Topic: CFM for Soda Blaster

[jamesbekman]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any experience on using soda blasters and/or sand blasters with their compressors at home.  I have a small harbor freight soda blaster that says it calls for 7cfm which would require a $2k compressor to run the darned thing... 

This past week I finally hooked up my blaster that I got on sale a while ago at harbor freight.  I hooked it up to what I definitely thought would be an underpowerd 2.8 CFM 80 psi compressor from the 70s.  I figured if I at least let the tank charge up I could at the very least get the soda to be pulled through the hose and be spit out the ceramic nozzle...  That was not the case. 

Ive seen people on youtube make their own very cheap soda blaster with a siphon gun and they just basically stick a hose into the bucket of baking soda and its working great.  Has anyone had any experience or came across the same problems as myself? 

I have a 5.2 CFM 180 psi unit with a large tank that I will be testing out this weekend.  Im curious to know of your experience.

Thanks,

James

[Magilla]

I have the same Harbor Freight soda blaster and a low CFM compressor.  They don't work that well together.  It does work but not as well as I had hoped.  I am using crushed walnut in mine. 

I have a bigger compressor BUT it trips my breaker when I run it.  I just don't have enough available juice on that line.

Other than running a new 50 amp service into my house I am not sure how to make things better.

[wowbagger]

I'm interested to know how the 5.2 cfm compressor works out. I have a 30gal 5.3 cfm at 90psi and was thinking of attempting soda blasting with it. Everything I've read suggests nothing less than 8.5 cfm at 90psi though.

[jamesbekman]

Yea I normally do my homework a little bit better but when you see youtube clips of some dude in a shed I tend not to think the compressor behind the curtain is $2k.

In regards to tripping the circuit breaker...  The compressor Im going to test out is my step fathers.  He was saying he looked up a lot of things about that himself.  It all depends on what outlet you plug yours into.  He found that all the way on the other side of the house from the garage the compressor runs great.  Go figure.  I personally think because that outlet is so close to the circuit breaker in the house.  Maybe if you do the same and experiment you could find an outlet that doesnt trip the breakers as well...

I could rent an air compressor with higher than 7 cfm but its one of those semi portable two tank systems.  I think its $54 for 4 hours of use. 

[jamesbekman]

Ok i was doing some searches.  If you go to this link http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/body-paint-articles/485680-soda-blasting-budget.html
and then look at the pictures...  You will see a pickup tube that goes into the tank.  This didnt come with mine....  I have the 15 lb. smaller tank.  I wonder how Im going to figure this out...

[CycleRanger]

I'm interested to know how the 5.2 cfm compressor works out. I have a 30gal 5.3 cfm at 90psi and was thinking of attempting soda blasting with it. Everything I've read suggests nothing less than 8.5 cfm at 90psi though.

Preferably 15 cfm @ 90 psi for best results.  And there are plenty of compressors out there for far less than $2K that will do the job.

[pickle fart]

I don’t think that you’re going to do much blasting at less than 10 or 12 cfm, and to maintain that cfm at maybe 60 psi will take some horsepower, that’s all there is to it. And you’ll need at least a 20 gallon tank too.

I have a Trinco BP-36 blast cabinet and a 2-stage, 5 hp, 60gal Ingersol Rand compressor rated 14.7 cfm @ 175 psi. I usually blast with ‘Trinmix’ #4, a mixture of glass beads and aluminum oxide, which does a nice job of cleaning up castings and machined parts, but is not too aggressive to the surfaces. If I keep the pressure at the cabinet above 70 psi I have really good results. Even then, I have to stop once in a while for the tank to build up again. This compressor was about $1,500 delivered. It’s a good compressor, but the Emerson motor that I-R ships them with is crap. Burned up at less than 10 hours of easy, occasional use. This is common according to others on the web, and neither I-R or Northern Tool would do anything about it. I replaced the motor with an A.O. Smith motor for about $350. Baldor makes a good motor too.

I also have a portable 2 hp with 20 gallon tank that I have blasted with, but only for a couple of minutes at a time.

[jamesbekman]

Cycle ranger...  If you could point me in the right direction of where to look...  For me even $800 is too much.  I'd of bought a bike that ran!  Instead of meeting ya'll on here and having fun

[heyitsrama]

I've been made on of these after seeing it being tossed around the forums a couple of times.
http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/

Got good results with it. I've seen people get better results with ultrasonic cleaning (sounds expensive) or professional blasters, but for what I'm doing I really dont mind (plus it was <$20 i already had a compressor)

I believe I have it set to around 100-120 PSI when using it, but I've never really kept track.

If you do go down this route make sure the tube that you are using is fairly long. You'll want to get the tube to the bottom of a bucket then pour in the baking powder because otherwise it creates valleys air pockets that you have to shake the bucket around with. 

[jamesbekman]

I had a go at it yesterday with the 5 cfm craftsman compressor.  It works fine...  When I bring it over to where my motorcycles are this weekend I will let you know how it goes on the engine and frame.  I did a test piece on a half dirty and half painted piece of wood and it worked very well.

I have the 15 lb harbor freight blaster and it did not come with the pickup siphon tube.  I just ended up holding the tank upsidedown so it acts as a gravity feed instead of siphoning it up.  I have an line air dryer running as to not have to worry about the one attached to the tank.  Well for now that is... 

[chewbacca5000]

I got a harbor frieght 110 lb blaster off craigslist for 60 bucks and another 30 to rig up a proper mixing valve and am able to have it strip clear coat w/harner at around 12 to 14 CFM.  The whole key is to have uber dry sand and a stand pipe to prevent clogging.  The HF does not work out of the box.

Check out this video it will explain everything Sandcarving Pressure Pot-101

No need for 2k air compressor.

[wowbagger]

I had surprisingly good success with my homemade soda blaster and a 30 gal, 6.5HP, 5.3cfm @ 90psi compressor. As long as I kept the tank pressure above 100psi it worked well. It took me about 45 minutes to do the larger side of my caliper.