re purposing an air compressor tank / sandblasting pressure pot

admin

A buddy of mine had a 26 gallon air compressor take a crap on gim, so I saved it from the scrap yard , was thinking of building a grill /smoker , but I've got 3 already , so now I'm leaning towards building a sandblasting pressure pot.  I'm in the process of building a bumper for my truck (pics can be found in the projects forum) , and building a blaster would probably be about the same price as having someone do it , plus I'll have it for other projects.  Anyone have any luck building them out of compressor tanks or similar ? Or any other suggestions on what to do with this tank?
Reply:I'll go first, don't weld on an old air tank (if it's going to hold air pressure again).When they blow open it's an impressively dangerous blast.The small pressure sand blasters don't cost much, mine was under $200.I'm not trying to knock your welding skills, it's just not worth the risk.Last edited by MinnesotaDave; 09-13-2014 at 03:11 PM.Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:I agree with Dave, there was a thread on here, guy was testing a new compressor his kid bought. It exploded and damn near killed him. The blast made his shop look like a grenade went off.Thermal arc 211iCk flex-loc 150 & 130Clamps, saws & grindersHarbor freight 80 amp inverter
Reply:I figured the first few posts would be of this nature , I appreciate the concern and am well aware of the risks I'm taking  , but as Austin just posted , guy was testing a new compressor that his kid bought... and it blew up,   any one of our store bought compressors are ticking time bombs , I'm going to be feeding my custom  time bomb with air from a factory built time bomb , so I guess all I can hope for is that the factory built time bomb goes off first so maybe I can sue craftsman out of the deal , all that aside, like I asked in the first post, anyone have any luck building a blast pot out of an old compressor tank ?
Reply:I haven't seen a thread on this forum where someone built their own pressure pot.GravelThe difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference.
Reply:Originally Posted by mycat8urskidooI figured the first few posts would be of this nature , I appreciate the concern and am well aware of the risks I'm taking  , but as Austin just posted , guy was testing a new compressor that his kid bought... and it blew up,   any one of our store bought compressors are ticking time bombs , I'm going to be feeding my custom  time bomb with air from a factory built time bomb , so I guess all I can hope for is that the factory built time bomb goes off first so maybe I can sue craftsman out of the deal , all that aside, like I asked in the first post, anyone have any luck building a blast pot out of an old compressor tank ?
Reply:I haven't seen any on this site either , than again I haven't looked , but have seen a bunch on you tube and Google , mostly out of propane tanks
Reply:It's a vertical tank , there is a good sized hole on the top I can fill the sand in , there is another nozzle on the top, probably usable for something and there is the drain valve on the bottom , I will probably have to enlarge that and that should be my only weld on the tank
Reply:Here is a video to show the kind of force you are playing with:Other than the factory, this one was not welded on that I know of.Just something to keep in mind.Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:Here's a pretty sweet DIY sand blaster made from an old tank: Some really good info in those videos.