Sandblasting...Newbie ?

[84C10EC]

Hey guys. I'm a newbie so be nice. I'm considering buying a home sandblaster. I want to blast the cab and body panels on a 1984 C10. As I have been looking at sandblasters (Harbor Freight, Eastwood) they all say they require 10 cfm @ 90 psi. My compressor will do 6 cfm @ 90 psi. Does this mean I'm out of luck? Or will it just be a slower process with having to wait for the compressor to recharge and keep up? My compressor will go up to 150 psi. Thanks for any help.

[StingRay]

Two things. If you are not very very experienced with sandblasting and using the correct media and pressures the only faster way to ruin your truck is to dump gas on it and throw a match. Secondly is a blaster that requires 10cfm would take many days to completely blast what you have at 10cfm. That's a very small blaster. At 6 forget about it anything bigger than a bread box and that would be agonizingly slow. My small pressure pot with the smallest nozzle will barely run on 10. My small cheapo suction feed barely runs on 10. At 20 they become manageable but are still painfully slow with the small patterns. You also need good moisture removal from your compressed air and the harder you are working a small compressor the worse it is for moisture. You also need very good personal safety gear. Actual silica sand dust will ruin your lunges. The disease is silicosis. Sand gets everywhere in what you are blasting, where you are blasting and in you. You will find sand in places you didn't think sand would get to. You'll wipe your ass and get sand.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Two things. If you are not very very experienced with sandblasting and using the correct media and pressures the only faster way to ruin your truck is to dump gas on it and throw a match. Secondly is a blaster that requires 10cfm would take many days to completely blast what you have at 10cfm. That's a very small blaster. At 6 forget about it anything bigger than a bread box and that would be agonizingly slow. My small pressure pot with the smallest nozzle will barely run on 10. My small cheapo suction feed barely runs on 10. At 20 they become manageable but are still painfully slow with the small patterns. You also need good moisture removal from your compressed air and the harder you are working a small compressor the worse it is for moisture. You also need very good personal safety gear. Actual silica sand dust will ruin your lunges. The disease is silicosis. Sand gets everywhere in what you are blasting, where you are blasting and in you. You will find sand in places you didn't think sand would get to. You'll wipe your ass and get sand.

^^^WORD^^^

I am doing some blasting right now, it takes a LOT of air to get something done bigger than a quarter. And DO NOT just bring it to someone for blasting without you KNOWING I mean REALLY understanding and KNOWING that they can do sheet metal like a cab back or roof or doors or God forbid a hood. I have a very good sand blaster who I bring stuff too, and I will NEVER bring him something like a roof or what ever again, he RUINED a 1928 Buick door for me. He will be doing my truck cab, I am doing the roof and back of cab inside and out at home and epoxy priming it, then bringing it to him to do the floor, and cowl. Done wrong a panel like a hood or roof or something will be RUINED. Not "Damn I have some more work" kinda damage, we are talking "&^%# I HAVE TO THROW IT AWAY" kinda damage. And it's not from the old myth of heat, there is no heat and in fact it cools the metal when blasting. No, the sand is like a million little hammers hitting on the panel stretching the metal just like if you were planishing it with a hammer and dolly!


Brian

[68is4me]

I would advise to find a good sand blaster and have it done. I had the cab, frame, rear end, rear arms, and a bunch of misc stuff done. Like Martinsr said the sandblaster did not do any roof or the back of the cab. All in I was about $600.00 and it took 2 days to get everything done. Like everybody else said you need some serious equipment to do it. Just my time alone that I saved was worth it to me.

I do have a blast cabinet and still do all the small stuff myself.

[truckster]

At 6 cfm you will stop and wait a lot. And as mentioned, it will be slow when you're blasting. Cleanup will take forever, and you'll be finding sand in hidden spots for years to come.

I would check out someone who can do wet blasting. It's going to save you a lot of time, it will be easier to clean up, and most importantly, it's less likely to damage body panels.

[Jcfcamaro]

I have a small pot from orscheln farm supply and it takes alot of air. I only do the pitted areas and hard to get areas. Other than that I just use a sander with 40/80 grit paper. You have to be real careful when going over thin metal and you'll have to make several passes to keep the heat down. It can be done through.

[e015475]

I have a 13-14 CFM compressor and use the HF red sandblaster pressure pot and the compressor can almost keep up with the sandblaster.

I do parts that I can't get in the blast cabinet with the HF pressure pot, but it is hard to imagine doing a whole truck with my setup. I'd guess you'd spend a couple days at least blasting the truck.

My advise is to find a painter or body-shop to recommend a sandblaster to do the work for you. You want someone experienced in auto body panels, not structural steel, to do your blasting. The blasters around here that do automotive stuff seem to favor ground glass as the medium.

I paid $4oo to have my last project blasted, which was everything but the cab shell itself. I used the blaster my body guy recommended. The project before that included the cab and was about $800.

If you decide to do it yourself, use the right media. Washed sand from HF is cheap, but very dangerous to breath. Get some decent media made for blasting. Invest in some PPE - they sell googles rated for sandblasting and I'd recommend both goggles and facemask. Nothing like a scratched cornea to make you miserable for a week. Gloves and a respirator and good too, but you'll still be digging it out of you nose, ears and hair for a few days.