Think i found a interesting solution for sandblasting at home

[Tractorhead 9,064]

I be interested a very long time in a Sandblast cabinet, but the longer i think about it, 

the longer i doubt i wanna waste that Space.

 

When i brought my Rims to the Company they powdercoat them, i see there sandblasting cabinets, 

boy bee this things huge. Ok not an option, especially because of the Dust.

 

So i developed an idea and thinkering a lot about it.

How about a Vacuum reworked and a Sandblasting system with an Feedback system, to reduce massive the waste

and reduce the dust on Working.

 

I found on fleebay this Sandblasting Gun, i be interested in, that is exactly what i‘m thinking about.

for 30$ It seems to be not a unrealistic Pricerange.

 

So i ordered it and a Ash vacuum what have an fine filter in it.

my idea is drilling a hole in the bottom of that vacuum bowl, to suck the sand to the sandblasting gun via a pipe

and via Vacuum it back into the Bowl.

In the Bowl i will insert a fine mesh to extract bigger parts, the sand hopefully drops down in the Sucktion chamber near bottom.

 

So i have a continouse working system with sand rejeckt

let‘s see how it works.

 

 

  

Very interesting sandblasting Gun and with Vacuum connector. For 30$ it seems the price worth.

A mask is allway’s recommended on suck Work, but i hope to reduce the dust to nearly 0

 

 

And the Ash Vacuum with it‘s Bowl.

Need few fittings and Pipes but i will forward my experience if somebody interested in.

 

 

 

 

 

[DennisThornton 4,769]

Absolutely!  Need videos!

[WHX?? 48,834]

[Tractorhead 9,064]

The idea behind was born of a need to sandblast Quick myself without waiting,

i read also about the idea of the cardboard Sandblasting cabinett and i liked the idea.

but the mess by emptying the cabinett can be quicker in my opinion.

 

I see lots of advantages in this system.

1. no much work before  - click on Air, click on Power - ready to use.

2. Less storage capacity only the „Vacuum and piping“

3. ( hopefully) a easy separate from dirt to sand (sand last longer and easier cleaning)

4. can hopefully work in each direction even overhead ( under car or Truck)

5. usable onsite - disassemble the part before is not needed ( i.eg on exhaust before welding or similar)

6. easy movable weight is about 10 Kilo. ( with 5 Kilo sand in it)

7. less dirt and dust arround when work with it. 

8. I don‘t definitely need it urgently but i like the idea to have it.. 😎  and i like also to play on unknown terrain.

 

Suggestions and thoughts are Welcome.

 

I thinkering a lot on that system before, also about adding a seconrary lower bowl to have more distance between sand and dirt.

I fear a little, that the vacuum sucking is too strong and all the Sand will be sucked directly to the filter until it is clogged.

But i will make a project with this great tool until it works for me as expected.

 

So in first step i will try to set a sand drain hole directly into bottom, where the sand will be flow out via a Fitting thru a Pipe into the Sandblasting Gun. About that, i will use an Aluminum Ring, that carrying the Mesh to have enough distance between Sand and dust / dirt.

 

I tried short the Vacuum only thru the Sandblasting gun without any other connection, to find out if my Plan have any chance to work.

Only as Vacuum it works pretty strong, what indicates me the idea is not completely stupid and have a real chance to do the work.

 

To keep the vacuumed sand back into Sandbed on bottom i will set an additional Pipe internally, what gives the sucked mixture a rotation 

like an cyclone air filter system. With that rotation of the sucked mixture i hope the rotational air and the gravity will easier sepaerate the dust from the Sand and keep the dirt and dust in the upper layer overhalf the mesh and the sand flows because of gravity in the bottom layer. I like the idea to use a cyclone filter system for that task, but i have absolutely no experiences with cyclone systems.

That is my first try in that way.

 

my thought and my hope is, that the specific weight of the sand will be heavier than the dirt what is in that vacuumed mixture.

So if i‘m right, the cyclone effect will help me on this separation and if the sand is heavier it shall work.

 

If all works i will sure do a Video of how it works.

 

Still need follow Material

5 Kilo special Sand i ordered yesterday

2,5m 1/2“ pipe between fitting and sandblasting Gun

a 1/2“ fitting straight to connect the 1/2“ pipe

maybe a 1/2“ ellbow to reduce the height

2 hose clamps 1/2“

1 Airline 3/8“ 5 meter with quick connector

4 rollers to make it easy movable on a small board

 

Parts on it‘s Way ...

 

[JoeM 7,874]

And so it is born, "tractorhead blast-o-matic 6000" beeps as it sweeps as it cleans!

I like it, great potential. 

[squonk 41,166]

Sand is very destructive to vacuum motors. Filters or no filters, sand will get in it. You may find your vac dies an early death. Even motors designed for sand blasting fail. You need to build a dust collector to go along with the vac

[8ntruck 7,023]

I bought a spot sand blaster from Eastwood a couple of decades ago.  It draws sand from a small bag attached to the gun, has a shroud thatcontacts the work and most of the sand back into the bag.  Cleans an area about the size of a half dollar at a time.  Not very useful for large surfaces, though.

[953 nut 55,340]

For removing paint and/or rust I have found that time spent with a needle gun will reduce sandblasting time 4 to 1.  

[Achto 27,623]

One of these added into the collection system will help prolong your vacuum's life.

 

https://www.wish.com/product/5de5ce401fdb34dd2719085b?hide_login_modal=true&from_ad=goog_shopping&_display_country_code=US&_force_currency_code=USD&pid=googleadwords_int&c={campaignId}&ad_cid=5de5ce401fdb34dd2719085b&ad_cc=US&ad_curr=USD&ad_price=19.99&campaign_id=7203534630&gclid=CjwKCAiA8Jf-BRB-EiwAWDtEGjJXYu-hQ01TM-BfIiIuioadZcsblmc4FqToppd5CSpob1CHuw2hBBoCYQ0QAvD_BwE&share=web

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Thanks gentlemen,

great input.

 

I  ain‘t have any experiences on sand vacuuming, thanks mike and dan for your feedback, will thinkering about.

 

[DET 105]

I bought one of these from Northern Tool. It attaches to my pressure washer and works pretty good.

[rmaynard 15,519]

11 hours ago, Achto said:

One of these added into the collection system will help prolong your vacuum's life.

 

https://www.wish.com/product/5de5ce401fdb34dd2719085b?hide_login_modal=true&from_ad=goog_shopping&_display_country_code=US&_force_currency_code=USD&pid=googleadwords_int&c={campaignId}&ad_cid=5de5ce401fdb34dd2719085b&ad_cc=US&ad_curr=USD&ad_price=19.99&campaign_id=7203534630&gclid=CjwKCAiA8Jf-BRB-EiwAWDtEGjJXYu-hQ01TM-BfIiIuioadZcsblmc4FqToppd5CSpob1CHuw2hBBoCYQ0QAvD_BwE&share=web

Bought one of those from Amazon for about $18.00 last year but never got around to hooking it up.

[DennisThornton 4,769]

2 hours ago, DET said:

I bought one of these from Northern Tool. It attaches to my pressure washer and works pretty good.

I bought the same years ago and haven't used it yet...  I thought it would be a way to NOT have to buy a big air compressor and control all the dust.  Glad to hear that you are satisfied.  What water blaster do you have or at least it's GPM?

[DET 105]

Dennis, it is rated 2600 psi max, 2.5 gpm max

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Started today with a first test.

after searching arround, i found few items and try to use them.

I completely forgotten, i had allready things they needed in basement.

 

I don‘t care about the Vacuum, it was a extremely cheapo one, if this fail‘s, i can not be sure, that the reason was the Sandblasting.

This is cheapcrap, but for a test good enough, to see if my idea can work. - let‘s start to build this thing.

 

Firstly i build the 3 inlay parts for the Bowl as i imagine for a try.

  

 

First i built a whirlchamber, i hope this will keep the sand dry because of the vacuumed whirled air.

my intend is also to have a feeder for the Sand by the Whirl.

 

 

than i built the prewhirl chamber, that should spread the whirl in different zones.

The reason i did this is to mix the recoverd sand with the air also as an feeder system.

So i hope to prevent clogging - we will see.

 

So let‘s see how the things shall look inside the bowl.

  

 

Firstly i inserted the whirlchamber into the Bowl. ( the mesh i fabbed lay‘s aside)

 

 

Than i put the Mesh on it.

 

 

at least the intake chamber closes the System.

 

 

 

The Vacuum intake will be immediately directed via that sheetmetaldeflector.( i hope) 

 

 

on top a Dual Filtersystem shall clean the out blown Air on a Maximum.

as allready saying, this is an extremely cheap Vacuum, we will see how long it will last.

 

Than i filled the Bowl with 7 Kilo Grit i had allready in Basement.

 

 

Than i grabed a piece Metal i had laying arround aaaand .

 

 

 

 

I have tomorrow to find out why it clogged, but the basics seems working.

maybe it was my weak setup on the compressor, because i just have 6Bar on the Line.

That will be increased - maybe tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Huh, i found my mistake,

once you can read, your‘re sometimes ahead...

 

the grain i have used is up to 0,7mm

the max. grain the Gun with this nozzle will trouble free handle is 0,4mm.

 

Read it on the sidenotes - above 0,4 mm it can happen that it clogs very fast.. 😎

[DennisThornton 4,769]

1 hour ago, DET said:

Dennis, it is rated 2600 psi max, 2.5 gpm max

Common size but a bit below recommended spec but you are still happy.  Great and thanks!

[DennisThornton 4,769]

53 minutes ago, Tractorhead said:

Huh, i found my mistake,

once you can read, your‘re sometimes ahead...

 

the grain i have used is up to 0,7mm

the max. grain the Gun with this nozzle will trouble free handle is 0,4mm.

 

Read it on the sidenotes - above 0,4 mm it can happen that it clogs very fast.. 😎

Too many times my ego has suffered from reading the manual so I just don't do it anymore.  I feel better just blaming the tool.  But you'll get over this someday.

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Thanks Dennis, but i didn‘t feel Guilty at all. 😂

 

Because i didn‘t blame the tool at all, 

It is a selfmade system with several parts, so i have to find out if all is work together as i expecting,

but there such a lot‘s of unknown in this equation it‘s a test about an idea i have.

So i go allway‘s the way and look for things they had to be improved.

 

When i start such selfmade solutions i tried with what i had allready on site or in stock,

Even i don’t like to start such experiments with a „hellfire“ that’s the reason i guessed it may be the weak Airpressure.

 

It‘s not the end of the Story.

 

 

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Did a few tries today, 

it needs a lot of Air, when i go over the 9 Bar, than the clogging reduces,

but my Compressor wasn‘t able to deliver that much of Airflow at this pressure.

 

 

Short excurse - 

Than today arrived a new Fan as addon for the Shed heater.

it is able to deliver 1800qm/h Airstream. 

 

Dang that thing blows, it came with a speed regulator so i tried firstly the enhanced Shed heater.

It now works better than expected, the Heater on full throttle and the Fan attached onto it delivers Warm Air,

enough to be warm enough to work even on colder outside temps.

 

 

The 5KW heater works great, and relatively silent with a fairly fuelconsumpt at full speed at 1,7l/h of Diesel,

but it blows relatively slow, so 2,5 m after the Heater it just seems to be cold Air.

 

With the new Blower it can definitively be called a „Heater“.

The improved airstream is little colder than on the Nozzles but the increased airstream blows it up to 6-7 meters

On the size of the Shed it will not warm up completely, because nearly no insulating, 

but in the Warm outlet Airstream it felt „useful“ warm when working in the Shed, even the stream can simply be directed.

 

Back to the sandblast system

on the other hand i found, if i reduces a little the suction on the Vacuum, 

i also can Deal with lower pressure without much clogging.

Needs a bit more time wit( reduced pressure for results, but it works.