My Abrasive Blasting story....
I have a Trinco siphon cabinet with Aluminum Oxide media or Glass Beads, mostly keep the Alox in it.
Also have a bigger carcass cabinet outside I need to get working on.
Waaay back about 1982-3 I went to "sand blast skool" and found out just how much air (CFM) it really takes to accomplish anything, AND that siphon is a joke compared to Pressure Pot "technology".
Once I figured out the magic formula, I set about building a Pressure Pot blaster using an old "forklift" LP tank, and what I call a "Bar Stock" blast valve. Basically a blast valve made from 1018 steel barstock. and nozzle made from a 1/2" pipe plug. (Use steel not cast iron) No, the hole didn't last too long, and quickly eroded from 1/8" to over 1/4" during a few hours of operation. But it's a cheap part.
Air....can't get enough!
Whew.....Skool of Hard Knocks!
Started with (believe it or not...it's pretty funny now) a Crapsman 1/2HP oil-less and tank-less "compressor". Man what a POS! And a small siphon gun that looked like a paint spray gun.....back in the late '70's.
Somehow I began to sense this "air requirement" thing,
And if 1/2HP is BAD, then 3 or 4 HP should REALLY make things happen!
NOT
Well, I then went on to 2 WABCO air brake compressors (big rig equipment), driven with a lawn tractor. SURELY this would be the ultimate ammount of air! And that was probably about 16-18CFM....JOKE!
Finally, I figured out just what CFM was, and what was needed to REALLY make things happen. I think I found an Orifice chart in the back of a Grainger catalog.
Back when the Grainger catalog had all that cool engineering information in the back few pages.
Well, I found an old IR 105 3 cylinder portable for sale simply by driving along the lake one day. Probably because I was NOW looking for such, and sorta KNEW what I was needing to spot. Wish I had pics, but don't. Probably from the late '40's, it had a 3 cylinder 2 stage compressor, driven by a Waukesha 4 cylinder engine, monster....5-1/4 Bore x 4-5/8 Stroke....400 cubic inches!
750 RPM max, it really seemed economical on gas.
Had a knock from the day I got it running, found out years later (after a buddy bought it about 4th hand from me) that a wrist pin bushing was totally missing.
This thing made AIR!
100 CFM at 100 PSI.....I am
IN BUSINESS now, and I filled the back yard with sand, and (I'm sure) drove some of the (close) neighbors to the breaking point. This is at my parents house in the city, where a typical lot is 50 x 100. Ours was 50 x 180. I just CAN NOT imagine having ME as a neighbor back in the day. How did they not call the cops?
My extra measure of neighborly awareness was to fit a Hush Thrush non-straight-thru muffler to the rig, to assure whisper-quiet operation of the compressor (as opposed to the straight pipe it had).
Never taking into consideration the sound of the air exiting the blast nozzle! Oh my gosh.
I did a lathe complete. Blast, fill, repaint. THE reason I studied Sand Blasting in the first place, to blast an old flat belt lathe back into a sort of presentable state. In July....at 95F ambient. Because I wanted to see if I could. And I was determined to.
And then I did car frames, wheels, lawn furniture, etc.
Till I had enough.....about 6 months later.
Glory daze...
