Sandblaster canceled on me- looking at eastwood kit?

C

cstrom72

So I had a date scheduled for getting the cowl forward blasted on my 67 Mustang Nov 3rd. Guy keeps giving me the run around has pushed it back to after Turkey day. Frankly Im done with him. Unfortunately hes the only blaster in my area, and was going to charge me 150ish to do the front end. Now im thinking of just doing it myself, I looked at Eastwood quick to see what a sandblaster would cost, and there around 180 with free shipping. Seems I may go this route now- I can get the black diamond media at northern tool for a decent price and if I lay down a big tarp I can re-use a good portion of it i think. Anyone have any experience with the Eastwood blasters? I only do few projects a year. So 180 seems like it would pay for itself basically one this one job alone... Any thoughts? Thanks !
 
i dont recommend that blaster. i had one. you would be lucky to get the whole front end on your car done before that blaster took a crap. blasting is a violent process and it takes real industrial equipment to do it. that blaster will do the occasional small part. you'll start having issues within a few hours because parts and pieces that werent designed for blasting are wearing out. dont use black beauty on sheetmetal. it will warp metal easily. crushed recycled glass is good for a beginner because it is difficult to warp metal with it and it also leaves a nicer finish for paint. another question is what kind of air supply do you have? this is the minimum blaster i would buy....that is if your looking for a tool that will last.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200335987_200335987
 
Ooo, a triple post! A nice change from the double post.

Just kidding around, but I am interested in this topic myself. We have a spot blaster we use for little stuff and an ancient open barrel type of blaster that doesn't work very well.
 
you cant go wrong with the marco stuff. good company to deal with too. carbide mixing valve lasts forever. the deadman on that unit is nice too. the ceramic tips last a long time as well. i have never changed mine. hole has barely increased in size and i have run about 10k lbs of crushed glass and black beauty through it. that is probably the best unit for the money without gettin too nuts. blasting equipment can get pretty crazy when it comes to really good equipment. for a good one that is on the lower end.
 
I bought a cheap Harbor Freight blaster, and have had to basically rebuild it with all new valves and hose, etc. It's still a piece of crap, but at least I have made it so it can accept cheap local ball valves, etc. I only use it for stuff the size of fenders or smaller. Anything bigger gets farmed out.
 
Eastwood blasters are notorious for being terrible. Just read the reviews on their own website. I think it's funny they even allow such poor reviews. At least they are honest in that regard.
 
No way would a 1700 on a blaster even justify itself with me. Ill most likely use it one time for this car and it will sit in the shed. I have a 80gal compressor. If the blaster lasted one time id be happy because I would spend the same amount to pay the guy (who never seems to have time) and id have to haul the car around.
 
thats probably a little better for sure. now you say you have an 80gal compressor but that means nothing when it comes to blasting. blasting requires constant airflow for extended periods. what is your cfm rating at 90lbs?
 
I think its 14cfm @90, thats off the top of my head. Never had a problem running any of my paint guns or DA sanders for an extended period.I have 50+ feet of copper air line with drains and a big QC3 Dryer in my garage. I don't think I would blast it all in one sitting either :)
They have a cheaper 180 dollar one at northern tool in stock (similar to the Eastwood one)- that bigger one they would have to order in.. I might still grab the cheap one here in town and if it falls apart Northern should return it those guys are pretty good at that...
 
I've had an ALC blaster like that for probably 7 years. It replaced a cheap Clarke one from TSC that I used once and hated it. About the same level as the Eastwood.

I blast at least one body/frame plus the rest of the car a year. It has been a decent blaster but I'm about ready to upgrade to a marco. The big difference between the ALC and the marco pictured is the mix valve in the bottom of the blaster.

The regular ball valve in the cheaper units works OK but it seems like your constantly fussing with it to keep things moving. Just when you get it where you want and blast a couple minutes then a slug changes the flow or whatever. Then you not blasting but your on your knees messing with the valve. Mix valves just keep an even flow of abrasive going without just relying on gravity.

I ditched the deadman's valve at least 5 years ago. I removed it and put a 3/4" ball valve in there in it's place. Probably 3 years ago I ditched the ball valve. I just have operate it from the blaster by a ball valve at the air supply. After I blast an hour or so my hands would hurt lugging around all that mess. I just have a lightweight end with a ceramic nozzle. Sure I might waste a little more materials but my body thanks me.

I replaced the original blast hose last year. Good stuff that lasted all those years. For the money I think it's a good product that has made me money. I think my ALC is bigger than that one and I paid around 450 all those years ago.

Northern tool sells the mix vavles and I thought about updating this ALC with the mix and valve and keep it.

Your gonna fight air supply. When I had my good 5hp it was 17cfm @175psi and it wasn't nearly enough air to do it efficiently.
 
90% of people who buy these blasters all make the same mistake. opening the media valve too far , not giving the blaster time to settle down and work . an adjustment takes time to work.
if you are seeing the media coming out you are likely opening the media valve too much. also 35lbs is plenty to blast with.

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before you throw money away at eastwood or hf take a look at these. this will give you an idea of what to look for.

http://www.nortonsandblasting.com/nsbportblast.html#schmidtpb

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Well right before I was about to order one, a friend of my brothers came thru and let us borrow his. I filled it up last night and shot an engine mount just to try it out. I set the PSI to 60 but the deadman/handle leaks air and was hard to control. It gets dark here at about 530pm now with daylight savings time so it hard to see what I'm doing so Friday afternoon I'm taking off early to get used to that thing. Its a smaller one, forget the brand name- I think it said Clarke..seems powerful though blast.jpg
 
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