air actuated foot pedal for blaster

Kelly Thorson · Post by **Kelly Thorson** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:36 am

After working with the foot pedals in Aliento I wanted to add that to my system. I finally found an add on one at Art on Glass. Does anyone here use one and is there anything I should know in regards to choosing one?

Post by **Danny Baronian** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 1:50 pm

Glastar carries them, http://www.glastar.com/catalog/sandblas ... switch.cfm. $ 235, little less.

One improvement Rick made was to mount the foot switch at knee level, mount a piece of plywood on a hinge in front of it and you end up with a knee switch which was better than having the switch in the way on the floor, and having a larger area for activating the hose. Big improvement.

Danny

Kelly Thorson · Post by **Kelly Thorson** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:53 pm

Thanks Danny

DAVE SMITH · Post by **DAVE SMITH** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:27 am

Hi Kelly
I use a foot pedal for blasting. My cabinet can take 8x4 glass the pedal is at the bottom and works very well for control of shade and carving glass.
Dave

marjmeyer · Post by **marjmeyer** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:06 am

I use the the Glastar air footswitch. It's a good idea to keep a supply of replacement gaskets around, I've replaced 3 or 4 and each time a hole developed in the gasket in the middle of a job!

Rich Hawthorne · Post by **Rich Hawthorne** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 11:38 pm

Here is another option for you. I have used a couple of set ups for a foot switch but by far, the best I have ever found is the Richway airpinch valve. It works great, is an American company run by very knowlegable, friendly, helpful people. If you call them, it is very likely you will end up talking with the president of the company.

Check them out at http://www.airpinch.com/

Best regards,

Rich Hawthorne
Clearview Artworks

Kelly Thorson · Post by **Kelly Thorson** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:18 am

The shading and carving is the reason I'd like to get the foot pedal Dave. I'm also doing my best to switch to silicone carbide for the glass, but I'm having a brutal time accessing it here. I may have some brought out from Ontario in the fall.
Thanks for the advice Marg. I'm kind of in the middle of nowhere so it's always good to know about parts that will likely need replacing. We only get courier service three days a week, so often a breakdown can means days of waiting.
Rich I'm interested in what you posted but couldn't figure out how or where that valve went. Is it something you use with a foot switch? Where do you get the switch that you use it in? Can you regulate the flow through it or just off and on?
Thanks everyone for your help. I'll get this system set up right yet.

Rich Hawthorne · Post by **Rich Hawthorne** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 5:28 pm

Kelly, sorry to not be clear. Here is a link to another forum where this topic has been discussed in great detail.

http://www.cuttingedgesandcarving.com/f ... inch+valve

The airpinch valve is a replacement for the rubber bladder type of media valve which mixes air and grit for your blaster. The foot pedal opens and closes the media valve, operated by air pressure. The rubber bladder media valve set up is quite common and they wear out quite often leading to endless angst as it always happens at the wrong time and requires a bit of work to replace bladder - not to mention the exorbitant cost of a small piece of reinforced rubber. This link will provide you with a good description of the foot pedal and airpinch valve set up that many sandblasters have settled upon. I have had mine in operation for over a year now whereas the rubber bladder media valve set up was constant trouble and wore out every 4-5 months.

The foot pedal set up does not give you a variable control over the amount of media, that is it is either open or closed. To accomplish variable control you should use a PAB gun. Personally I just use lower pressure in the pot for shading since I do not have a PAB gun. Wish I did though! I hope this helps you.

Best regards,
Rich

Kelly Thorson · Post by **Kelly Thorson** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 10:06 pm

Thanks Rich, I appreciate the extra information. It's going to take me some homework to understand all this, but I think the resources I need are there. I looked it over on the weekend, but I was tired and I'm going to have to revisit it. It looked to be cheaper than the others, but right now I don't know what else I need to go with it so it is hard to guage. If I have more questions would you mind if I emailed you?
Thanks,
Kelly