Opinions vary as to what actually constitutes a “complete” shop, but one thing is for sure: the more tools, the better. That doesn’t mean running out to buy a tool every time you have a need, of course. Sometimes you can throw together what you need from scrap, as with this ad hoc sandblaster. (Video, embedded below.)
Fans of junk builds — and we mean that with the highest respect — will want to pay special attention to [GARAGEUA]’s video below. It looks like pretty much everything he uses to make this sandblaster comes from the junk pile — bits of old plumbing fixtures, a blow gun that’s seen much better days, some old nuts and bolts, and even a deceased spark plug all make an appearance. That last one is perhaps the most interesting, since with some clever dissection the spark plug’s body and its ceramic insulator were used for the nozzle of the sandblaster. And best of all, no lathe was needed for this job — everything was done with a hand drill and an angle grinder. Check out the build details in the video below; you might pick up some useful tips.
We’ve featured even junkier sandblaster builds before, but this one is a clever way to save a few bucks and flex a bit on your mechanical ingenuity. If you need a sandblaster and it’s something you’re going to use again and again, by all means go out and buy one — we won’t judge. But rolling your own is cool too.
I could see this coming in handy when getting rid of rust on outdoor furniture. And now there’s the cleanup. Maybe a magnet to separate the two.
DO NOT USE SAND! Breathing crystalline silica can cause fatal respiratory diseases.
What do you recommend instead (in addition to wearing a respirator)?
There’s sodium bicarbonate. It’s softer ( takes longer to sandblast ) but it can work on machine parts without damaging them and it’s safer to be in contact with and it dissolves with water.
Wet blasting is safer, vapor blasting, soda blasting, anything but effin dry sand in the open.
There is also plastic/bead blasting, but I have a suspicion it just produces microplastics you will inhale anyway and isnt banned only because its too new.
Walnut shells
I’m surprised walnut shells weren’t the first recommendation. When working in the yard any that isn’t collected for re-use just becomes mulch!
sandblasting media, mainly aluminum silicate or aluminum oxyde.
Both cheap and easily available.
Even Karcher moved from silica sand for wet sandblasting to aluminum silicate.
hard Rust Removal
1.) Corundum
2.) glas beads / glass bead blasting
3.) slag
softer Rust Removal
4.) Soda Blasting
5.) Walnut Blasting
Dust protection / Resperator with all blasting material
After work Shower+Wash your hair too, take clothes off outside, don’t take the dust inside.
DI Why? It’s $21.99 at HFT. I know we’re all going to need mad max skills in the after times, but surely there has to be something more worthy of time like a weapon of some sort. (Probably can’t get a video on a zip gun up on HaD though…) In any case, kudos for the craft and improvisation skills. You will be a force to be reckoned with.
https://www.harborfreight.com/21-oz-hopper-gravity-feed-spot-blaster-gun-95793.html
And you will probably need to take a drill and file to that to get it working well anyways. At least I had to, and it has basic issues that are common enough to justify the modification videos on it.
I needed to soda blast the intake valves on my daughters golf last year. All it took was a length of plastic pipe with a hole about 15cm from the output end which was big enough to jam an air duster in. The other end of the plastic pipe goes in the bucket of soda.
Wear a mask and goggles and do it outside the dust goes everywhere!
I got 40# of steel dust which will probably last me years. I don’t have to do anything special moisture-wise, so it hasn’t turned to rust. NYS here. I pooh-poohed the sand/silicosis warning until I actually stopped to read some recent article about it. Only take a couple of 1-2 moderate intervals to really get into your lungs and f you up.
You could use sand if you get a really good mask if you simply must, however doing it in a shop is going to have it lingering in the air for hours/days, when you’re probably not wearing the mask…
mask up,put yo eyes on,ears on,full ppe
then have at it
and if you cant build from scratch or with found objects
then its just money and pictures of user space
To make what you need with things you already have is a joy unparalleled. Anyone can throw more money at a problem. Anyone with money, that is.
Considering the size of compressor needed to media blast with a reasonable duty cycle, you have to have money (in this case) anyhow.
Also…follow along here…there are ways of trading time for money. Consider how much time he wasted. All costs are opportunity costs.
I do appreciate the ingenuity of repurposing old sparkplugs, but it does not seem very efficient.
A quick check at the usual stores shows that ceramic tubes for sand blasters cost 80ct.
And cheaping out on proper sand blasting media and using regular sand (silicon oxide) is a quite big No-No.
There are some ugly lung pictures on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis
There are lots of different media for “sand” blasting. From wallnut shells to glass beads to silicon carbide (that’s apparently OK) and Aluminum oxide and even cast steel granulate (such as G10 or G24). This stuff costs around EUR 1 per kg, which is a lot more expensive than regular sand (about 10ct/kg if you buy bags of clean sand) but the grid is re-usable, and this is another strong incentive to either get or buy a blasting cabinet to keep all the mess localized and away from your lungs and the floor.