Posted by andy wright on March 02, 2004
Mike JacksonI've recentley decided that I would like to get into sandblasted signs & glass. I'm a complete novice and would like some help with a kind of idea for a shopping list of what I would need in the way of equipment to get started!
I'd appreiciate your help.
Andy Wright
London, England
Andy,
Doug Shield asked this very question in June of last year. I went back to the thread and copied what I wrote about it and posted it here.
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There is industrial equipment, and then there is hobby equipment. You can get away with the smaller stuff if you are blasting small residential signs or foam, but if you ever plan on blasting a 4 x 8 piece of redwood, invest in the big equipment. An industrial compressor will be able to put out around 100-150 CFM at 100lbs pressure with a 1/4" nozzle (with no air tank needed). Those are your standards. You have to watch those three because you will find compressors that will go strong for a few minutes but will drain the air tank in no time at all. They can't keep up. These kinds of compressors can cost between $7000 and $15000 or more...so you might consider renting one until you are sure about doing the process.
We bought one of the TIP pots, and it does work for glass and small stuff, but I would hate to use it in the long run for all my work.
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Additional information:
FIRST, make sure you can do sandblasting in your area. Some states are very restrictive. You may have to blast inside an enclosed unit with an approved filter. There are a lot of OSHA regulations to consider, too.
When I started, I used to prep all my panels and take them to a commercial blaster. That was cheap enough, but not always convenient. We got good results as long as they were using fine sand. Later, I bought the industrial pot, hoses, shut off valves, and air fed hood, then rented a compressor when we needed to blast. That is probably the best scenario since you can blast $3000-$4000 worth of signs for $100 rental fee. Of course, that means you have to do quite a bit of blasting to justify the daily rental fee.
Even when we had all my own equipment, I would take lots of panels to a friend who was doing industrial oil field pipe blasting. It was much easier for me, less mess, and I was able to keep working on other projects.
Also, we bought one of the Glasstar cabinets at the old shop and modified it to blast wood. It had a slide-through feature. Instead of sand, I bought some expensive blastic abrasive which really cuts fast. The plastic has to be filtered to keep too much sawdust being reblasted with the plastic. The down side was the plastic abrasive wore out my little TIP blast pot's fittings and hoses in no time. It literally cut through bends in the hose. Since it was removing so much wood, we also had trouble pulling out enough of the air from the blast cabinet.
You will get a lot of advice on this topic. Since a few of us have tried a lot of different approaches (an not just the small version), listen to them! With the correct industrial equipment, we could reliably estimate it would take us ONE MINUTE to blast one square foot of redwood....or 32 minutes to blast a 4x8 panel. I would add in extra time for refilling the 300 lb pot and replacing visor shields, etc. With the small hobby equipment, you might spend as much as 30 minutes per square foot and end up with "potty, dimpled" backgrounds.
As I keep saying, there are only two levels of equipment for wood--industrial and hobby. Blasting only glass is another issue altogether.
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Let us know if you have more questions.
Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson
Besides the woodworking equipment like table saw, radial arm saw, band saw, sanders, jig saws, joiner, clamps, and so forth, you would need the actual blasting equipment.
Compressor: 100-200 CFM - New $10,000 - used $4,000
300 lb pressure pot:
Hoses and nozzles with OSHA approved deadman shut off valve- 1/4 nozzle:
Air Fed Hood and Visor with Air Conditioner:
Charcoal Filter for Air Fed Hood:
Hoses to connect:
3-5 HP compressor to feed fresh air
This bottom section will cost around $4,000
It has been close to 20 years since I bought my equipment, so these prices are just off the top of my head estimates and recollections. You can get current prices all around the Internet.
I am not sure of the regulations for sandblasting in England...more or less strict?
Mike Jackson
Robare M. Novou
Andy WrightSAND!
I'd better move to the Sahara then!
Denver Chapter of the Letterheads