Harbor Freight Compressor Now A Sandblaster

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My neighbor gave me his old HF air compressor a while back & I finally decided to turn it into a sandblasting pot. I welded in a few fittings etc. & painted it. I also made a manifold for the metering valve/hose attatchment part of it from a 1-1/2" swage & pipe but I don't know if a 1/2" tee would work just as well. I tried it out blasting a small chair for my wife. about half way through blasting I started to get clogging & moisture problems that i'll have to iron out.
Reply:Almost impossible to blast without a line drier. I like to blast on concrete so I can recover much of the sand and re-use it. I got rid of the deadman years ago and now I but the air fittings; quick connect. When they wear through I drop another on in. Much easier on big projects then holding that deadman. Easier to get in to small areas as well.
Reply:Nice set up there! What do you use to dry the air? The water seperator I put on it is just a cheapy Campbell Hausfeld from Tractor supply. I've also got a Motar Guard unit that uses the paper roll element that I should try also.
Reply:Originally Posted by pirana. . . I also made a manifold for the metering valve/hose attatchment part of it from a 1-1/2" swage & pipe but I don't know if a 1/2" tee would work just as well. . . .
Reply:I use a HF refrigerated unit. You can see it on the left behind the air dam here:http://www.rc-tech.net/pantera1/paint1/fp5.jpgI know people who have actually laid out the pipe back and forth across a wall and do just as well. Denrep, not sure how much work it would be to convert a spark plug to a nozzle but the quick connects are cheap by the handful at Harbor Freight. They last an hour or two of blasting or so which is fine. Swap em, go on. he best thing is having a light weight tip.
Reply:I tried to gut an old autolite plug but couldn't get the guts all out. I tried drilling & usin a punch but that didn't do it.And on the manifold, not much theory really, I was just bored at work with nothin else to do & found some stuff to play with.Last edited by pirana; 12-07-2010 at 07:14 AM.