Media blasting??

[trsick]

Hey All:
I have a nice 5' tilt top media blasting cabinet. But now that I will shortly be getting my 8' x8' oven up. I will need to make a walk in type of media blaster that I can prep the larger stuff in. I have the shell, but will need to purchase a pressure or siphon pot to do the larger stuff. My air compressor is a 240v 80 gallon 7.5 horse motor that will supply 27 cfm @ 125 psi.
My question is, before I purchase a media blaster, what are you all using & what do you lilke or dislike about it? As we all spend much more time on the prep before we P/C, I want to get this right the first time.
Thanks Bob

[jtagger19]

glass beads or steel shot
steel shot is better and lasts longer but it's more expencive.
at least for me.

[11111111]

i ma going to switch over to steel shot and see how that works in my walk in booth. i just bought a new suit from marco its aheavy duty suit i had alite suit but it really beats on you after awhile. i use asiphon system and mounted three tanks in the ground before i built the floor. i just drop the siphon in which ever one i'm using and keep the lids on the other two. it works well, i like it this way so i can just sweep the media to the hole in the floor and keep working. media consumtion is the biggest thing just make sure the system is easy to refill or has a large enough quantity for you average job. i use a pressure hood with a/c system its not worth doing with out. its worth the extra 200 to just put it in. ballard makes the best ?bullard? thats what i use. i was going to use pressure at first but it just wasnt conveint for my set up and i do big projects like frame and cages these take hours and i would rather sweep than shovel into a pressure pot. i have agood gun that works as well as a pressure system. spend the extra few bucks on the gun. the cfm is not as big a deal as holding tanks but it would be easier for you to install another compressor. i run two set at differnt settings to come on in high demand times and the second compressor gives me alot more storage. dont use a used propane tank if you are going to use apressure hood. (use a pressure hood) you can notb get the smelll out of the tank!
a 250 gallon new tank or just not a used propane tank is perfect for storage. its not worth building if you dont go at least 50% bigger than your needs are. you run out of space very fast and as soon as you can do one thing someone will want somthing bigger.
p.s. thiers way more money in blasting than coating but if you can blast it they'll need to coat it and your pc set up is awfull conveint for them. a blast room will more than double your pc business.
also air volume is not that critical if your not going to blast for hours at atime. i my self just get in and get it done but lots of people dont like to be in ablast suit and hood for hours at atime. dont short cut on equipment good stuff and bad stuff are about the same in price and the low qualtiy stuff can kill you. if it were so easy everyone would do it. the reason everyone doesnt is because their is way more to it than a helmet and suit and just closing the door and going to it.
also in your booth use lots of lights!!!! i se 8ft ho florecents placed right next to each other all the way acroos the ceilng and if i were doing it again i would put them every two feet in the walls as well. you can not ever have enough light. if i ever get out of this booth i will go into the tanning business. the best lit paint booth is only about half of what agood blast booth is and those lights they use on the ends of the guns suck there way to heavy and you have to hold it up for way to many hours at atime.
you may also check with your loacl blast shop on awholesale price so you can make afew bucks and not have to touch it. around here if you are serios you can save 20 to 30 dollars a hour at the big shops but you need volume. keep in mind a race fram for say a sprint car will take you at first about 12 or so hours to get it right. after you do about 10 of these you will be down to 7 or 8 hrs and at the blast shops you will be about 5hrs. so you will have to charge less than half to make it worths someones time to work with you. or you could have them do it and you could just make a quik 150 and just pick it up and drop it off.
really you need to ask your self is thier a reason someone would come to you over the big shop in town and on media blasting they have big blasters and speed is were the money is.
on that note i dont coat anything that i did not blast. i tell them right up front that they can bring it blasted and that will save them money only because it will make my reblast go faster. the prep is were the quality is and i would rather not have my name or powder on someone elses prep work. most guys dont want to blast anyhow and if it wont fit in a cabint tghey wont do it anyhow. just my 2 or 3 cents

[corecoatings]

Black Beauty

I was using black beauty. Unfortunately it seems to be sticking in my pressure blaster after it gets down a bit. I am going to go with a plastic media to see if it would flow better. I picked up a Texas Blaster off Ebay and it is pretty weel done with the exception of the bottom cone, it could have been a bit more angled to keep the media flowing. Take care

[Zpider]

When using steelshots, what kinda surface do you get compared to glass, anyone got a picture showing the difference?