sandblasting

Sandblasting gives bright-as-new look

By MANLY BANISTER

There are many uses for this versatile sandblasting

unit—from cleaning corroded metal to etching glass
Scarred and rust-caked ladle, nippers and hammer were transformed by a sand shower and turn the page
light emery cloth rub. Projects shown at top of page were made by using the sand-blaster
pictured. Turn page for plans

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sandblasting

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YOU'VE PROBABLY come up against a dozen

jobs when you wished you had access to a sand-
blaster—to clean rust and paint off steel, put a
matte finish on metals, etch frosted designs on
glass and metal, clean sparkplugs—or even to
texture wood for picture frames, lamp bases and
whatnots.
If you've been stumped by such jobs in the
past, then wish no more. With the plans presented
on these pages, you can build your own sand-
blaster gun—plus a reach-in cabinet for handling
all but the biggest items. And once you've caught
up on your backlog of sandblasting jobs, you'll
think of many more—such as producing novel
effects in jewelry-making, ceramics, or copper,
brass and aluminum crafting.

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If you already own an air compressor for paint
spraying, your outlay for materials shouldn't
strain the shop budget. You use stock 3/8-in. pipe
fittings to build the nozzle unit around a lever-
type blowgun that you can buy new for less than
$5. For delicate work, it operates on 15 lbs. of
air, or less; but for rugged duty, such as blast-
ing steel, you up the pressure to 100 lbs. or more.
The higher the pressure, the faster the cut.
You can use any sand that will pass through
the siphon tube—including river sand. However,
if there's an industrial supply house near, you
can get much better results with the professional
sands available. Those intended for nonrecovery
Solder the window frame outside and in after seating it in hole and bending the straight tabs
against inside of tub. Then stick weatherstrip around window
Cut openings with a saber saw (above),
gripping coupled tubs between your knees.
Stand unit upright to cut holes in top
The easiest way to lay out cutting lines
for viewing windows and armholes is to cut
paper to dimensions, tape cutouts in place
and trace around edges, as shown at left
are very cheap; extremely hard grits such as
garnet, emery and carborundum are higher in
initial cost, but can be used over and over almost
indefinitely. For general use on a recovery basis,
No. 60 garnet is a good choice. A hundredweight
costs $5 or so and should last years with inter-
mittent use. For special jobs, you may want to
switch to other grits. A textured effect on fir
plywood is best achieved when No. 36-mesh
garnet grit is used to erode the fibers between the
hard annual rings. For such work, you need an
air pressure of over 80 pounds per sq. in. Ideally,
your compressor should supply at least 5 or 6
cu. ft. of air per minute at a constant pressure
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sandblasting

SUIT AIR PRESSURE TO JOB

Pounds-per-square-inch settings for No. 60-
grit garnet
Inside view shows the gun ready for action,
GLASS Etching with stencil: small laid on the screen table that's soldered at
areas (such as cutout letters), top rim of the cone. Note 1/4-in. i.d. hose
30 p.s.i.; larger areas, 40 p.s.i. that connects the gun to the siphon tube
Though glass can be etched at
pressures as low as 15 p.s.i.
the higher the pressure, the
faster the cut. Paper stencil
will wear away before glass
etches at pressures over 30
p.s.i.
ALUMINUM Etching surface, 40 to 50 p.s.i.
COPPER Etching surface, 50 to 75 p.s.i.
BRASS Etching or cleaning, 60 to 80
p.s.i.
STEEL Cleaning rust or paint, 90 to
100 p.s.i. Etching surface,
same (or higher with more
powerful compressor)
Steel can also be worked, more
slowly, at pressures under 90
lbs.

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 Sandblast gun consists of long-nozzle blow gun and
standard pipe fittings. Only machining required is
for added sand nozzle made of drill rod. Center-
bore from both ends, machine to fit nipple, then
heat .nozzle cherry red and quench in water.
Tap-and-die tool for threading sand-hose connection
costs about $2—plumbers use it to install
copper overflow pipe in toilets. To substitute
reservoir, unscrew connector from tapped plug

Clam-shell construction makes it easy to insert work pieces that are too big to pass through
armhole. It also hastens cleaning of cabinet when you change grits. With trunk latches
clamped, the unit is ready for blast-off (right). Air hose is connected to gun inside; exhaust
hose carries off the dust

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sandblasting
sandblaster, continued
of 100 lbs. or more. With smaller-capacity com-
pressors, you'd probably be able to do only
about 5 sec. of blasting out of 25—the bulk of
your time being spent pumping the pressure back
toward 100 p.s.i.
Sandblasting is often used on driftwood lamp
bases. Real cutting is done with No. 36-grit at
top pressure. Then, at pressures under 100 p.s.i.,
the gun is backed 1 ft. away from the surface to
smooth and semipolish the wood, using one of
the finer grits, such as No. 60.
The hardening treatment for the nozzle, de-
scribed, leaves the drill rod so brittle it could
shatter if you dropped it. So some of the temper
should be drawn by placing the nozzle in a 300-
deg. kitchen oven for a half hour and quenching
again.
If you don't have access to a metal-turning
lathe to do the simple machining called for, a
commercial machine shop can do it for you in
a few minutes.
Even with tempering, the nozzle will wear out.
When the opening wears nearly through, make
a new nozzle. And when the blowgun nozzle
wears out, replace it with one of hardened steel—
or buy a new blow gun; they're cheap enough.
metal cabinet
There's a double reason for using a cabinet
with the gun wherever possible. Not only does it
provide for recirculation of the sand; it keeps the
air clear and protects the operator from flying
grit. The sand issues from the nozzle with con-
siderable force and in doing its work generates a
lot of dust, which must be drawn off by means of
a shop vacuum or similar suction device.
Because of the wearing effect of the sandblast,.
the cabinet must be metal. Two No. 2 (15-gal-
lon) washtubs simplify construction, but are
less expensive than an equivalent amount of sheet
metal of suitable gauge.
To avoid the sheet-metal construction shown
in the hinging detail you could substitute a gate-
size strap hinge. The sloping hopper is provided
in the bottom tub so the sand can slide down and
replace that drawn up from the center by the
siphon tube. A pipe-reducer drain is soldered in
the bottom hole to facilitate emptying the hopper
when you want to change to another grit size.
When formed into a cone, the hopper should
fit snugly enough so that it must be driven down
with light mallet blows. But don't put it in place
until you make the cutouts for the armholes and
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air line, as shown. Bend a ring of heavy wire, try
it for size inside the tub, then cut the ends square
and braze them together. Solder a square of
hardware cloth to the ring and trim away the
excess with diagonal wire clippers.
Now you're ready to tackle the top tub. The
light sockets are the two-piece type that unscrew,
leaving a shoulder and throat of porcelain. The
metal of the cabinet must not come in contact
with the metal screw of the socket. Wire the
sockets with No. 18 light cord and install a line
switch in the cord. Make a sheet-metal cover as
detailed and solder it over the exposed connec-
tions.
Your soldering is done when you've added
the sheet-metal tube (to fit the hose of your shop
vacuum) and the frame for holding the 6 x 12-in.
double-strength glass of the viewing window.
When soldering this frame into the cabinet, be
sure to seal all the gaps to prevent sand leaks.
use a plastic screen
If you plan to use any coarse grits, such as
No. 36, it's a good idea to stretch a piece of
plastic window screen across the frame, about
% in. inside the window. Without this screen to
keep rebounding grit from reaching the glass,
you'll have an etched window in short order. The
screen (which must be plastic, since a metal mesh
would quickly wear out) cuts down on visibility
—but far less than a frosted window would.
You can either set the cabinet on top your
workbench or build a special stand, as detailed,
bronze-brazing the sections of conduit with an
air-acetylene torch. The stand's platform has a
center hole for easy drainage of the hopper.
When work is too large to fit inside the cabi-
net, you need a separate sand reservoir, as shown
in the photo and sketch. If a very large supply
of sand is needed, a tubful can be set by the work
with the gun connected to the rubber feed tube,
as in cabinet use. Don't try outside-the-cabinet
blasting indoors unless you have a special room
with a vacuum exhaust system.
Whether inside or out of the cabinet, hands
should be protected with heavy industrial-type
rubber gloves. Outside the cabinet you'll also
need goggles or—better still—a face shield.
The air line should be equipped with both a
regulator and a filter—the latter to trap moisture
which could clog the flow of sand if it gets into
the gun. This is especially likely in a cold room,
or outdoors.