Bought me a Harbor Freight Sandblaster.

I got me a sandblaster, and after reading the reviews on it, made a few mods and it worked great. I wrote a lengthy post on it this morning just to have the thread disapear before it posted. so this is a short version. It was on sale from $179 dollers to $129 dollers then I had a 20% off coupon. So it only cost me about $100 bucks.
It's the bigger one that holds 110 pounds of sand or what ever you load it with.
After reading the reviews and making the suggested modifacations this this is really the cats meow, if you know what I mean. The most important thing is to sift everything you intend on putting through the sandblaster, through a screen.
If you get the play sand from Lows it works fine if you put it through a screen.
I did however buy some of this 44 lbs. Black Aluminum Oxide Abrasive, 70 Grit.
And this stuff worked great, it has a primmer look to it after my 70 pick up was blasted.
If it was not for a few little dings that need attention, the driver side could be primmered wet sanded and painted. My son and I did the drivers side of the truck in about 30 minutes. I keeped feeling the metal to see if it was hot so it would not warp the metal. It never got hot at all and looks great. I guess no one ever stipped the paint from the truck before, there were 3 differant colors and then a primmer on the bottom. This thing made short work of the 4 paints that were on the truck. If it were not for the guys that took thier time to write the reviews, then told you how to make some easy modifactions, it may have not gone so smooth. I should have gotten on of these things years ago. Now I am looking forward to my next project with this thing. Life is truely good. Kurt

Got a picture, Kurt? Wondering which one you got????

Hmmm......Christmas is just around the corner......

remember it is not heat that warps sheet metal. it is the anchor pattern . the harsher the media the more it peens the metal which stretches the surface. keeping at a 45 degree angle is all important.

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Originally Posted by shine

remember it is not heat that warps sheet metal. it is the anchor pattern . the harsher the media the more it peens the metal which stretches the surface. keeping at a 45 degree angle is all important.

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Maybe a little bit safer to use the tiny acrylic/plastic shot, nut shells, or something "softer", Shine? Still, it's thousands of microscopic hammers on the surface with no dolly behind the panel.

your only trying to fracture the paint , not pit the metal. i use 35 lbs pressure and stay off the panel 2 ft and use very little media. but my rig is much larger. starblast is a very good media. very fine and will recycle about 4 times .
when blasting concentrate on peeling the edge of the paint back . blast at the edge at an angle not straight down.
i use type6 acrylic to remove paint .

Hey Dave I got the one in the link below.
Pressurized Sand Blaster
I'll have to get some photo's when it's done, it lokks very smooth not pitted at all.
The starting air pressure is about 110 then after you start shooting it drops back to about 70 or 80psi.
The tips are acrylic and plastic and I have vaccumed up the media twice and filtered it then re used it.
Of course this is heavier metal than whats on these newer cars today.
I sure would not want to try this on our new mustang with that thin metal.
Kurt

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Originally Posted by vara4

If you get the play sand from Lows it works fine if you put it through a screen.
Kurt

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Kurt, I hope that if you are using sand that you use an appropriate breathing filter. Sand contains silicone and can lead to silicosis, a deadly lung disease. Just want your life to continue to be "truly good."


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you'll notice that the patern will change hope you bought more and different sized nozzles. I have the same one. when using it the compressor hardly ever shuts off.

The volume of air(CFM) is more important than the pressure if you have enough volume like Shine's rig. Should have a really good air trap. T.I.P. of Canfield,Ohio has a verity of tips and parts that are really good quality. I was inside their place while vending at a Dave & Ed show.

TP Tools & Equipment

the higher the pressure the better chance of warping. the angle is all important. i can curl a piece of 12g with 30 lbs in a cheap siphon rig by shooting 90 degrees with sand.
sand is also the absolute worst media for this. it can promote rust.

Cffisher; I have a 80 gal. tank that runs @ 16.0 scfm @ 90psi. 5 hp. 4 piston motor. But this blaster does seem to use a high volume of air,
but the motor does shut down for a few minutes while shooting. Though I have to change the oil in it today it's looking a little dark.
I got 4 tip's with the blaster but I am going to get another set of tip's they have for it. I am using the biggest tip I have.
I am also shooting out side since I have no place to shoot inside right now. I do have a good rust inhibitor that I was planning to use on the truck.
Then after reskinning the lower doors and duraglassing any little dings I will spray the truck with a good primmer with a scratch filler in it.
Then I will send it to a paint shop for them to paint. It's cheaper then me painting it by about half the price of the paint.
Then I can get it sold. It should go quick with the new paint and the fuel injected motor and after market A/C with new interior.
Oh I almost forgot the over drive trany.
Kurt