03-02-2014, 05:39 PM
Hi,
Having now just about completed this restoration I've had a bit of time to reflect on it's ups and downs.
I've been giving the soda blaster a lot of thought and come to the conclusion there are easier and certainly much cheaper ways to remove paint in a home workshop. Here are a few of my thoughts.
Bron kindly bought me this Blaster as a most welcome Christmas present and with 50kg of hard blasting media and a second air/water separator the total bill amounted to £230 so its not a cheap item.
Next I realized my old but faithful 2hp compressor would not cope with the blasters air requirement but I got lucky because on eBay brand new bankrupt stock compressors rated at 3hp were being sold for around £160 so I bought one now the bill had already escalated to over £400 taking into account fuel used in collecting the blaster.
Having a garage/workshop full of decent kit no way was I going to start basting in the garage and as usual the weather was dire.
Assembling the blaster was straightforward enough and soon it was topped up with a bag of correct hard blasting media. The compressor was hooked up to the blaster then on a very windy bitterly cold but mostly dry day I set about blasting this Wilmac bandsaw in our driveway. It wasn't the blasters fault but I'll never forget just how uncomfortable I felt whilst crouching down on our driveway for a few hours with an icy wind howling up the valley straight onto my back.
In spite of this discomfort I found it fascinating to watch the paint slowly disappear as if by magic. All the while the 3hp compressor was running flat out but it did supply sufficient air for continuous blasting so I never had to stop blasting for air pressure to build up.
I was wrapped up against the weather; old clothes; safety goggles; dust mask; ear defenders and rigger gloves were worn. The blaster certainly took the paint off leaving perfectly clean nicely etched metal ready for re-finishing after a dusting off. So in this respect the blaster did what it was designed to do and could be considered a success.
Unfortunately the negatives far outweigh the positives. The initial cost of the equipment is high. The blasting media works out very expensive; I used one and a half bags of hard blasting media at £17 per bag plus £10 postage on this small job. The noise is unacceptable in a home workshop. Blasting proved incredibly slow. The blaster started to annoy because it kept blocking due to water in the lines slowing the job down even further. Blasting as expected created a huge amount of dirt which covered a large area although if dry outside this cleaned up pretty easily with a sweeping brush. My working conditions were very poor indeed. After blasting and everything was cleaned up this wasn't the end of it; I found that the blasting media got carried into our bungalow on my clothes ending up everywhere I walked; it even got onto the bottom drawer runners of my computer desk where it started to remove the varnish each time I opened a drawer. The media also worked its way under my clothes especially around my neck and shoulder areas making me feel like I was being abraded with sandpaper. On top of this after each session blasting I felt absolutely perished by the icy wind I had to endure.
Having recently bought a Lorch lathe I intended to use the blaster but this time with soda until I gave it some thought. Now knowing how the hard blasting media gets everywhere what would happen if I filled up with soda and started blasting the machined ways and around all the bearings on the lathe; I'm positive I would be forcing hard blasting media onto them causing damage because it would be extremely difficult to prevent contamination of the clean soda with hard blasting media so in effect I now have a soda blaster I dare not use on the lathe?
Absolutely no way do I regret trying the blaster because I've fancied a sand blaster for many years but now I'm satisfied in having given the blaster a good workout and although I'll lose money the blaster is now for sale on eBay. Bron is happy for me to sell it and to use the money if it sells to buy some piece of new kit I can use all year round.
I thought I'd add these notes because I don't want anyone dashing out to buy one of these blasters thinking them to be the answer to their prayers when it comes to removing paint or rust. Losing a bit of money doesn't hurt me because after all this is my hobby and I'll still enjoy trying new ideas out.
Kind regards, Col.
Having now just about completed this restoration I've had a bit of time to reflect on it's ups and downs.
I've been giving the soda blaster a lot of thought and come to the conclusion there are easier and certainly much cheaper ways to remove paint in a home workshop. Here are a few of my thoughts.
Bron kindly bought me this Blaster as a most welcome Christmas present and with 50kg of hard blasting media and a second air/water separator the total bill amounted to £230 so its not a cheap item.
Next I realized my old but faithful 2hp compressor would not cope with the blasters air requirement but I got lucky because on eBay brand new bankrupt stock compressors rated at 3hp were being sold for around £160 so I bought one now the bill had already escalated to over £400 taking into account fuel used in collecting the blaster.
Having a garage/workshop full of decent kit no way was I going to start basting in the garage and as usual the weather was dire.
Assembling the blaster was straightforward enough and soon it was topped up with a bag of correct hard blasting media. The compressor was hooked up to the blaster then on a very windy bitterly cold but mostly dry day I set about blasting this Wilmac bandsaw in our driveway. It wasn't the blasters fault but I'll never forget just how uncomfortable I felt whilst crouching down on our driveway for a few hours with an icy wind howling up the valley straight onto my back.
In spite of this discomfort I found it fascinating to watch the paint slowly disappear as if by magic. All the while the 3hp compressor was running flat out but it did supply sufficient air for continuous blasting so I never had to stop blasting for air pressure to build up.
I was wrapped up against the weather; old clothes; safety goggles; dust mask; ear defenders and rigger gloves were worn. The blaster certainly took the paint off leaving perfectly clean nicely etched metal ready for re-finishing after a dusting off. So in this respect the blaster did what it was designed to do and could be considered a success.
Unfortunately the negatives far outweigh the positives. The initial cost of the equipment is high. The blasting media works out very expensive; I used one and a half bags of hard blasting media at £17 per bag plus £10 postage on this small job. The noise is unacceptable in a home workshop. Blasting proved incredibly slow. The blaster started to annoy because it kept blocking due to water in the lines slowing the job down even further. Blasting as expected created a huge amount of dirt which covered a large area although if dry outside this cleaned up pretty easily with a sweeping brush. My working conditions were very poor indeed. After blasting and everything was cleaned up this wasn't the end of it; I found that the blasting media got carried into our bungalow on my clothes ending up everywhere I walked; it even got onto the bottom drawer runners of my computer desk where it started to remove the varnish each time I opened a drawer. The media also worked its way under my clothes especially around my neck and shoulder areas making me feel like I was being abraded with sandpaper. On top of this after each session blasting I felt absolutely perished by the icy wind I had to endure.
Having recently bought a Lorch lathe I intended to use the blaster but this time with soda until I gave it some thought. Now knowing how the hard blasting media gets everywhere what would happen if I filled up with soda and started blasting the machined ways and around all the bearings on the lathe; I'm positive I would be forcing hard blasting media onto them causing damage because it would be extremely difficult to prevent contamination of the clean soda with hard blasting media so in effect I now have a soda blaster I dare not use on the lathe?
Absolutely no way do I regret trying the blaster because I've fancied a sand blaster for many years but now I'm satisfied in having given the blaster a good workout and although I'll lose money the blaster is now for sale on eBay. Bron is happy for me to sell it and to use the money if it sells to buy some piece of new kit I can use all year round.
I thought I'd add these notes because I don't want anyone dashing out to buy one of these blasters thinking them to be the answer to their prayers when it comes to removing paint or rust. Losing a bit of money doesn't hurt me because after all this is my hobby and I'll still enjoy trying new ideas out.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
