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Outdoor sandblasting- your choice of media

MichaelP

Titanium
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Location
IL/WI border
Guys, I wonder what media you actually use with your pressure pots when blasting outdoors. Do you even attempt to collect it for reusing?

Thank you.

P.S. I'm perfectly aware of all the health hazards, so please let's not discuss silicosis, etc. in this thread. I want to know what you actually use, even if it's not healthy, environmentally irresponsible or politically incorrect. :)
 
I use the Black Diamond brand slag stuff. $100 worth will do a big project for me. The stuff breaks up so it is not near as effective if you try to reuse it. Silica sand as dust is a bad deal.
Getting the air dry is my biggest problem. I think I am finally on top of that.
 
I'll second the lowes/sakcrete play sand...(the one that says not to be used
for sandblasting)

Black beauty has it's place, but I find that the finer sand works better to get down into
the rough pitting, and clean it out faster, not waiting on the black beauty to eventually
clean down in there. I special ordered in a couple of bags (very expensive that way)
of the finest B.B. made to try to use it instead of the play sand. It's not fine enough.

Around 2006 I was doing some large steel beams for a building, and ran out
of B.B., the fine size. Apparently it was the "great B.B. shortage of 2006" and none could
be found (the B.B. plant went down) Got some "medium" from a local blaster, it
was like kitty litter....ugh.

While it would remove heavy paint from building beams,and
the spot was maybe 12" in dia, (larger than the fine sand running maybe 6" dia.)
and the paint did come off in large flakes, but the paint down in the pitted sections,
did not get removed nearly as fast as with the fine sand.
 
Coolest (no pun intended) media I have seen for sand blasting is dry ice. I have seen it demonstrated at EASTEC several times... even got to try it out myself. Seems to work just as well as slag and regular sand. The only mess is the actual material that is blasted off of the work (rust, paint, scale, etc...) the rest just sublimes in to the atmosphere. The process does not have a 'carbon footprint' due to the use of CO2 because most industrial CO2 comes from breweries.

Just google for 'dry ice blasting' to get an idea on how it is used and who supplies the equipment.

-DU-
 
About 25 years ago, I did some sandblasting and used a #2 dry sand from a building supply place. A few years ago I tried to find some but couldn't so I used, rather tried the sandbox sand from Home Depot. Plugged the machine right quick with its irregular size particles. Cleaned it all up and screened it and then it was okay. Local sign company that does a lot of blasting told me the #2 sand is no longer available and that OSHA does not allow the use of sand for blasting anyway. Not sure if that is BS or what.
 
I haven't done any outside blasting for a lot of years so I'm probably way out of date on stuff. I used what was locally called "Oklahoma White". At the time, it was heavily used as pool filter sand. It had a fairly bright white color and was pretty fine texture and was consistant in particle size. I think I paid about 4$ per 50 pound bag. I know that I spent more renting the equipment for the job than I did on the sand, and I ended up using about 18 bags.
 
While regular sand does the blasting job, it also does a job on your lungs. If you use it -- and it's NOT recommended -- use at least a tight fitting industrial respirator.
 
I use sand and B.B., Can't tell much difference between the two other then less dust with B.B. How many of you guys are not blasting with a pressure helmet?
Legdoc
 
I use washed sand from Home Depot.
It needs to be screened first to get out larger particles.
Depending on what brand they currently carry, it may need
to be spread out to dry before using.

I reclaim and screen it once at least. It breaks down fast and
produces a lot of dust after a couple of uses.

It is not more hazardous than paints, etc. Just protect
yourself properly.
 
Waited a while to post, but...
I use 'landscaping' sand from Lowes. $5-6/100lbs. It is very light colored (almost white) and very uniform and dry. It is also SHARP. I don't try to re-use it.

I don't sandblast even monthly. Like I've said before, I live in the desert, the wind blows all the time and I suck in more fine sand walking the dog around the block than I would in a year of blasting at my rate. I DO try to aim the stream so as to avoid direct bounce-back.
 








 
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