pwned!, HF media blaster popped Options

[VaccaRabite]

I freely admit that I am not above shopping at Harbor Freight, but they got me good this weekend.

Friday, I noticed tat they had thier 40pound pressure blasters on sale. I was having a heck of a time finding a local company to blast my engine tin, and as I had Friday off, I figured I'd get one and do it myself.

I need to say at this point, tht I have not had a HF tool break before I was done with what I had bought it to do - and the only tool of theirs that had failed me was a super cheap heat gun.

Well, I built the pressure blaster, loaded it with 25lbs of crushed walnut shells, and figured that I would pressurize it in stages, starting with 60psi (its working load is 120 psi.)

At 60 psi, I opened the valve to let air into the device, and fixed a couple leaks. I increased pressure to 70 psi, and the ring that hold the water trap on the blaster failed, sending the trap globe rocketing to the ground (and scaring me quite a bit.)

No problem, I have a pretty good water filter on my supply line - I'll just use that. Re-plumb everything, and pressurize it up to 100.

The media won't flow.its clogging in the gun. Okay. more pressure (110) still clogging. more pressure (120) still media only come out in spurts. That is, until the hose burst, sending walnut shells eveywhere until I could shut the valve off.

So, I am taking it back today.

Lesson - steer clear of the HF pressure blasters. I may have just gotten a bad one, but it failed explosivly twice at or under normal operating pressures.
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Zach

[736conver]

Those pressure blasters are crap. I never got mine to work good enough.

If I had something too big for the cabinet I would just take the gun out and use a pail for the media feed. Worked great, made a mess, but worked.

[Richard Casto]

Zach,

Sorry to hear you had such bad luck. I have the same unit and so far have not had any issue. I do know that sometimes HF stuff can be hit or miss regarding quality. For example the suction hose on my HF media cabinet was total crap (bought replacement from Lowes for a few cents).

I am assuming you are going to still be buying a pressure pot blaster (maybe not from HF this time). But I did want to point out that some of your technique may still result in issues. The water trap was probably a faulty part. The hose may also have been faulty, but I tend to think you ran into a nozzle clog and as they say "if it doesn't fit, don't force it". You kept cranking up the pressure until the hose blew.

Even if that hose is rate for 120+ PSI (no idea what it is actually rated at) it is going to have abrasive media running through it over time and I would consider them a "wear item". If I remember correctly I think the instructions even say to monitor the hose for wear (such as a hole in which media may blow out of). Still this looks to be brand new and probably had little or no wear, but I would start at lower pressures on your next one until you figure out how it works. I so far have not felt the need to go beyond 100 PSI so far and actually use 35-65 PSI frequently.

You may also want to filter your media first (use a wire mesh screen). I have found that media that is advertised to be a specific size will have a few odd chunks that are larger than the rest. That is all it takes to clog up a nozzle. So weed out the overly large media and you will have less nozzle issues. I have not used walnut media, but I a assuming that stuff may be even more moisture sensative than some other stuff?

Good luck next time!

Richard

[ConeDodger]

Did you guys notice that Eastwood has started selling a soda blaster? The pro model was like 1700 but the portable was @350 or so... Might be a better option and it washes off with water and doesn't get everywhere from what I hear.

Somebody buy one and check it out...

[VaccaRabite]

The blaster was only in my posession for 36 hours, from new in the box till I took it back. When I returned it, the guy at the counter said that other people had reported problems with the water trap failing as mine did - please be caseful if you guys have these units.

It is probably an issue of poor quality control, some will be perfect, some will suck, and I happened to get a poor one.

For the time being, I guess I'll go back to looking for a local (or semi-local) shop to clean my stuff - I might have more luck if I expand my search to Baltimore, I guess.

Zach

[Dr Evil]

Evan has the small hand held top loaded one and fills it with playground sand. It worked well to blast my cycle wheels, and on other small jobs.

[Zimms]

I almost bought the same thing, Thanks for the heads up!