Sandblasting at home

Don't even bother with the Harbor Freight hopper feed sandblaster. I have one and it goes for about 10 seconds between fills. If you're serious about doing big areas, you might consider one of the inexpensive 40lb blasters like this.

That one from Home Depot might be alright, but the siphon blasters really don't have as much power as the types with pressurized tanks.

Edit: Exactly, get a tank blaster. You will sufer with a big job using a siphon blaster. Useless.

Well, any decent sand blaster will do. Be prepared for alot of sand everywhere. You can get sand in bulk. I get Q Rock fine grade sand from Steffey & Findley. They sell bulk sand, brick, etc. You may have a simular place nearby. IF YOU DO THIS, read the bag. Do not blast or handle/manipulate sand without some form of QUALITY filter on your face-one that covers the mouth and nose-and not a cheap surgical mask air filter. You can use the safe media, but the cost will soon become unbearable. I get 50 lb bags of Q rock for about $9 a bag. You will also need a sand blasting hood.
I quickly dulled up the glass in the hood, so I took the glass out and took that to a glass shop and have 10-15 made at a time. I probably go through 6-7 doing a whole car on the rotissori.
You can keep the bags, sweep up the bulk of the sand and use a flat shovel to fill the bags half way (so they are not so heavy). Get one of those cheap expandable window screens from Lowes and push it together so you have two screens and you can sift the used sand. I put one of those big red funnels in the sand blaster tank and put the screen over the funnel and scoop the sand with a paint measuring cup. You will have to shake the screen. OH, you will need to sift the new sand the same way. You WILL find small rocks that will catch in the valve, then when you crack the valve a little more, it will let the small rock particle through the valve and lodge in the nozzel and really piss you off.
ALso, once get one of these sand blasters, you will think you should just open the sand valve all the way. Crack that valve till you get a good stream of sand. Open it all the way and you will be refilling the tank very quickly. Ask me how I know...
Get a ton of extra nozzels. The sand will wear them away on big jobs and you lose the cutting force of the sand as the nozzel wears and the hole gets bigger. I go through 3-4 nozzels on a whole car.
So, get the sand blaster, resperater, hood, extra glass, extra nozzels, funnel, screen, shovel, sand, air. You're ready for more fun that you can shake a stick at!

THe one we have must be 60 or 80 lb. THat one looks identical to ours, only the tank is smaller.

I just linked to the smallest and cheapest tank blaster HF has online. There is another one that has a 110lb tank too.

I used the large tank blaster from HF and did it in my garage. It made one heck of a mess and that was with me draping plastic around the car. You will need a good air compressor. I have a 60 Gal and it was no where big enough. I spent more time waiting for the compressor to fill. If I were to do it again I would rent a big one and have all the air you need.

ShelbyClone, is the one you linked to a compressor too, or does that rig need to be hooked up to a compressor?

65ShelbyClone said:

Don't even bother with the Harbor Freight hopper feed sandblaster. I have one and it goes for about 10 seconds between fills. If you're serious about doing big areas, you might consider one of the inexpensive 40lb blasters like this.

That one from Home Depot might be alright, but the siphon blasters really don't have as much power as the types with pressurized tanks.

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Spikely15 said:

ShelbyClone, is the one you linked to a compressor too, or does that rig need to be hooked up to a compressor?

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The one linked does not include a compressor.

Right. I don't know if HF has any that include compressors, I didn't really look. Keep in mind that blasting uses a lot of air and a small garage-sized unit will likely have a tough time keeping up. I use a 60gal/6hp/9.1cfm@90psi upright with the 40lb HF tank blaster and the compressor will run constantly. Eventually the pressure drops too low and I have to wait for it to keep up.

If you think this is the only major blasting operation will need to do and it's not worth investing in the equipment, you can always rent a big tow-behind engine/compressor/blaster rig. One of those will make short work of blasting a car chassis.

Man if you have 3 phase buy free 110V compressors, as large as you can, hook them together to the same output, buy the largest sandblaster from HF as you can afford, and the you can start thinking about sandblasting a car. The guy who did my stang had a shop in the middle of a big corn field (for the mess it produces), and sanblaster as big as cement mixer. I did not see his air compressor. With that equipment you can do productive work unless you want to spend your lifetime.

Sounds to me like the average weekend warrior would do better using a combination of the various other paint and rust removal methods available. Eastwood has a good selection of wire type brushes, chemical strippers and acid etching products.

Sandblasting or wirestrapping/chemical? Depends what are your expectations about the final paint job. Are you looking for overall restoration? If not sandblasting then imagine every piece of your your car shell to get to with wire wheel. You still are likely to overlook a hidden rust spots. Sandblasting will make 100% clean metal, and will reveal all the rust spots. Unless you are ready to buy $10,000 worth of equipment pay about $500 to someone with such equipment (big 400V compressor, separate shop, protective gear, at least 1 barrell sanblasting tank) who can do entire car in one afternoon.

67rcks said:

Sandblasting or wirestrapping/chemical? Depends what are your expectations about the final paint job. Are you looking for overall restoration? If not sandblasting then imagine every piece of your your car shell to get to with wire wheel. You still are likely to overlook a hidden rust spots. Sandblasting will make 100% clean metal, and will reveal all the rust spots. Unless you are ready to buy $10,000 worth of equipment pay about $500 to someone with such equipment (big 400V compressor, separate shop, protective gear, at least 1 barrell sanblasting tank) who can do entire car in one afternoon.

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Absolutely correct, the best way to do it yourself is to pay someone else to do it

The only way to get "100% clean metal and eliminate all rust" is to have the chassis (+doors, trunk lid and hood) chemically dipped. Last I heard dipping cost $3,000+. However, if your goal is to actually do the work yourself, at your leisure, then a combination of chemical strippers, sanding, wire brushing and acid etching can yield results equal to sand blasting. Though every method has its down falls, sandblasting is a learned skill best practiced on garbage parts as improper use - media - pressure can cause metal expansion resulting in ripples and warping.

Blasted my engine bay and advice Barnstang provided is right on. From a compressor standpoint I got 220v 60 gal from Menards and a 40lb blaster from Harbor freight. Compressor stays up with but constantly running - anything smaller would be a problem. Once I got it going and got thru learning curve - it was a blast (no pun intended)

Biggest issue I had was the valve for nozzles - quickly got to the point that wore out close valve and could not shut off from valve. Tried a deadman set up but rubber or metal stops wore out quick. Would be interested in advice on a good valve/nozzle assembly.

That is a common problem, especially with the cheaper blasters. The valve on my 40lb is now constantly open too. I figure a professional grade valve is necessary, one that probably has a tungsten carbide or cermet interior.

save yourself the time, money and hassle...take your car to a sandblaster to get the body work done and get you a cheap harbor freight cabinet for the small stuff. There is no way I would try to blast the engine bay with a darn home kit. My local sandblaster (sandblaster, not mediablaster) is pretty cheap. The entire engine bay if the fenders were off would probably cost $100 inside and out. You will spend HOURS sandblasting, living in a dust filled environment, sand everywhere, covered in sand and pissed off when you are done.

I finally gave up on the deadman nozzel stop. I took the screws out and ripped the whole handle off. It's easy enough. I open the air valve and charge up the vessel to about 80, somewhere before the tank safety pops open, then open the air to the nozzel, THEN crack the sand valve at the bottom. The amount of sand wasted from the time I get the sand going and I stand up and start working is insignificant.
Yea, it's a mess, yea its a pain, you'll get sand in your ears even, that won't all come out for 2 days. But I keep the blow gun out there and blow all the sand off my clothes, and the gear, drift the sand off the concrete, and that's about 10 min of cleanup. If you get a disposable bunney suit, then the only mess is the sand everywhere.
I forgot to emphesize the air. As mentioned above, you will need ALOT of air. I can't even run my cutoff wheel at home on my microscopic air compressor...I was given a very used 80 gal compressor-almost completely refurbished, need to wire it up....

im late in on the discussion, but make sure to wear a respirator. silica is very very bad for you