hey Wardner

Shoot me an email and I will give you the phone number of the fellow that needs TD14 parts [email protected]

Shoot me an email, too. I have a couple questions on building/buying a blaster.

sflem,

I can"t do much without an address.

Were you planning to build something like this? Nope, not a rocket launcher. Just a little accident going up that incline.

<a href="http://s140.photobucket.com/albums/r16/Wardner/?action=view&current=Oldphotos004.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

Sorry, I forgot you don't usually use the modern view. In that there is an email button below peoples posts. I just hate having my email right out there for the spammers to grab.
flemfarm at charter.net

Any how, I have a 125 psi and 100 cfm air source and was wondering how big I can go. It is an old Gardner-Denver engine driven with a Hercules engine. It is a dinosaur, but it moves some air. I am probably not going to go collect dry sand at the beach or mount it to a truck, but I would like to get something big enough to do a good job.

Well, to start, you want to use a pressure vessel as opposed to syphon fed gravity system. 100 cfm may seem like alot, but I used 750 cfm and could run two days without refilling. I bought 5/8" nozzles and wore them out to 3/4" plus. Tank held seven tons of elevated silo-stored sand. I was routinely blasting and painting 10,000 sqft per day on new steel.

You will probably be able to run a 1/4" nozzle. Various improvements would include a pop-up valve to close the filling port on top, deadman controls for starting, stopping, and clearing blockages, and perhaps a moisture separator. Try running without the separator to see if you need it.

You should definitely budget for an air-fed helmet with a separate air source. A small vane pump would be adequate. Use ear plugs too.

I have seen plans on the internet for home-made blasters. You should look over several designs and compare them to factory built units. Alot depends on what your budget is and what you can pull out of your (or other's) junk pile. I used propane tanks. Working pressure is 250 lb and they are always clean inside. I used the one above for 25 years without incident.

A hobbiest's needs are different from a high production professional. I used to spend $500 on my sand valves. They were made by Schmidt and were lined with carbide. You could probably get by with a hand operated ball valve from Home Depot. My air valves were also expensive. I used quarter turn air-operated 2" ball valves. I stayed away from the diaphram junk.

Don't overlook Craigslist and eBay. Don't pay much for a home-made blaster.