Lidl are doing an air sandblaster gun for £9.99. Is likely to be any good? What i wonder about is, if its good enough to clean up metal? and if so even though the nozzle is hardened, i wonder how long it could last before wearing out?
shown is not big enough for grit blasting though, you'd be better off with a larger model of about 11cfm.
Don't know how good the nozzle is, I have a similar gun that has lasted for two years so far. A spot blasting gun may be slightly more useful and is economical on grit.
Sorry, what was the question again?
Sandblasters are never any good. The bloke I use for big stuff has two freight containers: one a blast room, one a sound deadener for his truck-engine powered compressor. He still complains that it's not big or powerful enough. As far as DIY goes, you can't run a big enough compressor for effective sandblasting from a single phase supply.
Your best bet for an effective DIY sandblaster is a "pressure pot". This uses a fluidised bed reservoir to get the sand moving easily. It'll still absorb the full output of a large DIY compressor. Home- build instructions have been posted before.
Yes, but in tiny spots. Great if that's what you want, or you want to etch glass or something.
They last a very long time, if properly designed. Nozzles on guns like this should have airflow bleeds near them internally so that the sand isn't continually running over their surface. OTOH, the sort (like a pressure pot) with a lance flowing a random mix of air-suspended sand do wear out. They need to be made either well, or cheaply (steel pipe is fine, just replace it). My own uses alumina ceramic nozzles, made by stripping down old sparkplugs (hot-side insulator).
PS, don't use sand. It's not terribly sharp and it has a silicosis hazard. Use real sandblaster grit. Mine is mostly used with glass beads, for putting a matt finish on aluminium & cuprous.
I'll probably buy one of these and keep it just for glass etching (different shed from the big sandblaster and its old-fridge cabinet)
Some people are never satisfied... :-)
Been my limited experience too...
I tried a hand held 5 quid "blaster" once - it is OK for a little bit of spot blasting but sod all use for anything else.
I also used a professional grade small chamber once for putting a matt finish on a 6"x2" sli panel (and taking the pencil marks off). That was OK in that it flowed freely and was contained - but it still took a while to clean up the panel.
I could well believe you'd need something on the back of a lorry for heavy work.
Where do you get yours from?
I use these people
Airblast Ltd King Street Ind Est Langtoft Peterborough PE6 9NF
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