harbor freight sandblaster

[catfishman]

does anyone know if the small sandblasters from harbor freight are any good? my wife got me one for my b day, it has a 20lb tank and the gun, it says 6cfm to 125 cfm for usage, and my compressor is 5.8cfm at 90 psi. i just wanted something to take off paint on my frames and wheels. thought i would ask before i dirty it all up.

 

[Txpowdercoater]

it will work for a very short time, as in couple minutes maybe, then the compressor will play hell keeping up. very small projects it may be ok, but a bigger compressor at least 15 cfm's at 150 psi is mo' better

 

[catfishman]

yeah thats what i figured, guess it will be returned.

 

[Txpowdercoater]

yeah thats what i figured, guess it will be returned.

real world, I know a guy that has a compressor like mine running one of those and it also plays hell keeping up, my compressor runs cabinet blasters like nobodys business, but to run a pot with a bigger open flow nozzle, you really need the 185 cfm critter to make it work like it should. for our outdoor pot, we use a diesel 185 air compressor and it runs a bunch even.

 

[Dual-500]

I run one from Northern Tools. Seems like it's ~10 gallon size. Have a 3.2hp compressor with a 60 gallon tank that cranks 10 scfm @ 90 psi. It ran ok for small work. This year I picked up a second compressor. A 4 gallon DeWalt that puts out 4.5-5 scfm @ ~90 psi.

I made a T air line adaptor and with both compressors together feeding it they have enough air with the small nozzle in the sandblaster. Like was posted above, it really takes ~15 scfm to run a small sandblaster well.

I also put 4" cooling fans on the top of the pumps on the compressors for sandblasting use. Not absoultely necessary, but probably a good idea. Cylinders on both compressors were also painted black for better heat dissapation - a trick learned back in the day with dirt bikes and 2-stroke expansion chambers.

Here's a shot of the sandblaster - a few modifications were made to get it to operate properly.

First modification was removing the regulator and putting a shutoff valve at the air input.

The material control valve on the bottom of the tank was replaced with a larger one. The original was too small for the media I use - crushed aluminum oxide.

 

[catfishman]

yeah she only got it for me, because when i would be out there with my grinder stripping off paint , i would come in and say i need to find someone fairly cheap that does sandblasting.

 

[Dual-500]

does anyone know if the small sandblasters from harbor freight are any good? my wife got me one for my b day, it has a 20lb tank and the gun, it says 6cfm to 125 cfm for usage, and my compressor is 5.8cfm at 90 psi. i just wanted something to take off paint on my frames and wheels. thought i would ask before i dirty it all up.

I'm thinking the air consumption range would be more like 6 cfm to 12.5 cfm. Did a decimal place get left out? 125 cfm of air is quite a lot. Probably take a 2" or 3" I.D. line to deliver at that rate. That would be on the order of a 50-75 hp compressor.

125 cfm air compressor

 

[Txpowdercoater]

I'm thinking the air consumption range would be more like 6 cfm to 12.5 cfm. Did a decimal place get left out? 125 cfm of air is quite a lot. Probably take a 2" or 3" I.D. line to deliver at that rate. That would be on the order of a 50-75 hp compressor.

125 cfm air compressor

nope, I would think thats correct, we use a 185 cfm for our pot, its a little bigger pot, but the nozzle isn't be much larger than a small home or garage type.
with these its about air volume and how much of that volume can you supply at a steady rate.
I have a pretty big indoor cabinet that i feed just fine with 16+ cfms of air, max 150 psi, average working pressure is 110 or so from an upright 220 volt 80 gallon compressor
that being said, the outdoor small pots will work with the set up he has, just not for long and not very efficient and I think hes gonna be madder at that than he is at his grinder.
and for our area, I get 75-125 hr for blasting depending on what it is

 

[Smallbore]

Blaster

yeah thats what i figured, guess it will be returned.

You never said what size compressor you have, but when you get your money back you may want to consider a Speed Blast Gun.

I bought one locally probably 20 years ago but you can order one through Eastwood: for $59.99 Speed Blast Gravity Feed Blaster
In my shop to run my cabinet I have a 26 cfm compressor, but my 30 year old Sears 2hp will actually run the blast gun pretty decent. Its not a fire ball for speed as its only a 1/4" ceramic nozzle, but for what it is... Its not half bad. Eventually you will need a big compressor anyway... If your talking raw frames, then we can assume you will need to paint them. Most spray guns will require 10 to 14 CFM`s and a small compressor just wont cut it.
SOLUTION: Tell you wife how great it would be to have a beautiful new vertical compressor in the garage. Fill the kids bicycle tires, their basket balls and scoccer balls ! Heck just tell her its an advance on next years B-Day and you will make it up to her ! :thumbsup:
:happybday:

 

[Dual-500]

nope, I would think thats correct, we use a 185 cfm for our pot, its a little bigger pot, but the nozzle isn't be much larger than a small home or garage type.
with these its about air volume and how much of that volume can you supply at a steady rate.
I have a pretty big indoor cabinet that i feed just fine with 16+ cfms of air, max 150 psi, average working pressure is 110 or so from an upright 220 volt 80 gallon compressor
that being said, the outdoor small pots will work with the set up he has, just not for long and not very efficient and I think hes gonna be madder at that than he is at his grinder.
and for our area, I get 75-125 hr for blasting depending on what it is

I have ran fairly large sandblasters years ago at a concrete pipe manufacturing plant. Fed with a large air line (about 1" I.D.) with twist locking connectors. No idea what the air demand was on that monster but it was considerable.

Where I'm struggling here is with something for a consumer having capacity up to 125 cfm at working pressure ~100 psi. The compressor to produce that volume of air would be a monster. Harbor freight doesn't sell anything near that large. Let alone to push 125 cfm through a 1/4" NPT threaded quick disconnect type connector through a 1/4" or 3/8" air line.

This picture is the largest one listed online at Harbor Freight and is demand rated at 60-125 psi with a flow of 6 cfm @ 125 psi. I suspect that's where the numbers got jumbled. :smile:

The one I have looks just like the HF model, but came from Northern Tool. With the smaller of the nozzles supplied with it @ 100 psi it consumes more than 10 cfm, but less than 15 cfm - with both my compressors running (15 cfm total capacity) in tandem feeding it, they are able to cycle on and off.

 

[catfishman]

yes dual 500, the unit she bought looks just like that except it is the smaller 20 lb. my compressor is a 26 gallon vertical with a 5hp motor, it will deliver 5.8cfm at 90psi.

 

[toomanytoys]

You never said what size compressor you have, but when you get your money back you may want to consider a Speed Blast Gun.

I bought one locally probably 20 years ago but you can order one through Eastwood: for $59.99 Speed Blast Gravity Feed Blaster
In my shop to run my cabinet I have a 26 cfm compressor, but my 30 year old Sears 2hp will actually run the blast gun pretty decent. Its not a fire ball for speed as its only a 1/4" ceramic nozzle, but for what it is... Its not half bad. Eventually you will need a big compressor anyway... If your talking raw frames, then we can assume you will need to paint them. Most spray guns will require 10 to 14 CFM`s and a small compressor just wont cut it.
SOLUTION: Tell you wife how great it would be to have a beautiful new vertical compressor in the garage. Fill the kids bicycle tires, their basket balls and scoccer balls ! Heck just tell her its an advance on next years B-Day and you will make it up to her ! :thumbsup:
:happybday:

I have one of those blasters there. Works great

 

[Dual-500]

yes dual 500, the unit she bought looks just like that except it is the smaller 20 lb. my compressor is a 26 gallon vertical with a 5hp motor, it will deliver 5.8cfm at 90psi.

There ya go - makes sense. Thanks! With your air setup the performance would probably be frustrating. (as has already been noted by others) Running a similar size rig on a 3.2 real horsepower (7hp max rated) compressor with 10 cfm capacity and 60 gallon tank is marginal. It runs the pump pretty hard. It will run the sandblaster 2-3 minutes at a time then it's necessary to pause while air pressure builds back up. That's why I put the cooling fan on the compressor pump and later added a second compressor and fan on that one too.

I wanted 15 cfm capability. Could have bought a bigger compressor with 80 gal tank & 5 hp motor but considered usage in the shop and went with another solution. Picked up a smaller DeWalt compressor with 4 gal air tank that runs on 110v. For everyday air requirements it works fine. Don't run the bigger one much anymore. Just when painting, sandblasting or running the air sander. Then I use both compressors connected together. This arrangement works out real well for a home/hobby shop.

The hand held size as pictured above, with proper media will will yield the best results with the 26 gallon compressor.

 

[catfishman]

thanks for the info, i will look into the spot speed blaster gun, i want to use it mainly for the hard to reach spots on the frames, and maybe the rims also.

 

[125ccCrazy]

I have a 40lb HF sandblaster that I use all the time on frames, wheels, engine parts ect... I've used it for about 6 years..maybe more

 

[catfishman]

how many cfms is your compressor?

 

[David wulf]

I just got a HF 40 pounder and run it with a igersoll rand 8 gallon twin tank 5 horse honda power 11.8 cfm at 90 blasts just fine.

 

[Hreagle]

I've got the HF 40lb cabinet blaster I'm running with a Speedaire 5hp compressor that puts out 9.5cfm at 100 psi. I'm having no problem keeping up the air flow and it's working really well. The only problem is when using it on hot humid days I'll get a lot of condensation in the media and it stops flowing good. I put a HF water separator in-line and that helped a lot. One thing I don't like is with the side opening door is it always drops a lot of media on the floor when you open it. I saw this similer sized top opening cabinet here 780-TL Top-Load Abrasive Blast Cabinet - TP Tools & Equipment that would be neater and easier to load that I wished I had bought but it is more expensive.

 

[catfishman]

i looked at a speedblast gun on jc whitney website, probably alot like harbor freights, except the one jc has, has a ceramic nozzle at least.

 

[mike D]

There is one other thing you can do. Look around for another air tank or two that you can hook up with the ones you have, this will increase the volume of pressurized air you have on hand. Make starting the air comp the first thing you do after opening your garage then Find something to do or go have a cup of coffee if you don't like listening to your compressor run. I have had to do this more than once when all I had was a teeny compressor and needed to do some sand blasting.