Sandblaster

Picked up some used Mobtown sliders that have surface rust and I wanted to sandblast them and it seems like a good thing to learn (beats paying to have it done).
However I don’t have a sandblaster or the skills to operate one. I know harbor freight has one for 80 bucks, buts it’s also harbor freight. Does anyone have experience with a cheap sandblaster? Is it worth it to invest in a good sandblaster if this is the only rust project I foresee having in the near future? Is sandblasting as simple as it seems? Point and shoot

 

My goal is to sandblast all the rust and old powder coat off then dish out some money to have them repowder-coated black.

 

The Harbor Freight sandblaster works fine. You need one hell of a compressor to keep up with it...like 15 SCFM @ 90PSI minimum. Mine's 12 SCFM and it runs hard trying to maintain 45 PSI. Anything less than that won't clean up what you're blasting.

 

The one I’m looking at is 10CFM at 90PSI

 

But I need more than 10 CFM to keep it running. I see now.

 

Before spending the money if not too late, you could call the company thats going to do the powder coat & show them, talk to them....
Place that powder coated my wheels, I know they went into a hot tank of some sort before hand & that in itself along with probably some harsh chemicals involved would probably knock down the surface rust & be a non issue included in the process....
If its just a small spot & you probably wont use the sand blaster for anything else, ide go a different direction....
cheap wire wheel on a drill?
sand paper, etc....

But im in the boat, try not to buy tools youre only going to use 1x....

 

I meant CFM...You're probably looking at a $1200 (or more) compressor to run a sandblaster. And you'll need 220V to run it.

Might be cheaper having it done. Locally, it's been costing guys about $200 to get sliders blasted, if they aren't too bad.

 

Before you drop a dime on powder coat, which can be damaged easily on a slider, consider a higher end bedliner product like www.monstaliner.com

You can DIY and then also touch up if ever needed. Which should actually be pretty rare. It's more robust than the hardware store products

 

I'd use a wire cup brush on an angle grinder (cheap one from HF if you don't already have one), use a little rust converter, then rattle can them. They'll be easier to touch up later when they get rock chips from driving.

 

1200? That’s a lot more than I’m able to go. I’ll just stick to my angle grinder.

 

Price out compressors. Like I said, you're going to need more than 12 CFM, which is probably going to be at least 3HP, maybe 5. That kind of HP is going to be 220V. And, you're looking at a 30 gal. tank, more likely 60 gal. Like I said, a serious compressor.

 

Any professional powder coating shop is going to be well equipped to prep the metal before coating, this is their daily gig remember. Additionally if you bring the cleaned parts and "just want them coated" they will probably refuse the job because without control of the prep they won't be able to warranty their work - completely understandable.

Moving to the equipment, blasting with a pressure blaster is fairly easy - at face value - when you add in fussing with bags of abrasive, keeping it dry, cleaning up the mess, replacing the wear parts (you will), storing the awkward unit and the cost and encumbrance of working in the needed safety gear - silicosis is something to be taken seriously BTW, suddenly paying someone makes a lot more sense.

By the way, the "blast out of a bucket" kits aren't worth your time either, they are only slightly better than worthless.

Far and away the big issue is the compressor, successful and efficient blasting requires a large, powerful & expensive compressor. The general minimum being a 5 HP 2 stage unit, a useful spec to compare compressors is the air delivery at 175 psi. As a general rule a quaility 2 stage unit in the under 10hp size will deliver 3-4 cfm per horsepower at 175 psi.


Blasting also requires sufficient intrastructure - tank capacity, metal piping and perhaps an air dryer.
A hose right to the compressor just sets you up for failure.
Hot, wet air clogs up the blaster and also blows moisture into the surface you are trying to remove the rust from.

While it is a much larger investment up front a recycling cabinet blaster is very useful.
In addition to being able to blast year round you can also use higher quality abrasives that cut faster and last longer.

I recommend this company, they offer excellent customer service, made in US equipment and a very educational catalog/website.

https://www.tptools.com/

 

Thank you for taking the time to write all that out. I guess sandblasting isn’t for me (Yet), someday I would like to think I’ll have the money to invest in some quality machinery but not anytime soon. I’ll look at what a powder coat shop could do and I’ll also look at using an angle grinder and the bedliner that was sent earlier in the thread.

 

Glad you found it useful, I'm retired so I have some time.

I paid full price for all my life lessons so I like to pass them on so younger people don't have to.


A premium brand cast iron compressor is a great investment and the foundation of your shop.
They will last almost forever with good care and are built to be repaired if ever needed.
If you watch FBMP there are good deals to snag, if you miss one just keep watching, another will come along.

Here is a great example of a Rolls Royce class air compressor made by Saylor Beall.




Something useful for finish stripping with your angle grinder are these Norton Bear Rex Rapid Strip disks.



They have a quality abrasive like Aluminum Oxide bonded into a tough media. The big advantage is they strip the finish of paint, rust, etc yet don't cut into the surface like a grinding disk or flap wheel.

Used carefully with a light touch they offer very good life and leave a nice clean surface. Be aware that any sharp edge will rip the media so sometimes a first pass with a more robust disk or flap wheel will yield longer life.

Obviously the Norton brand is a high cost option, you can purchase similar lower cost options at HF, etc.

 

I have used a sand blaster. It is tedious. And hazardous.

you are better off taking it to a powder coating shop to be blasted and coated. That is the beauty of buying cheap used. If not you order new.

if you’re looking for easy, simple, cheap, and not hazardous, you can potentially knock off the rust as best you can. Maybe do an acid rust removing wash rinse. Then after that some kind of rust converting paint coating such as POR so that you’re not breathing in fumes and can apply it by hand without spray.

even then I’m still gonna recommend you have a powder coat shop restore them. It’s gonna be less hassle because you just drop it off and pick them up.
Mine were done in a durable coating and I can touch up scrapes.

I’ve had both powder coated and painted metal parts. The PC was stronger and looked better in my experience.

to my knowledge a lot of industrial professional places opt to have their parts powder coated and there’s probably a reason for it.

 

What price range should I look for? I am about to run it to a shop.

 

I wire wheeled my sliders when I went to remove the rust from my sliders (coincidentally Mobtowns). Then primed it well with one that treats the rust. Then painted. It's held up great for years and I just touch up with paint. The process was cheap, just the prep took a while.