blast cabinet help!

I picked up a used sand blast cabinet with dust collector this weekend. I had called around to price out getting four wheels blasted before I repaint 'em...I was quoted $25-30 a wheel which seemed a little steep, so I thought hell I'll buy a cabinet and do it myself. But boy is it slow going. I put about a half hour into one wheel and stopped. I'm stripping about a square inch every few minute at best. At this rate it'll take hours to finish one. Something must be wrong!
I went down to Grainger and picked up some new medium grade gl*** bead media which didn't seem to speed it up any. I checked and cleaned everything, the hoses, the pickup tube, the gun. Tried different air pressure up to 130 psi. Compressor is a 5 horse 60 gallon vertical and does fine. I tried a different gun I had allready, a different pickup tube....no change.
What am I missing? The sand doesn't seem to come out in enough volume, It is dry and fresh. Am I using the wrong media? I'm about ready to break out the old paint stripper and sell the cabinet.

 

If your nozzle is 1/2", you are going to clean one 1/2" spot at a time. Hell yes, it will take a long time. Thats why God and Henry Ford invented Graveyard Headstone Sandblasters

 

Send 'em to me I'll blast 'em for $120

 

I use gl*** beads in mine and same story. Some items are very hard and time consuming. If you have a powder coaters in the area they sand blast very reasonable.

 

Sand cuts a lot faster than gl***. Check your nozzle size also. With 5 HP you need a fairly small nozzle .3/16 would be about right. 5 horse will take a while on wheels. I hate to do wheels, especially wires. Good luck

 

Where's a good place to get sand? And other media?

Think my nozzle is 1/4".

 

I use gl*** beads on carbs or things that need a mild abrasive. It works great on carbs because it will not take the gold finish off if you are careful. For cleaning rust, I use aluminumoxide. It is not as abrasive as sand so it will not warp panels - you don't need to worry about that with wheels.
Sometimes paint is hard to get off no matter what you use - it could be better with sand. You might think about getting some spray on paint stripper to get the first layer of paint off, then blast 'em...Tom - restorit

 

i always spray them down with paint remover , you v=can get it at home depot, it takes a lot of the paint off before you put it in the blaster

 

For wheels you should be able to use playground sand, available at any good building supply. Should have better luck than gl*** bead.

I'd be wary using paint stripper, it tends to stay in the joints and leach back out later.

 

Try using some Black Beauty(ground coal slag)available at your local masonary supply.It's available in different grits,the dust isn't carcinogenic,it cuts good and it's cheap.

 

Damn! I just went to the local hardware store and bought a cheap bag of playbox sand and WOW...takes the paint off almost as fast as I can move the gun.

Thanks for the tips.