Sandblasting ?'s For Bay Area Folk (1 Viewer)

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Jun 5, 2005
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Location
Coeur D'alene Id/Oakland Ca
Hey all,
Well after some haggling I am the proud new owner of a portable 20 gal sandblaster, now for those of you in the bay area, where can i buy the right kind of sand/media? In the manual it says that your basic playground sand is allowable but not recomended for use because of it's fairly low abrasive characteristics and it's high moisture content.
Sooo... anybody have opinions or info for me? I tried calling around to local sandblasters but everyone gets their media delivered to them directly. Home depot and OSH don't carry anything, and none of the equipment rental companies rent them anymore because of liability/maintenance costs.
Thanks for any info
Cheers
Edwin
 
mogwin said:
Hey all,
Well after some haggling I am the proud new owner of a portable 20 gal sandblaster, now for those of you in the bay area, where can i buy the right kind of sand/media? In the manual it says that your basic playground sand is allowable but not recomended for use because of it's fairly low abrasive characteristics and it's high moisture content.
Sooo... anybody have opinions or info for me? I tried calling around to local sandblasters but everyone gets their media delivered to them directly. Home depot and OSH don't carry anything, and none of the equipment rental companies rent them anymore because of liability/maintenance costs.
Thanks for any info
Cheers
Edwin

The grade of Silica sand I use and sell is called 2010. I buy it by the pallets out of Fargo, ND at a place that also manufactures the line of quickcrete for this region.

You might want to try to find out who is supplying the brand/line of quickcrete (those 60lb bags of concrete at home depot) in your area. They might also be supplying silica sand to suppliers out there. Maybe buy it directly through the wholesaler or they could just give you the name of one of there retailers that they ship to in the area?

Just an idea, hope it helps, Matt
 
Right on thanks Matt, have you ever used playground sand, couple guys over at Pirate told me it was kiln dried, thus reducing moisture issue and because it's cheaper you just use more of it, opinions?
 
mogwin said:
Right on thanks Matt, have you ever used playground sand, couple guys over at Pirate told me it was kiln dried, thus reducing moisture issue and because it's cheaper you just use more of it, opinions?

I've personally never used it, although I've read a few posts over the years of guys using it. They didn't elaborate really on how much they used, and if they had never used actual silca sand I maybe would take there info with a grain of salt, or sand :) (yea, that was stupid I know).

That same person might think that playground sand is the only way to go and is the best thing in the world, but ignorance is bliss..............But, maybe it is the way to go, I've never used it.

All I can tell you is that from my experience, 185 psi w/ a 3/4" i.d. supply line and a 1/4" tip on the blaster and 2010 sand will wipe the deepest rust off fast and clean.

Matt
 
Ok- Matt you're using a more heavy duty blaster than I am- My blaster hax a max recommended 120psi, the ceramic nozzles that came with are probably 1/8" maybe a little bigger and the hose is probably same size i.d. maybe a little smaller. I put the same post up over at Pirate and more folks have come out in favor of playground as (ignorance may be bliss) we don't really have access to anything that would not be shipped on a pallet. Although someone said you could get straight black basalt sand at Napa auto parts which if true would mean a high silica content(majored in geology at UC Berkeley). So for the time being I am going to go get some playground sand, keep an eye on my moisture filter and go from there. But cheers anyway for the help. Will be hitting you up soon for the door bushings!
 

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