evintho
Well-known member
For a couple of years I've been using my 90lb HF blaster. It barely worked out of the box. Then I made some mods and it worked much better but really, it's only good for blasting parts. Rearend housings, suspension pieces, brackets, etc. It'd blast for a little while then it'd clog. Got to be a total PITA to unclog it every time but it still worked better than stock! Here's my thread on the mods...…….
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207210
I needed to blast my entire roadster and figured it'd take me a month with the HF unit so, I decided to step up.
$600 (ouch) but, I needed a real blaster! I'll do the roadster and I'll also use it on my '54 Ford project along with blasting some deck boards to remove the crappy DeckOver that's on them now.
I did lots of research before committing to the Texas Blaster. Basically everything out there in the $100-$400 range seem to be just glorified HF blasters! The Texas Blaster looks to be a real blaster and proudly touts being 'Made in USA' (more on that later). I scoured their website, read reviews and decided to bite the bullet.
This thing works!! If I had to do it again.....I would.
Pros and cons...……..
Pros:
It's a real blaster and works well!
Clogging is minimal and easily unclogged.
Best bang for the buck you're gonna get in a blaster.
It has a true 3/4" i.d. blast hose. Not a 3/8" or 1/2" rubber hose like the competition.
All valves and fittings are true 3/4" i.d.
It has a real carbide nozzle. Not a cheap ceramic nozzle like the others.
It also has a real clamping mechanism to attach the hose to the blaster. Not cheap hose clamps like everyone else.
Cons: There's a few...…….
Although they shout from the rooftops 'Made in USA', virtually every piece on it is made offshore. Possibly the tank is made here, not sure. Basically, it's 'Assembled in USA'. I guess that's pretty much how it is nowadays.
The biggest issue is, when I first tried to use it, the rubber seal that's used to keep the tank pressurized wouldn't seal. I finally wound up pulling the funnel and removing the sealing mechanism. It's just a 1/4" eyebolt with 2 nuts a washer and a rubber seal that was too small. I remedied the problem by cutting 2 new seals from an old pond liner I had and sandwiching the old seal with those.
You can see the original seal in the middle.
Also, a couple of little things. The paint is already flaking off. I kinda expected it to be powdercoated for that kind of money.
In addition, the front leg is a 10" galvanized pipe which is too short allowing the hose connection fitting to drag on the ground. Simple fix. Down to Home Depot for an 11" pipe.
Here's one for ya. There's no guarantee! No returns. Again, for that kind of money I'd expect something! If you use it once for 5 minutes, you own it. That almost made me reconsider however, I went for it!
You have to size the nozzle to your air compressor. They have a chart. My compressor is an I/R single stage 5hp, 80 gallon tank with 18 cfm. That's the minimum sized compressor that'll work. Therefore, I had to go with their smallest nozzle, 3/32". That means blast coverage is pretty small which means it takes awhile to blast a panel. See the ? at the bottom of the panel? That's your blast coverage with a 3/32" nozzle.
A bigger compressor would allow a larger nozzle, cutting your blast time down.
Last week I blasted my frame. Took a few hours but came out beautiful!
Today I blasted 2 quarter panels and a pair of headlight buckets. That took about an hour and a half. A little slow but again, came out nice! The unit clogged twice but it's just a matter of unscrewing the nozzle and knocking out the oversized piece of media. Wish I had a bigger compressor! I'll finish the rest of the panels this week.
The blast hood that comes with the unit is junk! A little higher quality than HF but basically the same design. A leather hood with plexiglass insert and a woven in hardhat. It's big, hard to see out of it, the plexiglass fogs up and gets pitted on the outside pretty quickly.
Here's what I came up with for protection. Yes, I look like an idiot but it works!
A balaclava ($5 on Ebay) protects your entire face and keeps blasting media out of your hair.
Swimming goggles ($10 at RiteAid) completely seals your eyes. No chance of media getting in there. Clear vision.
HF safety goggles ($4 for a 3-pak). These are used to protect the swimming goggles. When the safety goggles get pitted, toss 'em and grab another pair.
Decent respirator.
White long sleeved shirt. When blasting outside in the sun, white makes a difference!
Gloves.
Totally protected but not encumbered.
2 tips:
You need dry air when blasting. I fabbed this setup to help keep the air dry. I screw this to the fencepost when blasting. Air flows through one water trap downstream of the compressor, through this setup, then through the built in water trap on the blaster and into the tank. This gives me clean, dry air.
Blasting media:
Forget sand! Not only will silicosis kill you, but sand doesn't do a very good job. Black Diamond fine or extra fine blasting media is the way to go. $8 per 50lb bag at Tractor Supply Co. It's refined coal slag that does a much better job of cutting than sand.
There ya have it! If you're gonna be doing any serious blasting, the Texas Blaster is the way to go. Despite the 'Made in China' parts and other small anomalies, this is a quality unit that does a great job with minimal clogging. I expect it to last for a long time!
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207210
I needed to blast my entire roadster and figured it'd take me a month with the HF unit so, I decided to step up.
$600 (ouch) but, I needed a real blaster! I'll do the roadster and I'll also use it on my '54 Ford project along with blasting some deck boards to remove the crappy DeckOver that's on them now.
I did lots of research before committing to the Texas Blaster. Basically everything out there in the $100-$400 range seem to be just glorified HF blasters! The Texas Blaster looks to be a real blaster and proudly touts being 'Made in USA' (more on that later). I scoured their website, read reviews and decided to bite the bullet.
This thing works!! If I had to do it again.....I would.
Pros and cons...……..
Pros:
It's a real blaster and works well!
Clogging is minimal and easily unclogged.
Best bang for the buck you're gonna get in a blaster.
It has a true 3/4" i.d. blast hose. Not a 3/8" or 1/2" rubber hose like the competition.
All valves and fittings are true 3/4" i.d.
It has a real carbide nozzle. Not a cheap ceramic nozzle like the others.
It also has a real clamping mechanism to attach the hose to the blaster. Not cheap hose clamps like everyone else.
Cons: There's a few...…….
Although they shout from the rooftops 'Made in USA', virtually every piece on it is made offshore. Possibly the tank is made here, not sure. Basically, it's 'Assembled in USA'. I guess that's pretty much how it is nowadays.
The biggest issue is, when I first tried to use it, the rubber seal that's used to keep the tank pressurized wouldn't seal. I finally wound up pulling the funnel and removing the sealing mechanism. It's just a 1/4" eyebolt with 2 nuts a washer and a rubber seal that was too small. I remedied the problem by cutting 2 new seals from an old pond liner I had and sandwiching the old seal with those.
You can see the original seal in the middle.
Also, a couple of little things. The paint is already flaking off. I kinda expected it to be powdercoated for that kind of money.
In addition, the front leg is a 10" galvanized pipe which is too short allowing the hose connection fitting to drag on the ground. Simple fix. Down to Home Depot for an 11" pipe.
Here's one for ya. There's no guarantee! No returns. Again, for that kind of money I'd expect something! If you use it once for 5 minutes, you own it. That almost made me reconsider however, I went for it!
You have to size the nozzle to your air compressor. They have a chart. My compressor is an I/R single stage 5hp, 80 gallon tank with 18 cfm. That's the minimum sized compressor that'll work. Therefore, I had to go with their smallest nozzle, 3/32". That means blast coverage is pretty small which means it takes awhile to blast a panel. See the ? at the bottom of the panel? That's your blast coverage with a 3/32" nozzle.
A bigger compressor would allow a larger nozzle, cutting your blast time down.
Last week I blasted my frame. Took a few hours but came out beautiful!
Today I blasted 2 quarter panels and a pair of headlight buckets. That took about an hour and a half. A little slow but again, came out nice! The unit clogged twice but it's just a matter of unscrewing the nozzle and knocking out the oversized piece of media. Wish I had a bigger compressor! I'll finish the rest of the panels this week.
The blast hood that comes with the unit is junk! A little higher quality than HF but basically the same design. A leather hood with plexiglass insert and a woven in hardhat. It's big, hard to see out of it, the plexiglass fogs up and gets pitted on the outside pretty quickly.
Here's what I came up with for protection. Yes, I look like an idiot but it works!
A balaclava ($5 on Ebay) protects your entire face and keeps blasting media out of your hair.
Swimming goggles ($10 at RiteAid) completely seals your eyes. No chance of media getting in there. Clear vision.
HF safety goggles ($4 for a 3-pak). These are used to protect the swimming goggles. When the safety goggles get pitted, toss 'em and grab another pair.
Decent respirator.
White long sleeved shirt. When blasting outside in the sun, white makes a difference!
Gloves.
Totally protected but not encumbered.
2 tips:
You need dry air when blasting. I fabbed this setup to help keep the air dry. I screw this to the fencepost when blasting. Air flows through one water trap downstream of the compressor, through this setup, then through the built in water trap on the blaster and into the tank. This gives me clean, dry air.
Blasting media:
Forget sand! Not only will silicosis kill you, but sand doesn't do a very good job. Black Diamond fine or extra fine blasting media is the way to go. $8 per 50lb bag at Tractor Supply Co. It's refined coal slag that does a much better job of cutting than sand.
There ya have it! If you're gonna be doing any serious blasting, the Texas Blaster is the way to go. Despite the 'Made in China' parts and other small anomalies, this is a quality unit that does a great job with minimal clogging. I expect it to last for a long time!
