[BWilder]

What is a decently priced sandblaster? Brands?

[mountainman13]

Something like this?

[mountainman13]

http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-shop/blast-cabinets.html

[Sniper03]

BWilder,

What type are you speaking of Cabinet or Free Standing Tank Models?
The ones pictured by Mountainman are good for cabinets. Just be sure you have a big enough air compressor regarding CFMs to make the unit work correctly! That is the most important thing. The unit should advise of the CFM requirement and the compressor will advise of its capacity to produce X CFM. The Nozzle size also determines the CFM Demand!

03

[BWilder]

I was looking more towards the cabinet ones. I like that one on harbor freight, just seal it up with some cauk

[c3shooter]

Important health note- silica sand cuts extremely well- it is also deadly. The freshly shattered grains of sand are especially nasty. Produces a condition called silicosis when you inhale enough.

Fatal, no treatment, no cure, and a really crappy way to die. Watched dad go that way- too many years of running a rock drill, no respiratory protection.

2 means of dealing with it- first, do not breathe the air with silica. A well sealed cabinet will contain- but WAIT a few minutes for the airborne stuff to settle before opening cabinet to remove work. Open air sandblasters wear a hood with an airline pumping clean air into the hood.

Second, use something other than silica sand. Black Beauty (coal slag) has no silica, works like sand. There are also soda blasters that use baking soda as the blast medium.

[levelcross]

Originally Posted by c3shooter

Important health note- silica sand cuts extremely well- it is also deadly. The freshly shattered grains of sand are especially nasty. Produces a condition called silicosis when you inhale enough.

Fatal, no treatment, no cure, and a really crappy way to die. Watched dad go that way- too many years of running a rock drill, no respiratory protection.

2 means of dealing with it- first, do not breathe the air with silica. A well sealed cabinet will contain- but WAIT a few minutes for the airborne stuff to settle before opening cabinet to remove work. Open air sandblasters wear a hood with an airline pumping clean air into the hood.

Second, use something other than silica sand. Black Beauty (coal slag) has no silica, works like sand. There are also soda blasters that use baking soda as the blast medium.

Right on C3, the Silica is nasty and I lost a friend to it. Soda works well and is cheap, coal slag works great for heavier applications. If you buy a cabinet seal every seam and opening with RTV while assembling it, hook a shop vac up to it to draw out the dust before opening the cabinet and I still wear a good respirator. I use one in my shop and change out the coal slag and soda depending on what I am doing.