Pressure washer sand blasting

J_J · Apr 7, 2014

Some of us get rust and dirt, grease and oil on our tractors, and here is a very good way to clean all that up for restoration and painting and whatever.

Here is a sand blast kit for a pressure washer to do all of that above.

The sand has to come into the nozzle from above the nozzle, so I made a backpack that contains the sand.

The tube comes over my shoulder and feeds the nozzle.

Watch the video and decide yourself if it is worth while.

General Pump High-Pressure Abrasive Blasting Kit — 3500 Max. PSI | Pressure Washer Hoses| Northern Tool + Equipment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfA-IkaMRGE

Can also clean up those rusty tools in short order.

Just dry and spray alcohol to get rid if the water, and paint or whatever.

skyhook · Apr 9, 2014

Are you kidding me, thats awesome,

I have one of those 20 gallon thingys for sandblasting,
I wonder if it could be adapted to this setup somehow.
I like the idea of, "no sand dust" flying "everywhere.
I'll be ordering one for sure, wonder what the cost is to ship to Canada, or even if they do.

Lets see some pics of your set-up, JJ...
What grade of sand do you use or does it matter.
You got me hooked on this now....

:thumbsup:

tcartwri · Apr 9, 2014

I've often thought about building something like this. Seems like a natural combination but I'm sure there is some reason it's not more widely used.

polarred21 · Apr 9, 2014

That looks like a really nice set-up and works well. Only thing is using the water it will begin to rust in minutes after it dries so painting will need to come quick....

J_J · Apr 9, 2014

The trick to using the sand blaster is to keep the sand hose on top of the nozzle.

You need the second tube on the suction end of the sand tube to let air in.

I use dry play sand that comes in bags and then filter to get the lumps out.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=_quJXdBdzOIQm56Ob3voVw&bvm=bv.64507335,d.b2I

I use a bucket of back pack for the sand.

You can probably make your own nozzle, It appears to use the venturi effect to simply suck in sand and mix with the water

You can do a lot of thing with this rig. Strip rust, clean cement, strip paint, texture wood, etch glass, etc.

Definitely wear eye protection, maybe hat.

puckgrinder85 · Apr 9, 2014

Probably the speed and maybe the mess too? Wet play sand sticks to everything. My pressure pot would blast the whole side of the tank off in the time of the video. I use play sand in my pot and wait for a day with a little bit of a breeze and go to town. I never had issues with dust, the sand flies in maybe a 20ft diameter circle and that's about it, it washes into the ground after a few good rain storms. Guess if you lived in town or didn't have a sufficient air compressor this would be the next best thing. Utilize what you have.

Hooked_on_HP · Apr 10, 2014

I have a pressure pot that works great but I wonder if on heavily rusted metal 3000lbs of pressure would do better than 140.
Bill

skyhook · Apr 10, 2014

Thank's, JJ, I'm hooked, for under a 100, it's well worth the effort of
giving it a shot.:thumbsup:
Was never aware of something like this....and it looks like its worth a try.

puckgrinder85 · Apr 10, 2014

Dunno, I don't see commercial sandblasters using them so that probably tells you something. I just wonder why the pressure pots work better than a standard siphon feed. My guess is the pressure pot has a long time to speed the sand up and give it some momentum. A siphon blaster just sucks it up quickly and sprays it out, not giving it much time or momentum to do as much work. This is basically a siphon feed blaster used in conjunction with a pressure washer. I still like the fact I can blast my parts, take them inside and spray them right away.

nc redneck · Apr 10, 2014

The key to siphon feed is dry properly sized sand. I wonder if pressure washer creates more suction ??? I would love to hear any real life experience with this tool ? It may be worth a gamble for 100 bucks. Any happy or unhappy owners out there ?

puckgrinder85 · Apr 12, 2014

I can use similar sized tips on both my cabinet and pot with the same compressor and the pot will outblast the siphon 10 to 1 no problem.

petegoud · Apr 12, 2014

I've been using one I picked up at Northern Tool a few years ago. It works great, no huge clouds of dust contend with. Make sure you dry what you sandblasted right away, or it will form a thin layer of rust.

juddspaintballs · Apr 12, 2014

I used one of the northern tool attachments for the power washer when I was stripping my deuce and a half with CARC on it. The water kept the silica from the CARC at bay so it wasn't a hazardous material at that point. I found that using Black Diamond blasting media worked far quicker than play sand, and with the water it kept the sheet metal panels from over heating and warping.

kenord · Apr 13, 2014

Has anyone tried using one of these on an aluminum truck body?
Would it tend to pit and cause more problems?
Thanks in advance,
Rich

ishiboo · Apr 13, 2014

kenord said:
Has anyone tried using one of these on an aluminum truck body?
Would it tend to pit and cause more problems?
Thanks in advance,
Rich

The water method would probably have a big advantage, with dry blasting it's easy to overheat the metal and cause warpage when doing thin body panels.

It all depends on what you are removing though. Since aluminum does not rust, I assume you want to remove mostly paint and oxidation... in which case you'd want a lighter duty abrasive such as walnut shells.

ishiboo · Apr 13, 2014

kenord said:
Has anyone tried using one of these on an aluminum truck body?
Would it tend to pit and cause more problems?
Thanks in advance,
Rich

The water method would probably have a big advantage, with dry blasting it's easy to overheat the metal and cause warpage when doing thin body panels.

It all depends on what you are removing though. Since aluminum does not rust, I assume you want to remove mostly paint and oxidation... in which case you'd want a lighter duty abrasive such as walnut shells.

puckgrinder85 · Apr 13, 2014

Or just soda blast it, no need for overheating, can wash the stuff into the grass if you want to.

Kernopelli · Apr 13, 2014

Still not bought one but was looking at Northern's again earlier this week. Here are some other comments about them http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/276644-wet-abrasive-sandblasting.html

woodlandfarms · Apr 14, 2014

I bought one a few years ago. It works. It is fussy with media. You also ant to make sure no water gets in the sand feed hose or you will have a problem.

kenord · Apr 14, 2014

thanks ishiboo and puckgrinder,
I have an early 70's Kenworth semi sleeper, all aluminum with rivets holding it together. some one painted two stripes around it, then , painted more stripes on top of them. it would be really tough to sand around all the rivets. so looking for some way to remove all the thick paint.