On 2012-08-19, Steve W. wrote:
Ignoramus15734 wrote:
There is a few items that I often buy and sell, such as steel Equipto
desks. They usually cost next to nothing on auctions and easily sell
for $100.

What I want to do is to set up a sandblasting and painting operation,
where an $11/hour guy would sandblast them and then paint with a spray
gun. Maybe he will spend an half hour per desk, sandblasting and spray
painting, and I can charge extra $50-100 for a "freshly sandblasted
and painted" desk looking like a million bucks.

We could sandblast in our backyard and paint right there.

We have a 10 HP reciprocating compressor.

My question is what options do I have regarding blast media and blast
guns. I heard about silica sand being harmful for health, and wanted
to know what are the reasonable low cost choices that are safe to use.

Thanks

i

Check your local regulations. Lot's of places prohibit open blasting now.

If you are OK the easy solution is an outdoor blasting booth. Basically
take one of the easy up type canopies and get the side curtains for it.
Also get a tarp that will cover the ground and come up inside the canopy
enough that you can secure it with snaps or similar.
The tent and tarp let you reuse the blast media by keeping it cleaner.
Just sweep it up and re-use it. I picked up a cyclone unit and run the
media through it to remove dust and crap lighter than the media.

Get a good sized blaster with a large fill opening.

For blast media Black Beauty (ground up mill slag) seems to work well
and it's not that expensive if you buy it in pallet quantities.


Good idea on the booth, we can easily weld a frame from various steel
tubing we have laying around. Thanks. As often happens, I had a
kick-ass blasting pot a year ago, but I sold it.

The stuff below was bought for $100.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Goods01.jpg

I now wish that I kept the blasting pot.

i