Simple do-it-yourself sandblasting machine

Sometimes it is necessary to clean some parts of rust, old paint, etc. This can be done mainly with a wire grinder attachment only on flat surfaces. And if the part is complex, it is unrealistic to clean everything 100%. Only a sandblaster can handle this.

You can also use a sandblasting machine to remove paint from wood, clean burnt areas and give the wood a brushed (aged) look - emphasizing the structure of the fibers. This can be useful when cleaning wooden facades, old blackened planks, making furniture, etc. Take video here

It turns out that you can make a sandblaster yourself, spending very little money and a little time. Let's see how this is done:

A plastic bottle is attached to the pneumatic gun. This is done as follows: a hole is drilled in the plug, and in the tube of the pistol you grind off a part until a hole is formed so that sand can freely seep from the bottle under its own weight into tube. Do not make the diameter large at once. Start with the minimum. Then it will be possible to increase the size of the hole if the efficiency of the sandblasting is low. We attach the bottle to the body of the pistol with a handy bracket. The author did this using a strip of sheet metal and a clamp for polypropylene pipes.

The hole size is shown here. A balloon is required to create air pressure. The author used a cylinder from automobile freon. You can use a cylinder from a fire extinguisher or a small gas cylinder (only there can be residual gas).

The author mounted the adapter on a car fitting, nipple (without a spool - then it pumps up faster). A pressure gauge is optional. An automobile tire inflator will not inflate more than 6 atm.

The procedure is as follows. Pump up the cylinder with a car compressor, turn off the tap, unscrew the union and screw on the hose from the pneumatic gun. We pour sand into a plastic bottle, open the cylinder valve - we work.

Some people use a small fire extinguisher canister instead of a plastic bottle. Sand is also poured into it. But then you need to make a reliable adapter system as in this photo:

An old car candle is used as a nozzle. The candle is cut and fixed to the nut from the flexible hose (you will have to disassemble the unnecessary hose). For reliable operation, air is supplied to the fire extinguisher cylinder - no vacuum is created in it. This version of the sandblaster is powered by a compressor (not an automobile). It allows you to get more pressure.

Photo of a more complex sandblaster. For larger work areas and greater productivity. The design uses a gas cylinder. The scheme of operation of such a sandblasting machine is on the third slide. A separate compressor is also needed. The last slide shows a diagram of how to cut a car candle to use it as a nozzle.

Always wear eye protection and a respirator when working. And ideally, overalls that cover the whole body.

The assembly process of such a simple and not complex sandblasting machine is below in the video:

This sandblasting machine is not suitable for large areas of the treated surface or a large number of parts. Then it is necessary to make it from a large gas cylinder of 30-50 liters and use a construction compressor. And for cleaning small parts, a couple of square meters of wooden surface - it is quite suitable.

I don’t know how long the air gun tube lasts. From the sand, the metal inside it grinds off. It might make sense to make replaceable nozzles from old car candles.

***

Photos are taken from open sources, from Yandex. Pictures

Subscribe to the channel, add it to the browser bookmarks (Ctrl + D). There is a lot of interesting information ahead.