Sandblasting System Back End

Back by popular demand – sandblasting!  I am delighted to profile my complete sandblasting system.

The starting point is my “nothing special” $75 Craiglist compressor in the basement of the barn, residing there because it is a diaphragm compressor head rather than a piston head and thus pretty noisy.  The compressor unit is a 2 HP motor/head attached to a 10 gallon tank.  The compressor is attached to the air-abrasive gun via a typical reguator/air hose system and quick-release pneumatic fittings.  I generally operate my blasting gun at around 40 psi which gives me good control and adequate aggressiveness and is well within the capacity of the compressor.

The blasting gun attached to the hose is a siphon-feed unit, ancient (probably Craftsman) but indistinguishable from some thing you could buy tomorrow at Harbor Freight.

The system operates like this:  The air running through the gun nozzle creates a partial vacuum in another feed-line fitting/tube which draws the abrasive medium through the siphon tube.  In that effect it is identical to a paint spray gun, but instead of pulling up liquid paint and atomizing it through an atomizing nozzle it is sucking up the abrasive and focusing it through the gun output aperture.  As a general practice I simply jam the end of the siphon tube into the bottom of the abrasive reservoir, almost always just a bag of the abrasive or a five gallon bucket if I am feeling fancy.  I refill the bag/bucket with “overspray” abrasive gathered from the trash can.  I’ve thought about getting a fixed metal “hopper” reservoir but the bag/bucket work just fine for me.

One final word: make sure to wear eye, hand, and face protection.  Really.  I generally use a face shield, light leather or rubber gloves, and a dust mask or respirator.  You do not want to get even a smidge of this in your eyes or lungs.

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BTW I got my stitches out yesterday and much to the doc’s surprise I have had zero discomfort since Saturday, when I became pain free and cane free.  As he commented, “This level of recovery is unusual for someone at your stage of life.”  Apparently for geezoids like me the cartilage pain is compounded by an even more severe arthritis pain, which I do have some but not yet to the serious pain level.  If arthritis is the foundational pain problem, repairing the cartilage will not diminish the pain to my current level of “0.”  Still a little stiffness but that will disappear with motion and PT.  I’ve been told to take it easy for a month, which I will probably sorta do.  Off to mow the lawn.