[mike69]

Guys,

I'm trying to troubleshoot my blasting set up and need some advice. I started with an inexpensive siphon blaster and Amberblast from Northern Tool but it kept getting clogged. I'm blasting mostly rims and other thick stuff, but will move on to body panels soon. I have a drier on the line so it's not water in the system. I figured it was the cheap blaster so I popped for a $500 pressure blaster but the same thing happened. Now I'm thinking it may be the Amberblast. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? What is the coarseness of media I should aim for? My pressure blaster says nothing below an 80 grit. I was thinking of going for Aluminum oxide in a 120 grit, but I'm not sure this will get the job done. What do you think? Do I need to think of changing to a larger ceramic tip? I'm using the one that the system came with.

[shine]

dupont starblast is the best for a small blaster. it is a fine media and will not clog. be sure you have at least 10 lbs more pressure in the tank than in the blast hose or the media will not fall into the stream.

[st3gamefarm]

Originally Posted by shine

dupont starblast is the best for a small blaster. it is a fine media and will not clog. be sure you have at least 10 lbs more pressure in the tank than in the blast hose or the media will not fall into the stream.

And also you must have a compresser that will generate enough air volume,
with a large enough reserve.
It's not just about pressure.

120 psi, is fine, but at 3-4 cubic feet per min. aint worth spit.
Gotta be able to maintane 90-100psi at 16-18 cubic feet per minute. Then you can blast at will.
Mabe I'm taking it to extreme here. but you see the point?

Sandblasting requires a large volume of air. Regardless of pressure.

[shine]

blast at the lowest pressure possible .

[Schoust]

Yes Shine is correct you need big volume or it simply will not work right. I use a piss ant blaster from Harbor freight figuring that I was only blasting and it worked pretty good and did the job perfectly. Oh and be careful with the panels you will warp them if you don't have the correct media and pressure.........Ask me how I know this Lol!!

[shine]

your small blaster will work much better at low pressure on the blast hose. i use a lot of volume but still try to stay at 35 lbs.

[Rag top bird]

Originally Posted by mike69

Guys,

I'm trying to troubleshoot my blasting set up and need some advice. I started with an inexpensive siphon blaster and Amberblast from Northern Tool but it kept getting clogged. I'm blasting mostly rims and other thick stuff, but will move on to body panels soon. I have a drier on the line so it's not water in the system. I figured it was the cheap blaster so I popped for a $500 pressure blaster but the same thing happened. Now I'm thinking it may be the Amberblast. Does anyone have any experience with this stuff? What is the coarseness of media I should aim for? My pressure blaster says nothing below an 80 grit. I was thinking of going for Aluminum oxide in a 120 grit, but I'm not sure this will get the job done. What do you think? Do I need to think of changing to a larger ceramic tip? I'm using the one that the system came with.

Where is your drier located

[mike69]

I have a decent compressor, 60 gallon tank and 12 cfm at 90 psi. I can't blast all day with it but it's not bad. I have my garage plumbed with pipe and the drier is on this line. Then I plug a 3/8 hose line into the drier. My limited experience and the blaster manual tells me that if I tried to blast at 35psi I wouldn't get anywhere. The manual says 80-110 psi and that is what seems to work, at least when the Amberblast hasn't clogged the tip. Shine, can you tell me if this Sarblast is sold by any of the usual stores? If I have to order it online it will cost more to ship than to buy. There is a local company that has Aluminum oxide in a variety of grits and I'm thinking of using it. What do you guys think about 120 grit? Lastly, can anyone give me some advice about an afordable cabinet blaster with a dust removal/reclamation system? I have a cheap setup now and I'm getting tired of struggling to see what I'm working on.

Thanks for the help,
Mike

[Rag top bird]

Originally Posted by mike69

I have a decent compressor, 60 gallon tank and 12 cfm at 90 psi. I can't blast all day with it but it's not bad. I have my garage plumbed with pipe and the drier is on this line. Then I plug a 3/8 hose line into the drier. My limited experience and the blaster manual tells me that if I tried to blast at 35psi I wouldn't get anywhere. The manual says 80-110 psi and that is what seems to work, at least when the Amberblast hasn't clogged the tip. Shine, can you tell me if this Sarblast is sold by any of the usual stores? If I have to order it online it will cost more to ship than to buy. There is a local company that has Aluminum oxide in a variety of grits and I'm thinking of using it. What do you guys think about 120 grit? Lastly, can anyone give me some advice about an afordable cabinet blaster with a dust removal/reclamation system? I have a cheap setup now and I'm getting tired of struggling to see what I'm working on.

Thanks for the help,
Mike

You need about 50 foot of of pipe before you install your drier that will let the air cool before it gets to the drier

[Schoust]

I use good old Black Beauty but as stated before you must have the compressor to be able to make the volume of air that is required to blast with the media that you are using.......

[recklessnova]

I am using that amberblast stuff I just got my blasting setup up and working from scratch I ran into two problems
When using the dead man valve The tip clogged up badly when using the siphon gun it was not as bad but did not work that great either
I was using the med grit amberblast and also tried the fine grit
While messing around with it I decided to sift the fine media and try that
Worked better but not that great with either dead man valve or the siphon gun
ended up combining the siphon gun and the 110 lb pressure pot tank from harbor freight and creating a pa blaster
Still had a problem with the siphon gun as where the air ket sits in the gun half blocks the flow of media from the pickup to out the front What i did was just chop the air jet down so the media could flow directly into the nozzle and the air jet tip was aft of the media feed line now It works like a dream I dont have to sift even the med media at all just poor it in the tank and get to blasting
I am using the cheap alc I think brand siphon gun from northern tool and the 110 lb pressure pot balster from hf the gun was like 24 bucks But I will need to buy a carbide nozzle soon enough as the steel ones the gun came with wear prety quick Good thing my air compressor can keep up.
Any questions send me a email
Josh