Sand / Shot Blasting DIY - Worth It ?

[V8RX7]

I'm always playing with cars / bikes, usually older ones so rusty parts is regularly an issue

I've been wondering about sand blasters for a while both the cabinet but really an external one for sills etc

I've done a bit of research and it seems that for home use on a 13amp supply it's borderline

A had a quick go with a mate's clarke cabinet to strip paint off some bike parts, it took 20 mins to remove thin paint off an alloy foot rest and it was hard to see what's going on

Googling suggested you need to add better lighting and a vacuum cleaner and that possibly the nozzle was blocked

Essentially I'm asking is it worth investing or should I take parts to be stripped ?

Do the "portable" guns work for spot areas on cars or is it not worth the hassle ?

I already have a big compressor and plenty of space / no neighbours

[V8RX7]

Thanks

The spot guns with the litre ish sized container, is that 30 secs or 5 mins working ?

[V8RX7]

Zulu 10 said:

I think we may be at crossed purposes when discussing a spot blast gun.

This is what I've got:

www.machinemart.co.uk/p/sb5-spotblast-gun/

It tries to recycle the blast medium, but in order to do so relies on the rubber nozzle being able to conform to the contours of the surface being blasted. Any leakage and the medium escapes sideways.

Yes that's the type of thing - I'd actually seen the type that doesn't recycle

Thanks

[V8RX7]

Zulu 10 said:

The problem with 'recycling' is that you end up with a small particles of paint/rust/dirt (delete as applicable) mixed in with dead blasting media (i.e. has had the corners knocked off), all mixed in with the fresh media.

The result, as you can imagine, is impaired efficiency.

That's why any chamber is so much improved by the addition of a vacuum assisted extraction facility, to separate out the smaller particles.

Albeit for the 220 litre Chinese chamber it's also essential to add an internal baffle across the face of the extraction port.

Here's a link to a video showing all the other enhancements to the standard chamber: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cDT1LTJN48

Well that was well worth watching as my first thought was to build a water trap, which apparently won't work.