OT: Sand blaster keep clogging

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2013: OT: Sand blaster keep clogging
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Robert Poane on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 05:10 pm:

I expected the sand blaster to clog, but I didn't realize I would not know how to unclog it. So, how do you unclog the sand in the blasting cabinet, or do I just keep banging the sides or emptying the hopper and repouring the sand?

I noticed when the compressor comes on, the pressure blasts better. The compressor comes on at 145 psi and shuts off at 175 psi (i think.)

The wall regulator is set at 100psi. Maybe this should be higher. The cabinet says 40-120 psi.

Thank you in advance. Bob


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jack Daron - Brownsburg IN on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 05:14 pm:

Hold your finger over the nozzle and squeeze trigger. This clears the feed tube.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Roger Karlsson, southern Sweden on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 05:23 pm:

Do you have a water separator after the compressor? Humid sand clogs a lot :-(


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Robert Poane on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 05:35 pm:

Jack, that helped a lot. The tube pops out when I blow and compress, but it helps. I found the pressure has to stay up as well.

Roger, I have a filter, is that the same as a water separator? I bought the unit from TP Tools and told the salesman what I was using it for. The hose from the compressor goes to the filter, then to the pressure gauge, then out to the hose into the cabinet. I thought I had it all in correct line. Please let me know if I have it backwards.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By mike_black on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 06:49 pm:

Bob,
My rig worked great in FL. Moved it to SC with less humidity and began having problems like yours. In SC, I had my compressor about 6 ft from my cabinet/filter and rarely drained much water from it. Cabinet people told me THAT was the problem, I needed to put more line between the compressor and filter to allow the moisture to condense in the line and be caught by the filter. I now have 35 ft of hose on the floor between the compressor and cabinet and have had no problems since. You need at least 1/2 I.D. line all the way--not the 1/4 cheap ones and no small connections--you've got the right compressor to give you the volume you need, but, it's got to get to the cabinet. Good luck.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken Kopsky, Lytle TX on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 07:03 pm:

You might have too much sand in the bin too. The material can't be allowed to cover the second vent tube next to the pickup tube.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Royce in Dallas TX on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 09:01 pm:

Glass bead doesn't absorb as much water as sand. Ditto Aluminum oxide.

Use glass bead or aluminum oxide, and get a really good water separator.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Claverie on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - 11:52 pm:

Here's the deal: When you compress air, it gets hot. Hot air can hold a lot more moisture than cool air.

Under normal circumstances, the air cools as it sits in the compressor's tank, and the excess moisture falls out and collects in the bottom of the tank. You drain it out every so often.

Using a compressor for blasting is not "normal circumstances." You are in effect using the air as fast as it can be pumped, and it very soon heats the tank and ends up passing through the tank without cooling or dropping any moisture.

As the hot, moisture-laden air is released from the nozzle, or an orifice of any kind inside a pressure regulator or other mechanism, it is super-cooled by the same effect as Freon inside an air conditioner. It instantly drops its moisture, and that water has to condense somewhere! On your blasting media is the most comfortable place for it to settle, and that makes clumps.

In lieu of an expensive water separator, many commercial shops do this: They put a very long hose on the output of the compressor. They loop it up and over the highest place in the shop - usually up near the peak of the roof. Then down, and to the appliances it is to feed, whether they be paint sprayers or blasters, etc.

The air has time to cool as it travels up the long hose. It releases moisture as it cools,and the moisture condenses and runs back down the hose, either back into the tank, where you occasionally drain it out, or it congregates at a low point in the hose. By popping the hose off the quick-connect at the tank end, the residual pressure in the hose blasts that water out (on your shoes), and you do it over again as often as you can.

This is about as efficient way I have seen of giving you reasonably dry air at the other end. It costs little, except for one very long hose, and it works well without moving parts.

P. S. Holding your finger over the nozzle and squeezing the trigger sounds to me like an invitation to a very big hurt! I do everything I can to stay out of the way of the nozzle of my blaster!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By David Dewey, N. California on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - 12:13 am:

Holding one's hand over the tip and then "squeezing the trigger" is the standard way to clear the tube--and eventually you get good enough to also hold onto the hose so it doesn't pop off. I cheat--mine has no "trigger, just a foot valve!
It's an old TIP unit--probably 32 years old, and spent 20 of those years in a Restoration shop, used most every day! It is on its second 'gun' now. It has spent 6 years in storage since leaving the restoration shop, so not continuous duty all that time.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By keith g barrier on Friday, June 14, 2013 - 06:22 am:

Don't know what type gun you have, on some it is possible to get the ceramic tip in to far. If that's the case loosen the jam nut and slide it out a little. KB


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