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soda adaptor link

link to pdf of instructions to soda attachment

the soda adapter just looks like some plumbing attachment that goes on. i have one of the cast iron piston style compressors and it is a hoss, with 30 gallon tank. i painted my whole shed full blast and the thing never gave up. it was bad A$$! i can blow out my garage with the air tool all day long and never drop below 90 psi in the tank. i run synthetic in the pump and it goes and goes and goes!

i think this tank will work out great for my blaster. i attached a water trap on it when i did the shed with the painter and it worked perfect. i plan to put the one i have in line along with the one that is on the tank just to make sure. also this tank advises to not use sand, only specified blast media, such as glass, aluminum oxide, black beauty, etc...and soda with the attachment. the attachment alone i pretty expensive, so i wont if one could make it them selves from pieces from lowe's or something. ;0) worth a shot anyways. i also plan to convert my tank from 3/8" to 1/2" eventually.

i also plan to get the blast cabinet later, or build my own. haven't decided. i think my old bbq grill might work if i cut a hole on top to and put something to see through there. i bet there are some plans on the internet somewhere to build it myself pretty easy. i will report my findings if i do.

the reviews on this unit weren't great, so i noticed they changed the handle on the unit from the deadman switch type that was on there before to the normal kind that has the rubber piece that closes off the tip when you are not using it. also the people that talked about it clogging also seemed to talk about how they used sand in it....duh...it says not to people!! DUH!!

later,

Hank

looks like some pretty good instructions to build a big one for under 50 bucks or so.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/5/007/article/Build_Your_Own_Grit_Blasting_Cabinet.html

and seriously homemade here.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade_ShotGrit_Blasting_Cabinet/

This is the cabinet I have:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42202

It was onsale for $99 when I bought it. I have found a few other people online who bought the same cabinet also. My compressor with keep a steady 90psi (constant running) when I am using it. It just a 2hp Craftsmen horiontal tank model. This is a good small cabinet to start with. What alot of the guys did was then replace the gun and pickup with a better one. But the cabinet itself is a nice benchtop design. It works great on 80 grit glass bead.

As stated before, moisture is the enemy, so you need a good water trap. Also Soda is not suitable for a cabinet since soda is a "one-time-use" media. The soda shaters on impact, and cannot be recycled as with other media.

i decided to build my own out of the laundry sink. it cost me about 80 bucks to buy all the parts. also all the parts are available at the hardware store if anything breaks, which is a plus. i also made some improvements to it, i will post pictures of it when i get done with it. plus the sink sit at the perfect height from me to sit me my garage chair and work. ;0)

right now i am repairing a wire chew that one of those dang rodents decided to put into my little z3, rendering it useless. the wire they chewed was the wire that sends the pulse singles from the flywheel and cams to the computer....basically the timing....thank God it has a limp mode when this happens and it will not allow itself to damage anything important. nice feature from BMW if you ask me. ;0)

i fixed the wire, and i got lucky because all the wires run under the intake manifold. this wire was a seperate wire harness so i could unplug the 4 connectors and pull it out the bottom of the car. lucky me. unlucky rat/mouse...there are 10 poison bats out now ;0) MUUUUUAHAHAHAHAH!!

Later,

Hank

what you really want to know is cfm. How much air is used not the pressure. Bet you are going to want a bigger compressor, cfm, wise soon. Best Todd.
I use a fine silica sand, less expensive,does not remove alot of metal. A nice almost smooth finish, easy to buff up for plating. If wanted. If not just right for primer and then painting. Make sure you don't let your blasted parts sit out in the damp air for more than a few minutes before primering or plating. You will see rust starts almost immediately.
And don't let your sand get moist, it will clog the gun, and you will be tapping it against the cabinet about every thirty seconds.
Good luck, only one thing more tedious than sand blasting, and that is polishing for plating.

i ended up taking the pressure blaster back, it was a POS and the blow valve was leaking and the pressure adjustment valve didn't work at all.

so i got a 50lb siphon model. it works PERFECT!! the compress does perfectly fine, never looses pressure and keeps up fine. the cfm is perfect 6 cfm and 90psi on the tank and that is what the blaster requires. ;0) perfect match.

i blasted on the of the fresh air vents tonight and it took the whole jug, but it was sooooooo clean and it only took me about 10 minutes to do it. i didn't find it teadious at all, it was fun and it was WAY quicker than my wire brush and it got into places i couldn't with the brush.

i used steel grit. no warping, no pitting, no silica to worry about breathing, leaves a perfect smooth finish on the metal, perfect for painting. just look at the pics of my cabinet it is perfect for what i needed it for. if anyone wants to duplicate just ask and i will tell you what i did.

look at the difference in the freshly cleaned part and the part under it....that was what it looked like when i started and what it looked like when i was done.

i am sooooo happy!

later,

Hank

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Bravo Hank!!
Now I need to know how you did it..please, please, pleeeeze!
I figure that I can get a sink off of Craigs list and the rest of the stuff at the local Aubuchon Hardware store..
Again..Bravo Hank!

One of the easiest homemade cabinets I have seen made was made using one of those large storage bins with the snap-on lids. All the guy did was cut a large rectangle in the lid and ducttape a piece of plexiglass over the hole. Then two in the side of the bin for the gloves. I here toliet base flanges are the perfect size for the gloves.

Only reason I bought mine was because it was on sale, and I like the fact it would recycle the media to the pick-up as I used it.

BigKev: It could depend what size toilet base flange you are using three or four inch. Four inch I would say is what a person would want to use.

John F. Shireman

so, i put together the pieces for my suspension/steering etc....any guesses as to the price tag of all that stuff ;0)

less than i thought it would be myself.