Just finished making my DIY pressure-pot sandblaster/gritblaster.
It is AWESOME! Why oh why didn't I make one before!
It cost me £50 to build, most of which went on a big airline dryer to get clean dry air to the nozzle. The rest went on a tungsten carbide blasting
nozzle, and 3m of michelin blasting hose.
I used an old CO2 cylinder from the tip (free) as the grit/pressure vessel. I cut a hole in the bottom (which is now the top) and welded on a
2.5" pipe spigot so I can screw in a 2.5" bsp pipe plug as a filler plug. I welded on a 1/4" bsp inlet near the bottom (now top) as the
pressurisation inlet, and sawed off, then drilled and tapped to 1/4 " bsp, the old brass tap from the top. After welding up various t pieces and
salaving a couple of 1/4" bsp 1/4 turn valves from the scrap bin at work, and piping it all up, I gave it a blast with some own dried builders
sand. It blasted a complete manta wishbone from crusty scale to bright steel in about 30 secs all over................absolutely brill.
Downside, the 14cfm compressor I now have can only just keep pace, and the air filter/reg from machine mart now leaks like a cracked p1sspot!
Any chance of a pic then?As it took me about 10 hours to do my cortina hubs with the bench top cab from screwfix
Is that grease on your brake discs? Don't think that's gonna help you stop... 
Pete
I'll try and get a piccy up soon. The difference is that the blast cabinets from xyz suppliers have a "siphon feed" gun, and these are
really crap! (I had one and have now thrown it away!)
You need a pressurised grit feed, hence the gas bottle etc.
I'll try and get a piccy up tonight.
quote:
Originally posted by scoobyis2cool
Is that grease on your brake discs? Don't think that's gonna help you stop...
Pete
quote:
Originally posted by NS Dev
I gave it a blast with some own dried builders sand.
Using builders sand is a big NO NO as already stated, might be cheap but not worth the risk , check out blasting media suppliers. Rusty
I presume that "sharp sand" is the one that causes the problem as it has lots of quartz in it? I suppose that the brown soft sand used for mortar won't work very well?
Eye Shields, and a VERY FINE filtered breathing mask..
Sand will give you Sillicosis like what Miners used to get.
Its the fine silica dust that gets in the lungs.
As I said, Face Mask (breathing) and Eye protection as a minimum.
I am not even sure that would be enough. So read up and take more advice. Sandblasters are hazardous to your health.
[Edited on 13/1/2005 by wilkingj]
We used to buy blasting media ready bagged. You could get everything from cut wire to crushed walnut shells. If the sand was damp it was useless as it froze in the pipe.
So far I have only tested the blaster briefly. I have a 6 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot galvanised tank, which will have a sealed perspex top put on it,
sealed gloves inserted from one side and foam filtered ai outlet vents. This is currently under construction and will keep the sand and dust safely
away from me.
I do plan to use other media in the long term, but safety should not be a real issue with the tank and exit filters.
Peteff - I dried the sand in trays in my kitchen oven, only did 20kg for a start.
It was soft red building sand I used, and yes, it works brilliantly at a blast pressure of 115 psi it rips through 2-3mm thickness of crusted scaly
rust in one sweep, back to bare steel, giving a nice matt finish.
Sealed perspex top with soon get so scratched you cant see through it.
Get the spares depot number for Machine Mart, as they do a 14" sqaure (approx) stick on shield, ie stick it to the inside of your perspex, then
tear it off and stick on another when you cant see through it any more.
and they are not that expensive.. I think they come is packs of 5.
Ahhh, nice one, Thanks for that!