SandBlasting Equipments & Supplies

It is possible to build a homemade sand blasting cabinet unit and an apparatus of this kind may be constructed from an old dishwasher housing since it is the right size for a good sand blasting cabinet,especially since it has a deep well bottom that can hold the abrasive material/sand. It may need to be plugged at the bottom after all the worx have been stripped and it should be made permanent.

The dishwasher housing of the homemade sand blasting cabinet can be mounted on a wooden base so as to enable the arms to be at a comfortable height above the ground.

In the side of the DW housing, for example, the arm holes may be cut with a sawzall or metal cutting jigsaw and these may then be fitted or lined or both with a four inch PVC fitting. Inside the sandblaster, the rubber gloves may be hose clamped to the PVC on the inside and for obtaining the salvage gloves needed, one can start to search at a safety equipment supply store. In addition, the gloves should be heavy as well as entirely rubber coated, when being used to make the sand blasting cabinet on ones own.

The sand blasting cabinet will generally have its air supplied to a spray gun through an air compressor that is of adequate size and if it can be as big as possible, so much the better. A subsidiary intake that can be modified with an extension such as flex pipe/hose can be used for the spray gun and can be inserted into the reservoir of sand which is at the bottom of the DW housing, via a hole in the work surface screen.

When the compressed air from the compressor is sent out of the gun, it will draw sand through the intake that has been bedded into the sand pile at the bottom of the housing and will then be jetted out along with the compressed air and has good sandblasting force.

Of course, different sands will behave differently and the sand as well as some of the blasted detritus will together find their way back to the bottom of the DW housing. This entails that the sand be cleaned and changed occasionally.

In addition, the small diameter screen that is lying across the intake helps to keep the nozzle of the gun free from clogging and the shopvac hose which is inserted in another penetration at the top of the DW housing can be used, during sandblasting,to remove dust. There should also be a light mounted in the housing which should be placed across from the view port and should point in the direction where the work will be.

Also, the unit will be closed during operation and a drying filter in the compressed air line will greatly help and may also be used to vary the flow of air.

What is Sandblasting?

A relatively new method of cleaning newly built masonry is dry sandblast cleaning and one really needs to learn how to sandblast in order to learn all its intricacies and uses. Sandblast cleaning is used and in fact, preferred by architects as well as engineers who typically use it instead of conventional cleaning due to the fact that it does not have adverse effects, like acid reaction.

However, there are also still those, such as designers who do not favor sandblasting because they fear that blasting will erode the brick’s face as well as mortar joints.

The sandblast operator is very similar to a construction tradesman and a well qualified sandblast operator, who follows instructions properly, will enable sandblast cleaning to be superior to other systems. The basic functions that need to be understood in regards to learning how to sandblast are that it needs the use of portable air compressors, blasting tanks, blasting nozzles, operator’s protective clothing as well as hoods.

When learning how to sandblast one needs to understand that air pressure should be delivered by a compressor to the blasting tank at 40lbs. to 100lbs. per square inch. In addition, the blasting tank needs to be charged with certain abrasive material and should also be pressurized so that the mixture of abrasive material and air is forced into the blasting hose as well as to the nozzle.

Also, when learning how to sandblast, the pattern of blasting can be found by considering the size of the nozzle as well as its type and the air pressure. To find out the speed of cleaning, the type of abrasive used, size of the nozzle, its type and pressure of air as well as distance-to-wall should be considered along with  the condition of the surface that needs cleaning. Mostly, sand is used as abrasive material when cleaning bricks, though quartz and granite are also used and, these should be clean and finely graded.

The cleaning material used in sandblasting should adhere to the particle size that is specified as being either Type “A” or Type “B”. Type “A” is used for masonry which is very little soiled or when light or to permit delicate texturing of the brickwork. Type “B” is used to clean heavy mortar stains from brickwork and to permit medium texturing of the masonry.

The matter of how to sandblast is best understood when one understands its reasons for use. For example, sandblast cleaning can be used to clean all hard burned, non-glazed, smooth or textured brick while lightly sanded, coated, slurry or sandbox brick is not suited for cleaning by sandblasting, unless there is no other choice open to the user.