Sand Blasting cabinet rental for small parts

[dhbfaster]

I searched the forum...found people either have sand blasters or used someone elses...is there any place around that someone with 5 or 6 parts at a time can just go rent a sand blasting cabinet and use it there?

[doghows]

Where do you live at? I have 3 different blasting systems at my shop. What are you wanting to blast? Only problem would be Iive over in Sequim. But if you want you can come to my shop and use my glass bead cabinet.

[dhbfaster]

I live in Federal Way...a pretty good drive from here to your place, but I may still take you up on your offer when I finally get these parts off...and thanks for the offer!
I'm just wanting to mostly blast the various metal suspension parts under the front end, as well as some of the engine parts...horn, fan, valve covers, and the rear axle before I paint it etc...I'm new to blasting, so any advice is most appreciated. I'm planning to try and take care of all of this sometime this fall.

[doghows]

Glass bead will take you forever. I would only use it for small parts. I have a blast room for the heavy stuff. I use a pressure pot in there and it makes short work out of most stuff. Too big for the small things like your horns but everything else into the big room.
One thing to remember when blasting is the sand will get into everything so if you are worried about it double check for anyway sand can get in. Generally I figure if air gets in so does sand.
Maybe we will do a tech day at my shop one Saturday and everyone can blast parts and powder oat their own stuff?
Anyway if I can help just let me know. [thumb]

[BillP 98201]

Thanks Steve for your generosity :BEER:

[dhbfaster]

Thanks Steve...I really appreciate that. I will definitely have to take you up on that sometime this fall and checkout your shop. I have a lot of work to get done.
Meanwhile, I got the floor done with my son last weekend and I did break down and buy a compressor big enough to run a smaller blast unit so I can do smaller parts at home at some point...lots of learning to do though.

[dhbfaster]

Ok, sometimes I'm a little slow to catch on, but I started to count everything I need to paint (and sand) and I ran out of fingers, toes, and well...it was more than 21. So, I can see it would be pretty convenient to be able to blast the small stuff at home and there's a lot of small stuff. Big stuff...I'll either do it manually, or take it somewhere. So I've been doing a lot of reading about blasting (can you smell smoke yet?), but it's difficult to tell from equipent specs what you can really get. Bottom line, my compressor says it's 7.2 scfm @40, and 5.8 @90 psi. (27 gal) Is that enough air to run a small cabinet like the harbor freight model for $119 at home? or 50lb pressure pot hooked to it? or will it be so slow it's just not worth it unless I have more compressed air?

[doghows]

You need a ton of air to get any blasting done. My compressor is a rotary Quincy and it runs 42 cfm at 125 psi and my pressure pot will drain it out. I can run my glass bead all day long with it.
Check the specs on your specific blast cabinet and that should answer it for you. I used to own one of those units from harbour freight and my 5hp 60 gallon tank bary kept up.
In my blast room you cod do all those parts in an hour or two so offer still stands if you want to make the trip. ?!.

[dhbfaster]

Yea, that's what I was afraid of. I did check all the specs. The harbor freight 40 lb pressure pot says something like minimun 6 cfm @ 60psi. My compressor should be about that...but I generally don't like to be at the minimum-seems like a setup for disappointment. The cabinet itself doesn't really say much except to set at 100psi and it will be 10cfm which is definitely too much for my compressor. So...maybe I will just do it the old fashioned way but then save bigger parts if I can ever figure out when I can get over to your place...and once again....really appreciate the offer Steve.

[doghows]

Anytime just give me a shout

[Vikingblu]

Ok, sometimes I'm a little slow to catch on, but I started to count everything I need to paint (and sand) and I ran out of fingers, toes, and well...it was more than 21. So, I can see it would be pretty convenient to be able to blast the small stuff at home and there's a lot of small stuff. Big stuff...I'll either do it manually, or take it somewhere. So I've been doing a lot of reading about blasting (can you smell smoke yet?), but it's difficult to tell from equipent specs what you can really get. Bottom line, my compressor says it's 7.2 scfm @40, and 5.8 @90 psi. (27 gal) Is that enough air to run a small cabinet like the harbor freight model for $119 at home? or 50lb pressure pot hooked to it? or will it be so slow it's just not worth it unless I have more compressed air?

It really depends on what the intent or purpose of your blasting is.
Rusty wheels take an extremly high quantity of air.
Small bits, like an alterator bracket not so much.
Are you removing deep seeded rust?
Are you dusting parts so paint will adhere?

I prefer to degrease and wire wheel parts, so as not to contaminate the blast cabinet.
To test your air quantity, you could hook up an air tool such as a 5 inch grinder or an impact gun and pull the trigger. If it winds down within 10 or 15 seconds, blasting will be aggravating. Waiting for air to build up every 30 seconds is not fun.

[dhbfaster]

I hadn't really considered all the different type of jobs-figured I could use it for pretty much everything, but what you're saying makes sense. I have an entire car to redo, but don't plan to blast anything big at home. I experimented with some chemical paint remover over the last couple of days- it seems to work fairly well. For rust, I have been using rusteco...which seems to work pretty well too. Rust comes off pretty easily with that stuff.
So far, I have only used the compressor with a small grinder with a wire wheel on it...it wouldn't run continuously, but it was more than 15-20 seconds. I just put in a dedicated circuit today, and plan to time it tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.