Hi Ken,

In answer to your questions:

My air Compressor is a sears brand twin cylinder model 106.154540 rated
at 100 psi displacement of 8.1 standard cubic feet per minute.

A rated delivery of 6.4 cfm @ 40 lbs, and 5.4 cfm @ 90 lbs.

Has a 1 hp electric motor and a 12 gal tank.

I use a sears sand blaster model 106.168110 which can be used with
either the attached canister or with an open hopper. The canister can
be used in either a pressure mode or in a siphon mode. The Hopper in a
siphon mode.

The manual gives the following for pressure and volume of air needed.

Can be operated with a non-tank type portable air compressor rated at
least 1/3 hp, and delivering a minimum of 2.2 cfm at 40 psi.

When used in the high pressure tank type air compressor in the pressure
mode, with attached canister, a maximum of 50 psi is not to be exceeded.
(for safety in not blowing up the attached canister.) When used in
conjunction with high pressure compressors, it is recommended that the
gun be used as a siphon feed operation.

This gun may be used with a sand hopper, or with a gun canister. When
this sand blast gun is used in the siphon feed mode, either with a
canister, or the sand hopper, it may be used with any air compressor
delivering a minimum of 3.5 cfm at 50 psi or more.

Comment: In the siphon mode any pressure at 50 psi or above to the
maximum your compressor can deliver as long as you can maintain 3.5 cfm
volume of air. Now what the ratings say, and what your compressor can
actually put out may be different. Only time and experience will give
you those answers.

Other applications: Your sand blast equipment performs equally well
when using soap and water for cleaning purposes such as auto washing,
lawn chair cleaning, screen cleaning and any number of other cleaning
applications. Liquid and owner insecticides, kerosene and other solvents
may also be dispensed with your sand blast equipment. When large amounts
of liquid are to be dispensed by your sand blast gun in a short period
of time, it is recommended that your gun be operated in the pressure
feed mode. Otherwise it is recommended that you use your sand blast gun
in th siphon feed mode. In order to obtain a high pressure liquid stream
it is recommended that you operate your sandblast gun in the pressure
feed mode.

Types of Abrasive:

Sand Grit Size 30 (16-45 mesh) – General purpose use. Light rust and
paint removal from metals, seeds, other surfaces, wood finishing, metal
cleaning, glass and stone etching, drilling of holes in glass, brick or
cement block, brass and silver cleaning, fight brick cleaning, exterior
automotive parts cleaning, light stone and cement removal, and water
deposits removed.

Sand Grit Size 70 to 90 (40-140 mesh) – Desirable for fine polish
finishes, antique wood finish, bfrass and silver polishing, automotive
parts cleaning and polishing, sheet metal surface polishing, and fine
glass etching.

Aluminum Oxide Grit Size 50-80 - Heavy rust removal, rough surface
paint removal.

Glass Beads - Fine polish finishes of all wood grains, silver and
brass objects, automotive parts, fine etching of glass, etc.

Comment: While regular sand blast sand is available and works well
because the sand has rough edges, I chose to use a fine play sand which
has rounded edges like beach sand, because it is much cheaper. However
with play sand, you do have to check the actual sand which is bagged to
see that it is a fine sand and consistent for that brand of sand. Many
play sands have very course grains, and are more like a builders sand.
But note that any sand that you can feed through your sand blast gun
will do the job.

Always use some kind of water trap between the air compressor and the
sand blast gun. You do not want the gun to be spitting out water
instead of sand.

In any case, whenever you use a sand blaster outside of a special box,
be sure to wear eye protection, the kind that covers the side of your
eyes also. And if you can, a face shield, and long sleeves, because that
sand will bounce off of what you are cleaning, and it will sting if it
hits bare skin.

When sand blasting a picture or design on glass, reduce the pressure to
almost nothing for control, and be sure to cover anything that you do
not want the sand to hit. Some ones initials on a set of glasses makes
a great gift.

Zap




Ken Moon wrote:
"zap" wrote in message
nk.net...

Hi All,

Very interesting what everyone thinks about sandblasters.

But from what some are saying, that they can only blast away for 20 - 30
seconds at a time, then stop to let the air build up again. Or some I
think said that they could go for a couple of minutes then had to stop for
the air to build up. My friends, If that is what I had to do with any
sandblaster, I would throw it away as next to useless, useful only to
clean spark plugs. I can maintain a constant blaster operation for hours
at a time, non stop, with My cheap open type siphon sandblaster. And have
done entire cars with it, as well as anything else I take a mind to use it
on.

It is not fast maybe, but my air compressor can maintain 60 Lbs at the
nozzle for as long as I keep the trigger pulled. And I have run it up to 4
hours at a stretch without letting up on the trigger. I have worn out
somewhere between 40 to 60 nozzles and run tons of dry play sand through
it. Having my boys sweep it up and put it back into the hopper till it
was just too fine to continue using.

The cabinet type sandblasters are nice when you have only small parts to
do, I built my own cabinet once, but what if you need to do something like
a car fender, or an engine block? It works good for putting designs on
Glass also, and if you are going to sandblast wood, remember that you have
to mask off anything that you don't want the sand to hit.

Just my opinion, but just don't take too serious what every one of us is
saying. Look over what is out there, and pick something that will do the
job you want done. It's your money and there is a lot of verity out
there. But keep in mind that there has been,over the years, hundreds more
of these cheep open siphon sandblasters sold and used. The design has not
changed in almost 100 years because they work. I've been using mine for a
little over 40 years now. It still works great.

Zap

====================

What is the air volume consumption (CFM) of your unit at 60 psi? How big is
your compressor (HP)?

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX.