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sandblasting - wet blast attachment any good?

metalmagpie

Titanium
Joined
May 22, 2006
Location
Seattle
Clemco is a reputable US manufacturer of sand blasting equipment. They sell a wetblast attachment which is very simple. At the business end, a ring is clamped around the blast gun nozzle. This ring has six 3/32" holes for water streams that are aimed down into the sand/air stream so the water becomes entrained.

To use it, you attach the back end of the wetblast attachment to a garden hose and turn the garden hose on full. There is a valve on the wetblast hose that the operator can turn on or off.

Clemco claims an 80% reduction in airborn dust. Of course, you do have to spray your part after it dries or it will very quickly rust.

Have you tried one of these? -metalmagpie

Wetblast Attachment: Mounts to Blast Nozzle | Clemco Industries Corp.

wetblast_attachment_both.jpg
 
I bought one of these rings some 40,no ,50 years ago ....I cant say whether it was any good or not .....but I think I can still find it ...unused......It was pretty costly ,but in those days ,money grew on trees,so I wouldnt have cared. ....Funny how everything was better when we were young and strong.
 
Clemco claims an 80% reduction in airborn dust. Of course, you do have to spray your part after it dries or it will very quickly rust.

Have you tried one of these? -metalmagpie
No experience with anything like this outdoors on buildings and such, but I had a Hydro-Hone for several years. It worked super, gave a wonderful finish (did the legs on the empire walkers from one of the Star Wars movies with this), but the rust problem was so impossible that I almost gave it away. Ferrous parts would rust even before you could get them out of the cabinet.

For non-ferrous, it was great. (The Hydro-Hone was actually even better, it pumped a slurry up into the nozzle so you got a guaranteed good blast of wet abrasive fulltime.)
 
I bought one of these rings some 40,no ,50 years ago ....I cant say whether it was any good or not .....but I think I can still find it ...unused......It was pretty costly ,but in those days ,money grew on trees,so I wouldnt have cared. ....Funny how everything was better when we were young and strong.

Find it. Sell it to me!

metalmagpie
 
Flash rusting isnt a problem ,provided it isnt wet when you paint....or water trapped in pockets......which brings us to the clemco ring....if the job can tolerate wet ,the ring is great ....IE blasting painted concrete,floor tiles ,painted stone or brickwork.............However ,mix water and sandblast debris ,you get mud,which IMHO ,cant be removed with the blast nozzle.........Im pretty sure I got the ring for show ,that is ,when the council turned up .....and before the days the council nazis had the power to fine you a million bucks on a whim.
 
E.G.has an interesting point.....the wet slurry blast machines can make you money even in a depression,like now.I helped a friend rebuild one of these machines,and he could have done the wet bead blasting 24/7 if he had wanted to ,such is the demand .....not cheap either .generally at least $100/hr.
 








 
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