Bought the clarke 10 gallon blaster just for some small jobs. The problem is that the blast media wont come out consistantly. It will come out for 10 seconds then stop. It is Black Diamond 40/80. Is it getting stuck somewhere and should i try something else?
Clarke 10 Gallon Blaster problems
- Thread starter Treorp55
- Start date
Moose-LandTran
Well-known member
Not to sound rude, but does it say how much media to put into the blaster? sounds like it may be "media starvation". at work, our oil lift pumps have similar characteristics when the oil drums are running dry, they go mad and jump out of the barrels sometimes too.
chad s
Well-known member
Are you sure the media is 100% dry? Moisture will cause the media to clog. What size tip are you using?
rsanter
Well-known member
make sure everything is clean and dry
there is a noticable performance difference in my blaster when I use the compressor with the little sears water seperator verses the one with the larger snap on water seperator that is meant for painting.
bob
there is a noticable performance difference in my blaster when I use the compressor with the little sears water seperator verses the one with the larger snap on water seperator that is meant for painting.
bob
I'll second that. It sounds verys much like you have a dampness issue in your air.
Uncle Buck
Banned
sierrascout
Member
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2008
- Messages
- 24
If it has a ball valve on bottom, close it some and see if you can get a consistant feed. I have had to do that on some of the cheaper import blasters.
Here is a writeup someone had online that I found when I was having troubles with my HF blaster. The only parts I don't agree with 100% is the quick disconnect as a nozzle and the use of playground sand as it has silica in it, I use black blast.
"Next, I bought Harbor Freight’s $100 pressurized sand blaster. I should have known better, having bought dozens of their tools that I later found to be absolute junk. The threaded connections were so sloppy I needed two rolls of teflon tape to minimize the air leaks. The manual wasn’t too clear on assembly, so I used the photo on the box also as a guide. After hooking it up, filling it ¾ full with screened, dry sand, I squeezed the trigger… And got nothing. Fiddling with the valves for 10 minutes provided about 2 minutes of good sandblasting, and this cycle kept repeating itself. I finally got this pile of junk working decently, but the hours of aggravation it caused me has earned it a trip to the rifle range as soon as I’m done with it.
I would suggest you stay away from this unit, but if you do buy one, here’s a few hints…
1. Replace the bottom valve with a quality water valve and Tee fitting from Home Depot. 50% of my problems were related to this valve.
2. Replace the cheap hose clamps with ones from your auto parts store. It’s no fun when HF’s break loose and you get blasted.
3. Remove the trigger/nozzle assembly and throw it down a 100ft well. The inner diameter of the large and small nozzles were too narrow to get twice-screened play sand through without clogging. My field mod was to place a 6-inch piece of steel pipe on the end of the hose and screw a 1/4inch-NPT quick-disconnect air hose fitting onto the pipe. The inner diameter of the fitting is about 3/16, and it works much better than HF’s nozzles. The steel nozzle will wear out after about 10-12 hours of use, however, I have plenty of HF’s air fittings that were machined wrong and can’t be used on air tools. The pipe seems to help smooth the airflow and give a tighter pattern than not using it. HF’s trigger assembly requires an EXTREME amount of clamping force, that will tire the strongest grip in a hurry, and it created numerous clogs inside the assembly. I no longer have an on/off lever at the nozzle, just use the air shut-off valve at the hopper.
4. Also throw that crappy sandblast hood down the well. Mine had so much distortion in the clear plastic visor, it was similar to the funky house of mirrors at the local state fair. I did buy HF’s $20 sandblast hood, another piece of garbage. The clear plastic shield kept falling out, so I taped it in place. After about 10 hours of blasting, it was so scratched and pitted it was impossible to see what I was blasting, in broad daylight. The hood/visor hangs down from a plastic helmet and the visor rarely stayed in front of my eyes, requiring constant adjustment. My current protection is a police issue gas mask that has a full-face visor. The tear-gas filters work fine and can be reused by gently blowing them out with compressed air. I tape a piece of clear plastic over the visor, and when that gets pitted, replace it with a new piece, cut from heavy-weight sheet protectors, available at any office supply store. These masks and filters are readily available on Ebay, from $2 for military issue masks, to $20 for full-visor police/fireman/minors masks. Filters run $2-$5 a set. I put on a painter’s hood before the mask. This gear is also used for painting, except when using isocyanate paints.
I use Home Depot’s play sand because it’s cheap, at $2.50 for a 50 lb bag. I pour this through a homemade screener, using regular steel window screen as the filter, and this has eliminated all clogging using my setup. I spread a plastic tarp under my work area, to catch the sand for reuse. There are three water traps in the air line, and even with 50-80% humidity (it’s New Mexico’s rainy season), I haven’t had a problem, just frequently drain out the trapped water. "
"Next, I bought Harbor Freight’s $100 pressurized sand blaster. I should have known better, having bought dozens of their tools that I later found to be absolute junk. The threaded connections were so sloppy I needed two rolls of teflon tape to minimize the air leaks. The manual wasn’t too clear on assembly, so I used the photo on the box also as a guide. After hooking it up, filling it ¾ full with screened, dry sand, I squeezed the trigger… And got nothing. Fiddling with the valves for 10 minutes provided about 2 minutes of good sandblasting, and this cycle kept repeating itself. I finally got this pile of junk working decently, but the hours of aggravation it caused me has earned it a trip to the rifle range as soon as I’m done with it.
I would suggest you stay away from this unit, but if you do buy one, here’s a few hints…
1. Replace the bottom valve with a quality water valve and Tee fitting from Home Depot. 50% of my problems were related to this valve.
2. Replace the cheap hose clamps with ones from your auto parts store. It’s no fun when HF’s break loose and you get blasted.
3. Remove the trigger/nozzle assembly and throw it down a 100ft well. The inner diameter of the large and small nozzles were too narrow to get twice-screened play sand through without clogging. My field mod was to place a 6-inch piece of steel pipe on the end of the hose and screw a 1/4inch-NPT quick-disconnect air hose fitting onto the pipe. The inner diameter of the fitting is about 3/16, and it works much better than HF’s nozzles. The steel nozzle will wear out after about 10-12 hours of use, however, I have plenty of HF’s air fittings that were machined wrong and can’t be used on air tools. The pipe seems to help smooth the airflow and give a tighter pattern than not using it. HF’s trigger assembly requires an EXTREME amount of clamping force, that will tire the strongest grip in a hurry, and it created numerous clogs inside the assembly. I no longer have an on/off lever at the nozzle, just use the air shut-off valve at the hopper.
4. Also throw that crappy sandblast hood down the well. Mine had so much distortion in the clear plastic visor, it was similar to the funky house of mirrors at the local state fair. I did buy HF’s $20 sandblast hood, another piece of garbage. The clear plastic shield kept falling out, so I taped it in place. After about 10 hours of blasting, it was so scratched and pitted it was impossible to see what I was blasting, in broad daylight. The hood/visor hangs down from a plastic helmet and the visor rarely stayed in front of my eyes, requiring constant adjustment. My current protection is a police issue gas mask that has a full-face visor. The tear-gas filters work fine and can be reused by gently blowing them out with compressed air. I tape a piece of clear plastic over the visor, and when that gets pitted, replace it with a new piece, cut from heavy-weight sheet protectors, available at any office supply store. These masks and filters are readily available on Ebay, from $2 for military issue masks, to $20 for full-visor police/fireman/minors masks. Filters run $2-$5 a set. I put on a painter’s hood before the mask. This gear is also used for painting, except when using isocyanate paints.
I use Home Depot’s play sand because it’s cheap, at $2.50 for a 50 lb bag. I pour this through a homemade screener, using regular steel window screen as the filter, and this has eliminated all clogging using my setup. I spread a plastic tarp under my work area, to catch the sand for reuse. There are three water traps in the air line, and even with 50-80% humidity (it’s New Mexico’s rainy season), I haven’t had a problem, just frequently drain out the trapped water. "