am-tech sandblaster gun...

[steve.h]

Evening all, I am looking for something to get light rust off as well as clean jobs up before paint/powder coating, I have a very limited budget so an looking for a "will do to start with" option to see if I really need the bigger kit. I have seem the am-tech sand blaster kit for around £18, it says it takes 60-120 psi and 3-8 cfm, I only have a little 2hp compressor for my plasma cutter, it has around 5 cfm fad so would this setup be any good, like i said its light rust and cleaning metal work rather than heavt duty jobs, for now at least. I was thinking for £18 its worth a go surely. and if it is useable what media should I use for best results ?
any input would be greatful.
Cheers guys.
Steve.

 

[Engineer]

Had one given to me...........used it once and binned it. Not really much use for anything much, except blast cleaning spark plugs maybe.

 

[rtbcomp]

I had the Clarke equivalent, waste of money. You're much better off saving for a pressurised pot system.

I do use a syphon gun for doing the bits I miss from Anglo-Abrasives, Wigan. It cost about £50 with a tungsten carbide nozzle and is very effective, but needs a 3hp compressor to be useful, and even then not as good as my pressure pot.

 

[steve.h]

the pressure pots wouldnt work on my 2hp though, would they ??

 

[rtbcomp]

No, it'd be OK for bead blasting, but not grit blasting.

The truth is to gritblast effectively you need a lot of air no matter which method you use.

 

[steve.h]

I saw this on the bay, 10 Gallon Pot Bead Shot Sand Blaster, so is that the job your talking about ? im guessing with this it would work ok for now and then when more funds allow i could get a second compressor, I am thinking of adding a 100ltr tank to expand the 25ltrs that my little compressor has, would this help the blaster to run any better ??
I wont be using it on heavy duty stuff, im making some wrought iron furniture and want to be able to clean it well before powder coating.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-10-Gallon...Air_Tools_and_Compressors&hash=item1e5e1b6b43

 

[rtbcomp]

That's the one.

Adding a bigger tank will allow you to use the pot until the tank runs out of air and then you'll have to wait until the compressor fills it up again, so it's a case of do a bit of blasting, have a cup of tea and do a bit more.

Another thing you may hit with a small compressor is duty cycle, you'll probably end up wearing your compressor out prematurely.