Sandblaster attachment for Pressure Washer?

[andrewj]

Anyone used one of these? I have a pretty good pressure washer, and I like the idea of not having a lot of dry fine powder in the air to hurt my lungs...it's for a rusty bulldozer, I'd just like to cart it out to the equipment and hit about a few dozen little surface rust spots, then maybe re-sand the next day after it dries and paint it. Can anyone advise on this? Does the pressure washer sandblaster work?

 

[gotrocks]

My experience, be sure to get "fine" sand. I purchased several bags and there were too many "large" grains. The p-up tube kept stopping up. Iwas able to screen the opened bags and use it but; Returned the unused bags and got some that was fine enough to work and yes it does work. Kinda wet, but like you say not all that dusty air to breathe.

 

[jeffinsgf]

You need sand that has been carefully screened. It usually says on the bag its screen size and that it is "blasting media" or something similar.

I love mine. I have refinished a couple pieces of equipment with it.

 

[Renze]

Does a normal workshop air compressor generate enough pressure and flow to sand blast ?

I dont like the idea of using water as a medium because all the narrow spots that only a sandblast could reach, will rust again before the water has vaporised.

I have been thinking of using the manure tanker's vacuum pump to sandblast. It puts out lots and lots of flow, but only about 1 to 1,5 bar... would that be enough to accelerate the blasting pellets ?

 

[ALHILLDIRT]

I have an old Craftsman sand blaster that holds about a bag of sand. How well it works depends on how much you expect. We use it to clean rusty spots on equipment that we can't sand, but really isn't practical for larger areas.

 

[Renze]

If i just had something for these annoying little edges and spots you cant reach with an angle grinder with wire brush, it would be something to start with....

 

[john_bud]

Does a normal workshop air compressor generate enough pressure and flow to sand blast ?

I dont like the idea of using water as a medium because all the narrow spots that only a sandblast could reach, will rust again before the water has vaporised.

I have been thinking of using the manure tanker's vacuum pump to sandblast. It puts out lots and lots of flow, but only about 1 to 1,5 bar... would that be enough to accelerate the blasting pellets ?

Does a normal compressor work? Depends on what you call normal and how you define work! A good pressure blaster needs 15 cfm of air at about 125-150 psi. Also a VERRRY good water separator if you live in a humid area, or the sand will get wet and clog. It ain't no fun getting it out of the blaster then. Less volume and lower pressure will work after a fashion, but you will use much more sand and it will take a lot longer.

Vacuum pump? I wouldn't waste time with it. You need the force of a very fast grain of sand hitting the paint or rust. high volume and low pressure flow won't do a dern thing.

If you don't have (or can't currently afford) a big compressor, a needle descaler is supposed to work well.

jb

 

[Renze]

imperial doesnt say much to me... so in metric, i'd need 270 to 400 liter per minute at 8 to 10 bar....
My compressor might put out 8 bar but standard workshop compressors dont get near that volume....

An Atlas Copco air hammer compressor might work though... maybe i can hire/borrow one at a local construction company....