Help:Whats the difference in sandblasters?

[dhenkel]

I am going to buy a sandblaster to do my chevelle frame. Whats the diff between a pressure pot and a reg unit other than price? I have a compressor capable of 18cfm so I can use either but will a cheap Clarke unit work? Or should I get a pressure pot from Eastwood and also a soda kit too? Any feedback would be appreciated. Happy Bird Day

[rustedgoat]

There is a huge difference between the siphon ($15 at home depot) and a pressure pot ($120 from Harbor freight).

The siphon is quick and easy to set up just a bucket of sand or media.

The pressure pot in my case is about 10 times faster. Since you are moving much more media. The biggest drawback is refilling the pot, you have to bleed off the pressure to refill so it is time consuming. Buy the largest size you could. I almost bought the bought a smaller 40 lbs unit instead of the 110lbs to save a few bucks but I would have hated it.

To do one upper control arm
Siphon unit - about 40 min and still had spots
Pressurized unit - maybe 5 min, It actually looks like your painting the piece raw metal.

It does make a mess though. I built a 4' deep x 8' wide x 4' high blasting box out of scrap plywood mainly just to keep media recovery easier and with the large size it doesn't cloud up at all.

Spend the money you save by doing this yourself on a good fresh air respirator. You'll also need it while painting

[Mooch]

Depends on how much blasting your going to do .

Mooch

[Serge]

The advantage of a blasting cabinet is that you can use more expensive blast media in it and re-use it for a long time...garnet, aluminium oxide...

Pressure blasters are the only way to go for large jobs...the bigger the better. The pressure blaster pressurize the sand delivery and does not rely on gravity and suction to get the sand to the nozzle...makes a big...no...Huge difference...

Just forget about gravity blasters they are just not worth the money. It will end up on a shelve somewhere...