to remove asbestos (which I was thinking I’d used for this.) but they dont have this info on it. They usually just say “paint”, “fumes”, “dust”
The one I currently use for asbestos was just the most expensive one I could find and kind and vaguely matched the description.


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Seems like a small tank for a machine with that HP and CFM capacity. For blasting, usually you'd want a 300-400L or similar tank. Here, 80Gallon or 100Gal.

It looks nice enough. I'd prefer you see it in person before buying if you can. It sounds like the real thing, meaning truly 3HP and truly 18CFM@??? psi. You have 220 or 240V over there right? That 15A plug will supply 3HP will it not?

Agree on the need for much bigger reservoir. What does Displacement 18 CFM and "FAD" 13 CFM mean?

Yeh the displacement confused me too, pretty much the issue is it’s right at the top of my budget so it’s either this or nothing, I’m only a diyer so it’s borderline just worth paying a company to do it.

I’m pretty sure I’m getting this unit and just sucking it up if it’s not 100% perfect, it will do the job I’ll just have to wait for the compressor to recover.


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Nethergate wrote:Yeh the displacement confused me too, pretty much the issue is it’s right at the top of my budget so it’s either this or nothing, I’m only a diyer so it’s borderline just worth paying a company to do it.

I’m pretty sure I’m getting this unit and just sucking it up if it’s not 100% perfect, it will do the job I’ll just have to wait for the compressor to recover.


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it looks okish.
15 amp plug for a 3hp machine is correct. typically if its cheap 3hp its a 10 amp plug.
the regulator outlet on it is the typical crap thats not worth using. but it has caps on the tank at the ends so you can fit decent high flow fittings.
check out what the cut in and cut off pressure it has. it says 125psi but thats most likely cut off pressure. cut in pressure could 80 psi or so. need to make sure that its higher than the pressure you need.
also if its a high cut in pressure it means the tank will not store much air. a 2nd tank would be handy but not critical.

the other thing is drying the air. i don't know how well sandblasting goes with moisture in the compressed air lines.

So turns out FAD stands for free air delivery, which I think is once you have exhausted the tank that’s what the compressor can punch out.

This is the second one, more expensive but doesn’t have as good as output but looks better made.

https://www.tradetools.com/product-rang ... Z_EALw_wcB

If the page isn’t lying it says the biggest single phase compressor available


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My big shop compressor is a full 5hp, 60 gal tank, rated just over 20cfm at about 100psi.( Don't remember exact figures) Running my similar pot blaster it will maintain about 100psi running continuously once the pressure drops to kick in. Guess that would be the FAD!

Nethergate wrote:So turns out FAD stands for free air delivery, which I think is once you have exhausted the tank that’s what the compressor can punch out.

This is the second one, more expensive but doesn’t have as good as output but looks better made.

https://www.tradetools.com/product-rang ... Z_EALw_wcB

If the page isn’t lying it says the biggest single phase compressor available


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https://www.tradetools.com/product-rang ... compressor
probably be a bit better to handle.
they don't mention the air pressure which is a bit suspect.

when your dealing with limited amount of power available, there is a few tricks you can do. if you do lower pressure work like paint spraying, use a bigger pump at lower pressure but higher flow rate. for most tools that need high pressure you want a smaller pump at higher pressure at lower flow rates.
there is always a trade off depending on what sort of work you need to do.

I would say though that for me, I would prefer a vertical model just to take up less floor space.

BugHunter wrote:I would say though that for me, I would prefer a vertical model just to take up less floor space.

they don't seam to be all that common downunder.
i've never seen one in person, tho seen a few advertised for sale.

tweake wrote:they don't seam to be all that common downunder.
i've never seen one in person, tho seen a few advertised for sale.

Mine here at work is horizontal, but it's been here since before I owned the place. If I do it again, I'll go vertical, but horizontal is fine too. Just preference.