posted
I'm using more and more signfoam for my sandblasted signs and am considering buying a compressor and sand pot and blasting them at my shop. Now I sub out the blasting but I'm thinking blasting foam should be alot quicker than redwood and maybe I can do it with a small compressor and pressure pot, what's the minimum size compressor, HP and CFM's, that will work. Aboout 10 years ago I rented a compressor (5hp) and a siphon pot to experiment blasting 2 small signs, the compressor couldn't keep up with the air demand, so I could blast for 15 seconds wait for a minute, since then I"ve subbed it out. If I do start blasting, one of my employees will do the blasting, I'm still finding sand on me from the last time!
------------------ Matthew Broadus Matthew Broadus Advertising Jacksonville, Fl.
posted
At the very least, if you are using a pressure pot, is a 7.5 hp with an 80 gallon tank. If you intend on blasting 4x8's on a regular basis, get a 10 hp with a minimum of a 100 gal. tank.
posted
Do you have a good source for sandblasting equipment??? I'd like to learn! I've worked in a shop that did it and i'd like to do it as an additional hobby someday....
------------------ "Work like no ones watching, Love like you don't need the money, And Dance like you've never been hurt."
Posts: 505 | From: Clearwater Florida USA | Registered: Feb 1999
| IP: Logged |
I'd call the signfoam people to see what they reccomend. If I remember the minimum it was 1/8" tip on a pressure pot. That won't take too many CFM ( the important measurement of a compressor ). Only use silica sand in bags. Not play sand etc. Even better is aluminum oxide powder. Have done lots of blasting so if you want to call and pick my pea-brain...770-735-6874
------------------ John Byrd Ball Ground Georgia letrhed1@tds.net so happy I gotta sit on both my hands to keep from wavin' at everybody!
Posts: 741 | From: Ball Ground, Georgia, USA | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
You can go with the "smallest compressor to drive my pot" thing perhaps like I did, when i got started with sandblasting....I was given the same advice I am giving you...if you are subbing the work out as of now, and building it up from that to a póint where you have decided its better to have your own...then don't throw money away on hobby toys, I have a good sized workshop compressor (5.5hp) It can just about keep up with my little TIP pot....If I was to run an air fed hood it would require the same volume again...and its slow and we do 95% HDU here. So go out and buy yourself a used diesel compressor trailer type mine is not huge but delivers enough air to power my industrial equipment I blast with a 1/4" nozzle 6mm, and have an air fed hood...I have Clemco equipment which I believe is quite big in the US, its a US company but our machines are built in Germany, they use T-couplings on the bends which means when they start to wear you just change the screw in stop and not the 90bends that are used by most....valves are well built...I have remote control on mine..."deadman". I could give you all the outputs etc but am short on time now....have to convert from metric to US, but will gladly give you any more help I can....If you feel you are doing enough to warrant your own gear then go for good proffesional gear and don't end up buying twice. I have a Clemco helmet Appollo 60 CPF 20 air filter and a pot which is Model no SCW 2040, the remote is RMS-2000.
I am off back to England tomorrow but come back here in a week if you need more help.
------------------ Henry Barker #1924 akaKaftan SignCraft AB Stockholm, Sweden. A little bit of England in a corner of Stockholm www.signcraft.se info@signcraft.se
Posts: 1552 | From: Stockholm, Sweden | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Call SignFoam and get their catalog. They describe the minimum equipment needed. I agree with Henry on equipment if you can afford it. I bought my used 100 CFM gasoline compressor and 200 lb. sandblast pot from a rental outfit for $1200. I have the CFM to blast redwood OUTSIDE with silica sand (its a hazardous material and should not be used without a fresh air hood. A sandblasting supplier in my area told me of a guy that used silica to sandblast the exterior of his house. When they started having health problems they called in the health department. There was so much free silica in the house, the health dept. condemmed it and it still didn't pass after having a hazardous material cleanup team go through the house.)
I am currently building a blasting room to blast HDU with aluminum oxide. It is not hazardous like silica. Although quite expensive, it can be reused so many times if you blast in a clean area and reuse it, it becomes cheaper than sand in the long run.
Good luck
------------------ Dave Sherby "Sandman" SherWood Sign & Graphic Design Crystal Falls, MI 49920 906-875-6201 ICQ: 21604027 sherwood@up.net
Posts: 5396 | From: Crystal Falls, MI USA | Registered: Apr 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
Tip Tools makes a nice 90lb. pressure pot unit that sells for just under $400; their web site is www.tiptools.com.
Unless you are using an air supplied hood, DO NOT use silica sand; it's very hazardous to breath silica dust - causes silicosis. Most folks I've communicated with are using Black Beauty, which is coal slag; it cost about $5/100 lb. bag.
I'm just doing signs occassionally, and for small signs a small, portable 5 hp compressor has sufficed but it does run continuously while blasting. The Tip Tools folks said if I'm going to get serious about this, I would need a compressor capable of at least 10 cfm at 90 psi (which means a 7 hp two-stage unit with at least a 60 gal tank).
I can blast a 1' x 4' HDU sign (removing about 1/4" of material) in about 30 minutes with my small compressor. I have done a 4' x 6' doubled-sided sign; and for that, I rented a diesel powered compressor. I went through 300 lbs. of sand on that job; and that included recycling some by actually scooping it up off the floor, sifted out the trash, and re-using it.
posted
hey matt if you need a hood let me know i have one that you hook to a oilless compressor that i don't use any more since i got out of the blasting end.
------------------ Jimmy Chatham Chatham Signs 164 Poplar Rd. Commerce, Ga 30529 706-335-2348 Fax 706-335-3378 icq#11718273
Posts: 1766 | From: Commerce, GA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic