Alternative gas bottle use, Blast pot.

[stormin]

Been meaning to do this for a while. Got one of the small blast pot's of ebay and goit a bit fed up of the slow progress. Buying a road compressor helped, but gave potential for a lot more `performance'. So I worked out something on the same principals but with a few extra features and upgrades.

Used a 47kg propane cylinder and removed the valve. Handily it was a 3/4 bsp fitting, so this would be the bottom outlet for the sand.
I cut the bottom off the and inverted it to create a filling hopper.
I turned up a few flanges to create a filling hole and added a pop up valve.

 

[stormin]

I sourced some valves off ebay, one from the USA with the intention of making the pot remote control from a deadman handle. Added some pipework and a filter regulator (ebay again).
I looked around for suitable wheels to make it portable. For about the same cost as wheels I got a sack truck from B&Q and mounted the pot to this. It can be easily removed for storage and alternative use of the truck.

Today was the big test. Used it to blast itself and primed from a take-off just after the regulator.

Really pleased with the result and makes a change from the usual log burners!

 

[weldingscotty803]

nice
gotta get one of those lol
what was the cost ?

 

[stormin]

nice
gotta get one of those lol
what was the cost ?

Main cost was the blast hose, hose couplings and the valves. Reckon I've got about two hundred and fifty quid in it. That's with 10m of blast hose and nozzle and a remote deadman handle.
I could've done it cheaper without the fancy valves just using the same set-up as the small ebay pots. But I wanted the convenience and safety of remote control. It's probably the equal of the professional blast pots now for a fraction of the cost.

 

[weldingscotty803]

looks good mate. what compressor you running it off.

 

[stormin]

looks good mate. what compressor you running it off.

Got a compair Holman 37, 130 cfm.

 

[weldingscotty803]

int tht a trailer one. diesel powered?

 

[stormin]

int tht a trailer one. diesel powered?

Yep road towed type. Three cylinder deutz air cooled diesel. More commonly seen powering jack hammers by a hole in the road.

 

[simon718]

nice work on the blast pot mate

is this the compressor you have? not the quietest im sure

 

[stormin]

nice work on the blast pot mate

is this the compressor you have? not the quietest im sure

That's the very same! Bit tidier looking than mine though.

Air requirement is purely down to the size of nozzle on the end of the hose. I'm running a 5/16" nozzle now for faster blasting. The smaller ebay pots commonly use 2.5mm to 3.2mm and require about 10-20 cfm. You can just about run them on a big single phase compressor. If you've got a smaller compressor just use a smaller nozzle, just takes longer.

The job I've made it for is a truck restoration. Truck is stored in a yard away from my house so needed a decent mobile set-up. A diesel powered compressor was the only way to go.
Had to build a bigger pot as the new compressor would empty the small ebay ones in about 10 mins.

 

[rtbcomp]

Very good! Can you remove the pop-up valve when you need to replace it?

 

[weldingscotty803]

do you reuse you blast?

 

[simon718]

what truck you restoring mate? good system uv got

 

[stormin]

Very good! Can you remove the pop-up valve when you need to replace it?

Yes I carefully turned up two flanges together with a taper. Undo three of the countersunk screws and loosen the remaining one. You can then swing the lower flange to one side and remove the pop-up valve. One of the screws is longer than the others and has a nyloc nut on to retain the flange, stop you undoing to far and dropping it into the pot.

The flanges were created from the centres of old brake disks recently removed from the missus car.

Don't worry I put nice new ones back on for her!

 

[stormin]

what truck you restoring mate? good system uv got

WWII Ward La France M1A1 wrecker. See more here:-
http://www.hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?t=9578

As bought:-

 

[simon718]

cant see the pics without registering unfortunately, had a read though looks fun take it you have got your spares truck by now? should upload some pics to here

 

[Jaeger_S2k]

That's something I thought that could be made from a gas can!
Nice work and "Heavy Duty Club" worthy! You should have a badge for that!

 

[Highviss]

Parts

Hi.. Love this job, would you post links for the parts that you have used in this job as i would like to build one and it would save time googleing
Thank you and keep up the good work.


UOTE=stormin;127039]Been meaning to do this for a while. Got one of the small blast pot's of ebay and goit a bit fed up of the slow progress. Buying a road compressor helped, but gave potential for a lot more `performance'. So I worked out something on the same principals but with a few extra features and upgrades.

Used a 47kg propane cylinder and removed the valve. Handily it was a 3/4 bsp fitting, so this would be the bottom outlet for the sand.
I cut the bottom off the and inverted it to create a filling hopper.
I turned up a few flanges to create a filling hole and added a pop up valve.[/QUOTE]