What medium is a good starter to sand blast? I just hooked up my first air compressor - that I bought specifically to work on the T - a 5 hp two stage 60 gallon unit. I have a cabinet - both from TP Tools seen at Hershey. I am not sure whether to use sand, or soda or glass to remove paint and rust. Thanks in advance for your advice. Bob
Glass beads work great on paint, but not so well on rust. I like fine white silica sand for all-around use. I haven't used media other than some different sands and the glass beads, so I can't comment on soda. BTW, silica dust is not good for your lungs, so use a dust collector on your cabinet when using silica sand.
Can you get "Garnet" grit where you are.
Its a red/brown grit usually found on wood sanding paper but is used for sandblasting also. We found it the best one to use for removing paint and rust.
The Garnet when crushed breaks into blocky sharp edges pieces. Unlike silica it is not a problem health wise. It is hard wearing and can be used several times unlike glass which seems to disintergrate after one use. Silica can cause problems with painting of a surface blasted with it also as it tends to impregnate the silica into the surface and when painted you can get a similar reaction to having silicon polish "fish eyes"
Garnet is a silicate also so can't see how it's "not a problem". ???
No matter; if the silica doesn't kill you the paint dust might so use a dust collector. Paints can contain several metal oxides. Mercury, Cobalt, Chrome and Lead are just a few.
Depends on what you're blasting. I don't do anything delicate, so I use plain old sand mined from the Arkansas River and imported from Sand Springs, Okieland. It's labeled "Fine", but it usually has some chunks big enough to clog up the works, so I screen it first.
I'm cheap so I use play sand purchased from big box lumber yards in my sand blaster. Just make sure it's good and dry it will work fine. Air supply is important so make sure your compressor has enough volume to keep up.
I use used garnet. My local powdercoater uses it to clean his stuff before he powdercoats it. When he has run it through a few times it gets a bit fine and dusty. He gives this to me to get rid of it.
Because it is smashed up a bit, it is not too aggressive, and I can use my blaster on more delicate bits.
Hope this might help someone save a dollar or two.
Allan from down under.
I use glass beads--get a course grit for rust.