I'm finding that I'm going to need a lot of stuff blasted, wheels, various steel parts etc. Having all this done will be costly, maybe more so than buying or renting the equipment to do it.

So, suggestions are desired. Capacity recommendations. Grit recommendations? Links to best practices or setting up an area to perform the dirty deed, etc.

At $65 an hour, having it done will add up fast. If I should have good success with the misc. parts, I will likely do the same to the frame as well.

All advice, good or bad, welcome. Please don't feel like you have to hold back anything.

Thanks.

I'd have it done by a prof anyway,its cheaper in the long run.

You can get a abrasive blaster at www.harborfreight.com (http://www.harborfreight.com) for about $80 when they are on sale.But then you have to have one of those standup 6ft tall compressors to be able to use it.

So by the time you get all the stuff do it,get all the proper equipment and set it all up ,your going to wish you had paid for someone else to do it.

Now that im done doing mine,frame,brackets ect im glad i done it myself but it also took me a few months to get it all done.I had to trailer my frame to my uncles and use his compressor,get all dirty with sand,clean it all up,get a drier for the lines,sift the sand/abrasive,dump wet said out of the blaster,put more in,then have it clog up and spit and sputter ect graemlins/angry.gif .Where-as a prof could do it in an hour max.

JMO

I picked my sandblaster up from Lowes and saw the same one at auto zone for 24 bucks. Its made by harbor freight and has a ceramic tip works pretty good just make sure u have a good enough compressor to push the sand.

If money was not an object and is was just one project that needed to be done, I would have somebody else do it as SS396 said. I am just finishing a project, and did not have the money to pay somebody to do it. I also wanted to do it myself. I bought a blaster for about 30.00, and then built a cabinet for the smaller items out of wood. Works great! It will clog from time to time, but so will a store bought cabinet- and those are very expensive. I built a cabinet that is 4'widex2deep'x3'tall, and it fits almost everything I have thrown at it. It is also very handy to have around for oddball things that need to be cleaned up. I use magnezium blasting material because it is fairly cheap and gets the job done in a hurry. It is pretty abrasive, but unless you are doing body parts that should be ok. Hope that helps.

Nick

oh yeah- I have a six horse, 30 gallon compressor from sears, and although it works hard to keep up, it does the trick just fine.

Just got through sandblasting my frame and it was a lot of work and took me a good two long days.If i did it again i would have it done and heres why,first you need a compressor that will put out about 12cfm at 90 psi,the reason for this is that you will spend a lot of time waiting for the compressor.I had a harbour freight compressed air sandblaster and had to buy some blasting media because even thought i had a water collector on the compressor and the sandblaster and i still had my sand clotting up because of water.It could have been because being in the south it is so humid anyway,but it didnt work for me.Second ,i noticed that i had two choices either go slow and save media or fast and use a lot of media.I used about 1000 lbs of media that cost me about 75.00 not to mention a couple bags of sand before i gave up on that and if your pressure doesnt stay constant your media doesnt work as good ,as in not consistent.Third after i was done and ready to paint i couldnt get enough paint on to cover up the rust pits you get.I think powdercoating is the only way to go if you want a smooth frame.One more thing that i didnt regret was getting a sandblast cabinet for the small stuff,and use glass because it makes a much smoother surface to paint.So basically for what my two cents is worth is have your frame done by a professional and take care of all the small stuff yourself.Sorry for the long post but hope this helps. graemlins/clonk.gif

Keep em coming. I have a compressor already and know what it's like using a grinder, uses a lot of volume, but holds up fine.

I have most everything covered, but didn't know about the moisture, but your supposed to do that with paint anyway, so again I'm covered.

I found out that there is a place near me that can do the body for around $500, so I'll have to look into that. From other sources I've read, body blasting is NOT good unless it's media. Sand has a "hammer" affect and can stretch the metal.

All advice has been very helpfull.

Appreciate it.

Thanks :D

I built my own pressure sand blaster modelled after the ones sold by TIP Tools. Check out their website. They use larger fittings, and a screen inside the tank. I bought their fittings and welded them to a 20 gallon new propane tank. Works absolutely great. Almost never plugs. The key to avoiding moisture is to pipe your air in steel piping using risers and traps. You must check out the TIP tool catalogue or Sharpe spray gun web site for diagrams of how to hard pipe. If you put your hose onto steel pipe that is about 25 feet from the compressor tank, almost all moisture has condensed out of the air and been caught in the steel traps you have made. I blasted the frame on my 65 malibu and used only about 4 bags of sand total. Sand consumption is governed by pressure and nozzle tip size. You dont need tons of pressure to remove the rust. The worse it looks on a frame, the easier it is to remove rust to bare metal. I also built a plywood siphon feed sand blast cabinet from TIP tool plans. Works great. I use glass beads only for small parts. Can't be without one. Good luck with your decision.

Clarification. Can a gun be used for either sand or media, as in plastic, etc.

Thanks

Frank, where are ya from??? I have a blaster from TP and it was the best money ever spent, well, after the money spent on my Chevelle. I recommend you buy from them. Or, you could pay me to do it........ ;)

The end of your hose will have a "gun" or nozzle thru which the media passes. The nozzles have different size openings, and wear out(get bigger hole) during use. If you pick the correct nozzle size, I assume you can use all other kinds of media. My nozzle is ceramic. I got 2 different sizes from TIP Tools, but only used one so far. I highly recommend your getting their cataloque as it is full of sand blasting info.

Renton, WA

Thanks for the great tips and advice.

I'm hoping to start a frame off restoration in the coming weeks.

Later!