Paint stripping

[moxie-man]

Not sure if this should be a separate thread but what about the equipment you all are using along with equipment specifics(40 psi cfm, 90 psi cfm), oil less or oil, and minimum pressure required for the different medium. The reason I ask is that harbor freight has an oil type compressor(10 gallon tank, 2 or 2.5 HP, 5.5 CFM @ 90 PSI, 6.2 CFM @ 40 CFM) for sub $200 without coupons. HF also carries 10 and 40 lb media tanks plus the 100 lbs. The question is. Can or does anybody use this size equipment to media blast outboards successfully? I figure that with coupons that I might be able to set up the compressor,10 or 40lb tank (what do you recommend for best pressure control), and a cabinet. Plus there is a soda valve that can be put on the sand,etc tank for an all in one media tank. Cost estimate is $400 versus $1000 for high CFM (8 and above ) compressors. As a side note, I also plan on learning the spray painting after I perfect paint stripping. Thank you for your feed back on this.

[Pondrocket]

Joe,

Bring that thing over I’ll take care of it.

Travis

P.S.

Well do some dickering for the job bring that sewing machine with you on the trip! 😀

---

Attachments:

Travis
AOMCI VP Communications
AOMCI Webmaster
webmaster@aomci.org

[gdcarpenter]

I use a blasting cabinet and plastic media to clean my Merc aluminum parts. With lines, hoses, air dryer, etc the media blasting cabinet ran about $400.00. I have an 80 gallon compressor and it can’t keep up with constant blasting.

As I understand it you can’t use soda in a blasting cabinet, ergo the soda material is a one time use.

---

Attachments:

[chris-p]

Blasting, Painting, etc… you cannot ever have enough air! The important thing is the CFM at about 90 psi. Ideally, that will be over 10.

I have used my blasting cabinet with small compressors, but it just takes forever. You are constantly waiting for the compressor to catch up so you can blast another couple inches. Its frustrating. But can be done. IF it works in your budget, at least a 60 gallon tank, with enough hp to make 10 cfm at 90 psi is best.

[Mumbles]

quote Chris_P:

Blasting, Painting, etc… you cannot ever have enough air!

Exactly! In this case, too much of something is good!

Go big and you won’t regret it.

---

Attachments:

[gjonz]

I used a 21 gallon compressor when soda blasting…but only used 65lbs of air. When I moved to a bigger compressor I went to high psi.

I hear people who express concern about media that roughs up the aluminum. I don’t get it. Who cares. It gives the primer some "tooth" to grab hold of. The primer will self level somewhat, then high quality color coat should…if properly applied…level out and make the aluminum look fine.

So I use slag/black beauty and lots of air. I don’t worry about the texturing that happens unless I’m going to polish the part.

But mucho air is a must!

Greg

[RICHARD A. WHITE]

CFM is the key, I contacted the blasting media companies, they have specific psi recommendations for each different media, walnut shells for example is 80psi. Now each cabinet, requires a certain CFM to operate continuously. You can use a 20 gallon tank as long as the CFM rating of the compressor is at or more than the requirements of the blaster. My cabinet is rated and states it requires 13.2 CFM to run continuously. What happens is, if your compressor pump can’t produce 13.2 CFM your compressor motor will run all the time. bad side to that is if your compressor motor is not rated at 100% duty cycle, you will burn your motor up. The compressor pumps can run all the time and it won’t hurt them

Generally speaking Crafstman 5hp 20 gallon compressor will do everything you need, it will have the CFM and hp to allow the motor to cycle on and off, that is what I started with. The 5 hp motor on the older ones had a pretty good CFM rating with the right pumps.

No need to run over 90 psi for any media, greater psi will only break down the media faster and make it worthless quicker.

So, to set this up properly, decide which cabinet you want to use:
This is similar to what I have, but not the exact same model, note 11 CFM requirement, I got mine at Tractor Supply Compnay

http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/81500/10 … Ar6X8P8HAQ

Now with that knowledge look at compressors:
This one will do the job nicely:

https://www.menards.com/main/tools-hard … 0260124762

And finally decide on which media you want to use…
I STRONGLY recommend AGAINST glass beads, here is why. Glass beads if used at too high of a psi flow, will break causing little glass shards to get into laces you may not want them. I will blast an entire block the is together, now imagine what happens if some of the broken glass beads get into the cylinders walls???? Walnut shells and plastics beads are the best bet as they will cause no damage to internal components, but the choice is ultimately yours.
On the compressors, many good used one are out there, you want 220 volts as they will have the better higher CFM pumps on them.

Also PLEASE resist the urge to run at 100 psi and higher, your media wont last as long, 80 psi for walnut and plastic and you will do fine.

These are just my recommendations, and this is what I use, You get to decide how you do what you want to do.

One side note, you will need a system to remove dust from the cabinet, shop vacs work but pull hard enough to actually pull the media out as well, there are workarounds, I won’t go into them here, if your curious, message me.

Thanks for reading as I enjoy helping when I can.

Regards

Richard

http://www.richardsoutboardtools.com
classicomctools@gmail.com

[chris-p]

^^^Great Write up totally agree.

I have the same cabinet as you. Same CFM rating, and I don’t think they make a 120V compressor that keeps up to it, you need to get into the 220V models like you posted. I was actually going to get the same compressor you posted as well, at our local Princess Auto (discount store similar to your Harbour Freight) but the sales reps there actually told me to stay away from it, that almost every one comes back broken. So, I stuck with a more common name compressor.

I like using the soda for the powerheads, for the reasons you mention. Afraid to have a piece left behind. Soda is water soluable, so after I blast them, I wash them in my laundry tub, and then there are no worries about media being left behind.

Then I rebuild it.

[moxie-man]

Richard,

Thank you and all for the information that you have provided. I guess that I will have to reconsider whether to mechanically restore vs total restoration on my current projects due to the higher cost due to the larger compressor as well as the space required. I will definitely be on the look out for a used 10 CFM or higher compressor needed for the task.

Bruce

[Mumbles]

If you don’t want to go to the expense or trouble of getting set up for media blasting at home, check your local yellow pages to see if there is a ‘Do It Yourself’ place in your area. We have one here I use if I can’t do it at home. They have industrial size cabinets with an unlimited supply of dry air and the hardest part is degreasing everything before taking it in. My home cabinet tends to get temperamental but these ones are smooth, dust free, and there’s no cleanup to do after. Check out their video.

http://www.blastityourself.ca/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RWIXlAesrE

[Author]

Posts