Shotblaster

[smiffy]

I need to tidy up my sprinter van , it has several patches of of rust ,nothing serious but I would like to sandblast the affected areas before treating with a etch primer prior to a respray.
I have a compressor that will provide  20cmf  at 100psi . What is the best sandblasting equipment to buy and what is the best blasting material to use . I dont want to spend a vast amount  .Any suggestions Sealy ,Machine Mart or cheapy off flea bay .Mike

[PK]

I have one of these:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Blackridge-Air-Sand-Blast-Gun-Spot-Brand-NEW-Super-Cheap-Auto-/221960506152?hash=item33ade08b28:g:IzgAAOSwPhdVJmW~

The idea is that you hold it against the job and the grit bounces off and back into the collection bag...  This sort of works.
For the amount of blasting I do at home, 80% loss of grit is fine.
I'm no sandblasting guru, so take my advice with a pinch of salt, but I use 30/60 grit. It's reasonably aggressive which is good when you want fast blast times..
PK
 

[Will_D]

I believe its illegal to use sand in a sandblaster set-up in the UK now!

It has to be an approved grit!

[Ed ke6bnl]

I never seem to see anything on it, but I had a sandblast attachment for my pressure washer( walmart and at the time cheap) I blasted my entire bed of my F1 1950 ford in short time and it did a great job, there is not dust just wet sand on the ground, not sure why I never here anyone else do it that way, I also have a large pressure blaster, and smaller version as well. this was on my 6 hp honda pressure washer, I now have a 13hp honda pressure washer it is done with a large opening and the pressure is nowhere near the 4000 psi it is capable of.

[Jonny]

It is if your employing people Will.
Used kids playing sand dryed out since 1999 until two years ago. Changed over then had severe problems with suction type blasters, never used my pot that's been sat outside for 9 years. Now use 60/120gr aluminia oxide with 25% kids playing sand just about bearable. Finer grit alum oxide don't give the finish I require.

Also had one of them Clarke sand blast guns, I gave it away 15 yrs ago. Even driving it excessively you will spend untold time about 1/4hr and might take the paint off within 1 sq inch.

Soda blasting might be another way whether rent or pay some one, not all truckers use jet sprayers or steamers but a more diluted version of Eds.
Or a 1 gallon sand blast pot used to be £40, £55 for 2 gallon sat outside both will do it.

[PekkaNF]

I tried batch painting a light blue metalic ford two years ago.

Good news was that soda blasting worked on bonnet/bumpper on small chips raised by stones and other road wear.

I tried one of those canister sand blasters, it works on sand, but not on soda. I bought this and it needs a little adjustment, but works great on cleaning/abration and I don't need to worry too much if getting abbrassive grit on palves where it does not belong.
http://nordblasthome.com/en/

However, although painting workked really well on solid colors (bright shiny red on my wife's car) it did not work that well on my three paint system metallic color. Small spots of 3-5 mm were fine, but bigger ones produced python coloring and I took it into professional pait shop....they told that they could have done the same work, same price

But I learned something.

I have small grit pot type too. Works, but needs a big compressor, very dry sand and good wattertrap.

Pekka

[smiffy]

Thanks for the replies I shall inwardly digest the suggestions and report back on what I decide to buy and how it works  Mike