I know you get what you pay for, but I do feel Harbor Freight has it's uses. I am looking at a flyer and there is a sand blaster for 119.00. Does anyone own one of these? I fugure for this price might be good for small jobs like rims and small parts.
I've got one and it works fine. Only problem is the valves it comes with are complete trash... but I just swapped on some others I had and no problems.
I have one and it worked fine. The main shut off valve did not last long. One bag of sand would last me about 30 minutes. Make sure your sand is dry and I screened the sand out of the bag. The bag said "fine" but there would be some large pieces that would plug the nozzle.
You can't bet it for the price. It takes me about 15 or 20 min. to blast a rim with an 80gal 28cfm compressor. Like they said before the sand better be dry and screened. It's humid here so I use a homemade chiller and two water traps.
Like everyone else said. I have one that I've used a lot. The handle on the nozzle valve broke the first day, I used vice grips for a handle for a long time. Now the valve below the tank wont shut off all the way and lets sand run out. I'll need to replace all of the valves before I use it again. If you buy one, plan on having to replace valves.
I am on the 5th year for mine. For the price, it puts my buddies $1200.00 Eastwood blaster to shame. I upgraded the hose, and changed the valves, but that is all I have done to it. I use sand bought at a landscape center for $14.00 a ton. I screen it and keep it dry. I have done several complete cars, including ch***is and the entire body.
If you want to expose yourself to the dangers of Silicosis, you can use play sand. Even with a respirator, I wouldnt do it. I'd highly recommend either Dupont Star blast, or the more commonly available Black Beauty. Wear a respirator regardless of what you use.
Got one a few years ago, use sand with respirator, it was on sale for $88.00. Have replaced the valves. Keep your material dry, (we run air thru a dryer) have done frames, bodies, wheels,'coupla dogs, works good.
Have had one for over 30 years, (catalogue only in those days...) have replaced valves many times (the media is only doing its job). Pre-screen the media, even the good quality stuff will have big chunks that plug the nozzles. And buy alot of extra ceramic nozzles.....
Keeping the sand dry where you live should be fairly easy (you won't need a refrigerated dryer or anything $$$$$$$$$$$$). But you might want to invest in a $50 moisture filter at some point anyway. You just rig it up where your line off your compressor meets your pressure regulator on the box.
i have the same blaster and it works really good, i use a mineral slag media called "green diamonds" its 30 bucks for 100 pounds
I am curious about this too. I just got a newflyer. Harbor frieght has it on sale:http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94166 What do you think?
Play sand is rounded to make it safe for kids . Use silica sand ,about the same price and you can choose grits
Personally I suggest you go to Tractor Supply, their blaster looks to be of higher quality. I bought a cabinet from them three years ago and with routine maintanence it's still going strong.
Good God people, please do not use sand, even with a mask... I think the Clark model is better than harbor. Spend the extra ten bucks and get yourself their deadman kit. I found that blasting in spurts allows small compressors to catch up a provide more power. I got pissed with mine and threw it in the corner. The smallest speck or even a drop of water will clog the hose or the media outlet in the tank, which equals in constant teardowns and cleaning. Seeing how we blast with a 600lb hopper and a compressor running at 100cfm in our blast room...going back to a pencil thin blast radius is torture...
When I ran a boat propeller repair shop I used a cabinet style blaster with play sand from Home Depot and it worked as well as the sand bagged and sold for use in blasters. This bit about rounded grains is news to me! Althogh I have been told that sand dredged from a river is no good for cement or concrete because the grains are worn round by the action of the water currents. What sort of "screen" are yall using to screen the sand? A little info on that would be nice. Dave
I was given a Clark 10 gallon pressure pot style blaster. I finally got to start using it on my frame a couple of weeks ago. The first grit I tried to run through it was Black Diamond 20/40 grit. I couldn't keep it from clogging the nozzle. I then ran some sand like stuff that was sold at a local Fleet Farm, but didn't like the cost or the way that it cut the rust (but it didn't clog the gun). When a local store started selling the Black Diamond 30/60 so I tried it again. They also had a screen there for sifting the grit -- it was a little more expensive than I should have paid, but I bought it. The screen must be close to the 30 grit size because it didn't pull much from the 50# bag that I bought. That worked excellent in my blaster. With 50# I can blast about 20 min then clean up and re-screen. The only problem I found is that after 5-6 uses I have a lot of rust in the media. If I was blasting outside this might not be a problem, but I live in the burbs and have already pissed off one of my neighbors really bad. So I am blasting in the garage and with clean media there is little mess, but as the rust content increases, the messier the garage gets. I think the media still cuts well so would like to try to save it, I am thinking about trying to get a finer mesh and double screen it. Any other ideas on how to get the rust/dust out of the used media?
This is all good info guys. I like that there is so much experience here. I think it will save me a few headaches. We do have a local tractor supply. I would of course like to get out as cheap as possible but I want to be safe also. Pretty lame to get sick over saving a fews bucks. Does tractor supply also carry media? I will check web or call tomorrow
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