Soda blasters? Who's got one?

[blocke]

Thinking of picking up a $99 harbor freight special for various little projects. Anyone use these? How big of a compressor do you use?

[blunttech]

I have a big blast cab. I cant imagine the soda blasters demand is much different. I have a 60 gallon upright but cant remember the specs on it. Bottom line is any blaster consumes air like rsully goes through weed.
My compressor runs almost non stop when Im blasting

[jlevie]

I have an Eastwood soda/media/sand/bead pressure blaster. Minimum air consumption is 10cfm@90psi. I drive it with an industrial 5hp compressor rated for 18cfm@100psi and the compressor runs almost continuously. Which is okay because the compressor is rated for 100% duty cycle. Most non-industrial compressors are rated for at most 50% duty cycle. With one of those you can blast for, say, 10 minutes and then you have to let compressor & motor cool down for at least an equal amount of time

[A.J.]

I run a harbor freight soda blaster off of a 2hp/33 gallon compressor. It supplies plenty of air but the soda blaster clogs up every 10-15 minutes and the pickup tube needs to be blown out to clear it. Unless you live in a very dry place, be prepared to deal with it clogging up. Otherwise, it works well for stripping paint and rust.

[hfabricius]

I run a harbor freight soda blaster off of a 2hp/33 gallon compressor. It supplies plenty of air but the soda blaster clogs up every 10-15 minutes and the pickup tube needs to be blown out to clear it. Unless you live in a very dry place, be prepared to deal with it clogging up. Otherwise, it works well for stripping paint and rust.

I have this same problem with my Harbor Freight one. I bet a nice filter and water separator would work good paired with the one that is already on the blaster. I can go about 15 minutes or so before it clogs from condensation.

[glucklich21]

I bought the $99 ones for my cabby build to clean up the S50 I bought.





Parts before:




Parts after:







Engine started like this:













Engine after:




Best $80 (20% off coupon) I ever spent. More before and afters in my thread: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=201703

[einstein57]

I have a HF cabinet with a 30 gallon husky. It can not keep up with the demand of the cabinet at all.

[Gregs///M]

I've done some research about this topic and specifically the HF soda and sand blasters. From what I've gathered, the soda blasters and pressurized sand blasters require a large, high output air compressor. However, I've heard the grey hopper sand blaster works quite well with normal medium size (home mechanic) air compressors.

I am referring to this unit:

http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-abrasive-blaster-kit-37025.html