I'd like to do some powder coating, but I first need to get set up to do the preparation work, which means bead blasting. I have a compressor but I'm not sure if its satisfactory for blasting. I've been looking at the cheapo blasting cabinets from Harbor Freight and they seem to require about 5 CFM at 80 PSI. My compressor can put out maybe 4 CFM at 80 PSI, and has a 21 gallon tank.

Does anyone who's done bead blasting know if this will work? My guess is that it would just be slower with lower pressure, but there must be some point at which it becomes painfully slow. Anyone have experience with this?



-Tony

Mine put's out 6.4 (22 gallon tank) and it drives me nuts. But it does it. You'll go out of your mind but you'll get the job done.

E.

helps if you use a pressurized blaster in conjunction with a low CFM compressor, that's what I did. with the compressor alone, there is a lot of wait time.

Yes... something on the order of 60 gallons is preferred.

I have an 80 gallon that does 11.9 cfm and I can make it run constantly if I bead blast constantly.

Sometimes the powdercoaters will also bead blast so, figure out how much you want to blast. If you spend a couple hundred extra having your parts blasted professionally, it may outweigh the cost and aggravation of getting your own cabinet and dealing with an inadequate compressor.

I WILL say that my compressor and cabinet were one of the better investments I made for this restoration. They have been helpful in a multitude of functions.

Even my little ole 22gal and table top box has more than paid for itself. I only use it now for smaller projects. If it's a ton of stuff I send it out and I get a better price than my time is worth hourly.

What is a pressurized blaster?

I am convinced by what I've read, I think I should get a blaster. While this would mostly be for the 914 parts I'm doing, I have many other uses and I'm sure this will not be my last automotive project. Not to mention my friends wanting to blast things.

-Tony

Oh... and check out www.tptools.com

Some good stuff there!

Im going down this exact path. Picked up my cabinet recently. Air pressure and tank size isnt a problem. Im just trying to find a site with examples of setup's from benchtop with suction feed to self standing with presureized feeder ect .
Suggestions?

You're going to be blasting for a long time at that pressure/tank size. You can do it, but it will take a while. And the compressor will run constantly. Check the duty cycle of your unit also. You shouldn't run a compressor non-stop for too long.

What you really want is a friend who has a blasting cabinet that he'll let you use. Even better if the cabinet is at his work place so he doesn't have to pay for the electricity running the compressor and shop vac full time.

THANKS BUDDY!!!!

I'll be dropping my entire suspension off tomorrow for powder coating and I'll find out how much more it would cost if I didn't blast everything first. It will help me decide if I want to do this kind of stuff again in the future or just let the powder coater handle it.

A blast cabinet is a highly desireable tool for any 914 owner that is restoring one 914, or has multiple 914s. Or any old car for that matter. It's a real "blast" (pardon the pun) to be able to just clean up a rusty part during any maintenance operation, " just because you can". Remove a crusty part, blast it, shoot a coat of paint (or powder coat) and re-install.

I agree it's nice to have and I'll need to pick one up someday (I hate nasty parts). However, the home powder coating kit may be off my wish list. I'm getting my suspension blasted and coated for $250 which seems too darn cheap for me to ever want to do it myself. This is everything including rear axles, front crossmember, and all the small pieces of the front suspension.

I chose yellow for the color based partially on the poll I posted here but mostly from the wife's input. She suggested yellow before I even told her the choices. So what do I know

Yes, excellent source and decent prices. It's where I get all my media blasting supplies, except for black beauty, which I get locally.

As far as getting your own cabinet, TP sells plans to make one out of plywood, as well as all the parts and pieces to keep an existing cabinet online.

A pressurized system is more efficient, regardless of compressor size. Generally speaking if you run over 60 psi your media is a one shot deal. This is OK if you are doing really rusty stuff and are going to trash the media. If you want to reclaim it don't go over 60 psi.

The other important consideration is clean dry air. If you have a small home compressor with no real moisture collection set up, your media will get wet and it will start sputtering. The only solution to this is changing media, or letting the wet stuff dry out. Best solution is good moisture removal. McGuard makes one that uses a replaceable element that looks like a roll of brown toilet paper. This is probably the cheapest way out, but it still isn't cheap. The little units with the glass bowl don't do enough for the amount of air required. The better systems use a replaceable dessicant, and the new high tech ones use a membrane, refrigeration, or both ($$$though).

Good luck, hope this isn't TMI,

PK

Wow, excellent info, thanks!

I will have to check out building my own cabinet. I had thought of doign this, but was told that unless I lined the inside with metal, I would end up destroying the walls and adding wood matter into the reclaimed media. However lining with metal might not be so tough.

I didn't know that the media went bad at high perssures, but it makes sense. I will look into the pressurized systems and making my own cabinet. Seems like a good way to go to get a reasonably large cabinet cheap.

I just picked up a powder coating gun and some supplise today at Harbor Freight. I'm anxious to see how this turns out.

-Tony