i want to sandblast some wrought iron patio furniture with my new harbor
freight sandblaster, but i can't find a respirator suited for sandblasting.
all the local hardware stores' respirators say NO SANDBLASTING. even called
a sandblasting supply house but the only respirator they have is some type
of injected air system that costs almost $400!

i'll be doing the blasting outdoors, if that makes any difference.

what are you guys using for respirators?

thanks,
eddie

"Eddie" wrote in message
76.62...
i want to sandblast some wrought iron patio furniture with my new harbor
freight sandblaster, but i can't find a respirator suited for
sandblasting.
all the local hardware stores' respirators say NO SANDBLASTING. even
called
a sandblasting supply house but the only respirator they have is some type
of injected air system that costs almost $400!

i'll be doing the blasting outdoors, if that makes any difference.

what are you guys using for respirators?

thanks,
eddie

Using sand (silica) is illegal where I live, particles can be too
small for a respirator to safely protect you, hence the air
supplied unit. Also the risk for a supplier of respirators is
that it may not protect you from the muck being blasted off,
eg lead paint, epoxy, fibre glass.........

Special blast media is available I think made from milled
iron ore slag?? but stand to be corrected. Does not break
down into fine particles, but you still have the dust from the
muck.

I use wet sandblasting which stops that whole dust issue,
venturi on a high pressure washer sucks dry sand into
the water stream, water and sand then do a better job
than dry abrasive alone.

"Eddie" wrote in message
76.62...
i want to sandblast some wrought iron patio furniture with my new harbor
freight sandblaster, but i can't find a respirator suited for
sandblasting.
all the local hardware stores' respirators say NO SANDBLASTING. even
called
a sandblasting supply house but the only respirator they have is some type
of injected air system that costs almost $400!

i'll be doing the blasting outdoors, if that makes any difference.

what are you guys using for respirators?

thanks,
eddie

The big concern is breathing silica dust, which causes serious health
problems. There are good respirators on the market that should filter the
vast majority of it from the air you breath, but only an injected air system
would eliminate it, as you've discovered. The positive pressure in the
respirator prevents migration of outside atmosphere----but your air supply
must be quite clean.

If you work with your back to the wind, and don't blast on a calm day,
you're likely to get by fine with one of the respirators that have
cartridges and felt filters, in spite of what they say. I'm sure the
warnings are there to cover the manufacturer for liability reasons, letting
them off the hook when their product is used *improperly*. Using one of
the better quality respirators, not one of the little disposable models,
unless you blasted continually, day in, day out, I don't think you'd be
exposed to enough to be harmful, assuming you have good health now. Just
make certain the respirator fits snugly on your face, and the filters are in
place such that air can't get around them. One other thing. The abrasive
bits bounce around quite a bit, so a face shield is a good idea. Blasting
works a lot better in a cabinet, where nothing bounces back at you.

I assume you have a serious air supply. If you have a small horsepower
compressor, you're not going to have enough air to do much blasting, anyway.
You'll spend your time waiting for the compressor to refill. I can't think
of anything more frustrating. If your compressor is less than a
serious 5 horse model, you'll see what I'm talking about. Blasting is very
demanding of the air supply.

Harold

I was thinking of making my own air supply. I already have a sandblasting
hood made from combination canvas/rubber. I intend to use about 60 feet of
garden hose with air supplied by an old squirrel cage furnace fan. I will
have to build a plenum for the fan and hook up the hose with duct tape.
Assuming that I get positive pressure to the hood, AND, wear a cartridge
respirator underneath, I think I will be OK and save approx. $800.
Any thoughts from others?

Ivan Vegvary
"Eddie" wrote in message
76.62...
i want to sandblast some wrought iron patio furniture with my new harbor
freight sandblaster, but i can't find a respirator suited for
sandblasting.
all the local hardware stores' respirators say NO SANDBLASTING. even
called
a sandblasting supply house but the only respirator they have is some type
of injected air system that costs almost $400!

i'll be doing the blasting outdoors, if that makes any difference.

what are you guys using for respirators?

thanks,
eddie

anyone else besides me see this as a Darwin awards candidate? In all
seriousness, is your life worth that little?

"Ivan Vegvary" wrote in message
newsMRHe.25243$MW5.22086@trnddc08...
|I was thinking of making my own air supply. I already have a
sandblasting
| hood made from combination canvas/rubber. I intend to use about 60
feet of
| garden hose with air supplied by an old squirrel cage furnace fan.
I will
| have to build a plenum for the fan and hook up the hose with duct
tape.
| Assuming that I get positive pressure to the hood, AND, wear a
cartridge
| respirator underneath, I think I will be OK and save approx. $800.
| Any thoughts from others?
|
| Ivan Vegvary
| "Eddie" wrote in message
| 76.62...
| i want to sandblast some wrought iron patio furniture with my new
harbor
| freight sandblaster, but i can't find a respirator suited for
| sandblasting.
| all the local hardware stores' respirators say NO SANDBLASTING.
even
| called
| a sandblasting supply house but the only respirator they have is
some type
| of injected air system that costs almost $400!
|
| i'll be doing the blasting outdoors, if that makes any difference.
|
| what are you guys using for respirators?
|
| thanks,
| eddie
|
|

Ivan Vegvary wrote:
I was thinking of making my own air supply. I already have a sandblasting
hood made from combination canvas/rubber. I intend to use about 60 feet of
garden hose with air supplied by an old squirrel cage furnace fan. I will
have to build a plenum for the fan and hook up the hose with duct tape.
Assuming that I get positive pressure to the hood, AND, wear a cartridge
respirator underneath, I think I will be OK and save approx. $800.
Any thoughts from others?

Personally I doubt a furnace fan will develop enough pressure to drive
much air through 60 ft of garden hose. Fans are intended to move a lot
of air at low pressure. I think you'd be better off feeding your mask
from your compressor with a pressure regulator and filter.

Chris

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:41:40 GMT, "Ivan Vegvary"
wrote:
"Eddie" wrote in message
. 176.62...

I want to sandblast some wrought iron patio furniture with my new
harbor freight sandblaster, but I can't find a respirator suited for
sandblasting. All the local hardware stores' respirators say
NO SANDBLASTING. even called a sandblasting supply house but the
only respirator they have is some type of injected air system that
costs almost $400! I'll be doing the blasting outdoors, if that
makes any difference.
What are you guys using for respirators?

Myself, I stick the item in my bead-blast cabinet, seal the door...

The whole reason they put that warning on the respirator package is
to insulate themselves from the lawsuits. Or at least, to try. It's
like the cardboard sun shades for your car windshield, with the lawyer
mandated "Remove Before Driving Car" printed on them.

If this is a true DIY job, I'd use a full respirator with the right
cartridges and pre-filters (not the cheaply molded dust mask type),
and then have the wind at your back and use a hood or balaclava to
make the dust work that much harder to get at the filters.

If you are paying someone else money to do this blasting work as an
employee, you'd better follow all the safety rules and supply all the
high-dollar safety equipment. Or it's guaranteed that someone will
(according to their attorney) "develop a nasty cough" and try coming
back and taking you to the cleaners later.

I was thinking of making my own air supply. I already have a sandblasting
hood made from combination canvas/rubber. I intend to use about 60 feet of
garden hose with air supplied by an old squirrel cage furnace fan. I will
have to build a plenum for the fan and hook up the hose with duct tape.
Assuming that I get positive pressure to the hood, AND, wear a cartridge
respirator underneath, I think I will be OK and save approx. $800.
Any thoughts from others?

Nice idea, but you need a more powerful fan and a larger hose.
Furnace blowers work fine when moving lots of air using big ducts, but
they won't push against much more than 0.5 inch of water backpressure,
and a garden hose won't flow very much at that pressure. You'll need
to work against at least 5" WC backpressure.

For a remote air supply, think a small regenerative or ring blower
or a vacuum-cleaner motor blower to get enough flow and pressure.
Bypass cooled motor, so you aren't breathing in ozone and trash from
the motor and brushes. And make sure the motor is getting enough
cooling air, especially if you enclose it for noise - it might need a
separate muffin fan and ventilation path.

You need something bigger than garden hose to get the proper
airflow, they make 1-1/2" and 2" spiral-reinforced hoses that would
work nicely. Search for 'transfer hose' or 'dry food hose', I would
suggest a version with a static ground wire - go look around at
McMaster pp195 196 197 for some ideas (MSCDirect is 'unavailable' as I
write this.)

Or to do it on the cheap, go the local Borg (Home Depot/Lowe's) and
get a new pool vacuum hose.

And box up your air supply system and put one of those respirator
filters on the air input. Won't do you much good to have a remote
air supply if that air is coming in contaminated...

-- Bruce --
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
snip-------

.. Search for 'transfer hose' or 'dry food hose', I would
suggest a version with a static ground wire -

Only when you've been jolted out of your shoes from the static discharge
from blasting will that make sense. By all means, use something with a
ground wire.

Harold

On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:41:40 GMT, the opaque "Ivan Vegvary"
clearly wrote:

I was thinking of making my own air supply. I already have a sandblasting
hood made from combination canvas/rubber. I intend to use about 60 feet of
garden hose with air supplied by an old squirrel cage furnace fan. I will
have to build a plenum for the fan and hook up the hose with duct tape.
Assuming that I get positive pressure to the hood, AND, wear a cartridge
respirator underneath, I think I will be OK and save approx. $800.
Any thoughts from others?

hiccup Hey, y'all. Watch THIS!

Mungo's right about this feeling like a Darwin Candidacy issue.
Garden hoses are usually marked "DO NOT DRINK FROM THIS HOSE".
What makes you think you should breathe through it, respirator
or not? Think back to when you last had a very small disturbance
in your respiratory tract. Is ANYTHING worth doing something which
might cause that feeling of drowning again?

Check Ebay for inexpensive "supplied air" systems; they're half
what you think they cost. ($279.99 complete)

Are your health and your life worth that?


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Heart Attacks: God's revenge for eating his little animal friends
-- http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development --

Thanks Larry!! Good point.
Will check into "supplied air" systems.

Ivan Vegvary
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 02 Aug 2005 21:41:40 GMT, the opaque "Ivan Vegvary"
clearly wrote:

I was thinking of making my own air supply. I already have a sandblasting
hood made from combination canvas/rubber. I intend to use about 60 feet
of
garden hose with air supplied by an old squirrel cage furnace fan. I will
have to build a plenum for the fan and hook up the hose with duct tape.
Assuming that I get positive pressure to the hood, AND, wear a cartridge
respirator underneath, I think I will be OK and save approx. $800.
Any thoughts from others?

hiccup Hey, y'all. Watch THIS!

Mungo's right about this feeling like a Darwin Candidacy issue.
Garden hoses are usually marked "DO NOT DRINK FROM THIS HOSE".
What makes you think you should breathe through it, respirator
or not? Think back to when you last had a very small disturbance
in your respiratory tract. Is ANYTHING worth doing something which
might cause that feeling of drowning again?

Check Ebay for inexpensive "supplied air" systems; they're half
what you think they cost. ($279.99 complete)

Are your health and your life worth that?


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Heart Attacks: God's revenge for eating his little animal friends
-- http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development --