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Dustless Sandblasting

PAUL161

Great Pumpkin
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I saw a demonstration of how this works and it's a blessing for us that don't want to make any dust. The cost is low compared to a sand blasting set up if you already have a pressure washer. I think I'm going to get one. There are various brands out there, so you can choose the quality you need. PJ

This is just one company of many. (No affiliation on my end)! Just for reference.

https://www.pressureparts.com/SandBlas-Pressure-Products.aspx
Wet Sandblasters for Pressure Washers

Wet sandblasting demos on Utube.
 

Banjo

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Hmmm. that's something to think on. My only concern is; wouldn't the newly bare metal flash over with rust because it's all wet? I'd like to hear from someone who's used it. That would be really neat if it works well.
Now, if you were blasting paint off a brick wall...
 
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aerog

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That's what I was thinking. Unless you dry it immediately it'll rust over. Small items might be ok, but then you can use a blast cabinet for those.

Read this elsewhere:

<span style="font-style: italic">"i did a 40 pu with a wet blaster about ten years ago, took forever to stop the rust it created.

blasted, etched, etched ,etched , etched 4 times, never will i do that again."</span>

...and:
<span style="font-style: italic">"I did a whole surface rusted pitted roof, worked well but after it dried I had to hit it with a sander as it started rusting immediatly."</span>
 

Darwin

Jedi Knight
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I looked at the links above. All of these seem to use a siphon pickup for the grit. I have never used the wet system so it may be different, but I can tell you that using a regular siphon blaster compared to a pressure blaster is very slow and uses much more media. I would never use water a vehicle for the media on ferrous materials. Perhaps on aluminum, or copper or such but nevr steel. You WILL get flash rust and it is a bear to get rid of.

I will add that there blasters out there that have a suction atachment that retrieves most of the material and does a great job of controlling dust. Won't get rid of it entirely but will cut it way down.
 

jgrewe

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I have one of these systems left over from a tool rental business I used to own. I had used it on some concrete hauling trailers with great results. One of my other projects is restoring an old RX2 that ran in the IMSA RS series in the 70's. I was dreading stripping the front clip of the car with any kind of sander or stripper and thought of the water sand blaster.

I took the car outside, hooked up the blaster to my 4000psi pressure washer, and started blasting. I only needed safety glasses really, not much comes back at you if you control the angles. Even had shorts on.

Thirty minutes and about 80lbs of sand later the front of the car was clean inside and out. Mine uses a siphon system and has no problem picking up enough sand to keep things moving right along.

The key to the flash rusting problem is to dry the part is quickly as possible. I pulled out a 175K Btu propane heater and fired it up. With the heater about 4' away the metal warmed up quickly and I helped things along with some blow gun work in the cracks etc.

With the area blasted all dry(15min max)I sprayed everything with ospho and then chased the ospho into the cracks with the blow gun.

The car has been on my chassis jig for months now with just the ospho treatment and it still has that neutral grey color.
 

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