Technical Brass or steel sandblasting?

I had someone tell me today, that my use of class 125 brass will not hold up to harsh media grit on my blaster unit. That I should use steel valves and fittings instead. Is brass too soft of a metal for my application fine grit? Most of the ball valves and inserts out there are brass.

 

Blasting cabinet? My cabinet doesn't have any valves in the grit system. Only clean air goes through a valve.

Or are you talking about a pressurized pot blaster? I'm not too familiar with them.

 

Yes I am, here it is.

 

The brass fittings are class 125.

Valves say 200WG, Durachoice and Nigo.

I wanted to use class 125 brass pipes instead of cast iron.

 

if media passes through it media will slowly wear away if not china built if china built do job quickly probably under 5 minutesI think most if not all valves use brass as steel or iron I think would seize after a while due to moisture in media and air

 

Any time you run abrasives through a valve, you are going to have trouble. Mainly with the sealing parts, which are usually nylon or something like that. Not sure how yours is plumbed, but usually only one valve is subjected to sand, unless you add one at the nozzle. Consider this valve “ consumable “ but most of the time it does not need to make a proper seal. It is used to “ restrict “ the flow of media into the air stream. It can be chewed to bits and still preform the function of adjusting the flow of sand. Commercial units have a restricter placed there, not really a valve and some also have a cleaner incorporated in there also.

So..... I would consider the price/ availability of brass or steel, and use what would work for you. Either “ will” work.

Bones

 

The brass will be fine. Had brass ball valves on my HF unit for years and never wore out. Now that I have a Texas Blaster...…….guess what? All brass ball valves made in china. IIWY, three things I'd give some thought to. Air compressor size, dry air and type of nozzle. As I and others have stated, a 5hp compressor is the bare minimum. Dry air means a couple of water traps and a quality inline filter. The Motorguard 60 filter sells for $70 on Ebay and has paper canister filters that do a great job. Finally, nozzle selection is paramount. The cheap ceramic nozzles that come with those DIY blasters are junk! They were out quickly! Texas Blaster sells a true carbide nozzle that you can size to your air compressor. Not cheap at $65 but makes all the difference in the world. It has 3/4" threads that'll screw right into a 3/4" female ball valve.