Sandblaster!!!

GreenTwin said:

I have a sandblaster box.
As I mentioned, I had problems with water clogging the sandblasting gun, and I also had problems with the window clouding up, or getting sandblasted to the point where I could no longer see through it.
Is there a solution to the window problem ?
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Brian Rupnow said:

Green twin---your system needs a dewatering manifold. That is simply four 3/4" o.d. steel waterpipes about four foot long with a thread on both ends of the pipes. arranged vertically against a wall. The tops of the pipes are connected with two elbows and a short coupler The bottoms are connected by two short couplers and a simple valve. this should be located fairly close to the compressor. The water in the air condenses in the steel pipes and runs down to the valve. Every time you turn on your compressor, crack the valves open and let the water out. You will be amazed at how much water collects and how dry your air will be.---Brian

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Brian Rupnow said:

Stan--I know that . A good percentage of the Rupnow fortune gets spent at Canadian Tire and Princess Auto every year. Now for my next question---And remember, I'm doing this "On the cheap". The view port that lets me look into the sandblaster is some cheap Polycarbonate, and as can be expected is quite "hazy" in spots. I have washed it in cold water and that helped a lot. I am looking for a chemical that will clear it up even more. I know that Canadian Tire sells kits to restore the clarity to polycarbonate headlight covers that have gone hazy from age. Only problem is the price of these kits get to be more than it costs to buy a new piece of polycarbonate. Can anyone recommend a good "Haze" remover that is relatively inexpensive and is available in Canada.---Brian

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GreenTwin said:

I saw a video the other day, and a guy was showing how he cleaned his auto headlights.
He took household bug spray, and sprayed it on some very dull and cloudy headlights on his car, waited 15 seconds, and wiped it off.
I did not believe it, and had two cars with headlights that needed cleaning.
It does take of the old oxidized part, and for the price of a squirt of bug spray, works extremely well.
I had to spray and wipe my headlights a few times, but it was a huge improvement.

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stanstocker said:

Using this MAY cause the polycarbonate to become brittle. Baltimore City Prison tried large clear polycarbonate windows to keep the inmates contained a long while back. The hope was the lack of bars would give a more open feeling to the pen and reduce inmate violence. If you have even spent any time in Baltimore you probably are already rolling your eyes . The inmates started spraying deodorant on the windows regularly and after a year or so there was a break out as the windows would shatter with hard impact. I think is was the isobutane propellant that did the trick back then.

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Brian Rupnow said:

Yesterday I fabricated the six "stand offs" that weld to the back of the support frame and bolted it to the wall---the stand offs were necessary because the sandblaster covers up my 120 volt outlet on the wall, and I need space to run an extension cord out from behind the sandblaster to a power bar. A closer look today shows me that I will have much better luck using my existing one quart sandblaster with this cabinet than trying to refurbish the existing gun that came with the cabinet. I don't have any problem doing this, and I can remove the one quart container and use the gun without the container. It really looks to me like somebody bought this sandblasting cabinet new from Harbor Freight and then flogged it right to death with no maintenance of any kind. Tomorrow I will cut some 1/2" plywood to make up a couple of shelves which will mount into the two intermediate frames below the cabinet. The gloves were completely trashed, so tomorrow I will go across town to Princess Auto and see if their sandblasting gloves will fit my application.

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Brian Rupnow said:

L98fiero---I already have a sandblast gun that I bought a few years ago and plan on using it. Today I ran my sandblaster budget up to just under $100----$60 for the sandblaster cabinet, $27 for a new pair of sandblaster gloves from Princess Auto and $7 for a pair of brass fittings from "Bolts are Us" so the airline feeding into the back of the cabinet can come in at 90 degrees instead of straight in like it was originally. I have very limited clearance between the back of the sandblaster and the wall.

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NapierDeltic said:

Bug spray is interesting to try on headlights (limited number of cleanings). I have tried special headlight kit and I was not able to clear them - it might seem some are clear lack covered; anyhow I couldn't remove scratches but multiplied them with this dedicated set -which is very fine.
About polycarbonate sheet, I can support stanstocker's classic method. Although treated surface may loose its perfect flatness (micro-bumps) It becomes transparent like 90-95 %, depending on your wish and effort. A lot of water during polishing prevents melting.
I wonder how much a cling film layer could protect the glass. It can be changed much often.
On another hand, could reusable silicagel desiccant (maybe cat litter or not) be used for air drying? It can be regenerated by heating.

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Brian Rupnow said:

Today, nothing of value was accomplished. I have to make a pair of adapters to fit the new gloves onto the existing sandblaster cabinet. Priced out some 1.5" thick aluminum and it was too expensive. Found an oak plank that I had squirreled away and decided to use it, but the bandsaw blade was dull. Went to my usual supplier but they don't sell bandsaw blades anymore. Spent the rest of the morning finding a new supplier right here in beautiful Barrie, and I did but it will take a week.

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