I am looking into bead blasters. A trip through the archives doesn’t offer much that is recent. I am especially interested in applying texture to small recessed areas that will be surrounded by highly polished areas. Any information or experience, especially regarding equipment, is appreciated. I have a small non-lubricated pancake air compressor that delivers 2.6 CFM @ 90 PSI. Thanks…Rob
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I picked up this relatively inexpensive bead blaster a few years ago. I’m guessing I purchased it from Harbor Freight or off of Amazon.
It does a decent job for the few times I need to add texture.
The label says that it is a Cyclone, and the company phone # on the label is 269-782-9670
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After more looking around, I think that what I need is an air eraser…Rob
Hi Rob
I retired a harbor freight blaster some years ago and went with a Bad Boy Blaster
This unit is just the right size for me and I found it to be very good quality. I like the vacuum port on the back and the light inside. There is also a pressure valve 0-150 which is handy for fine tuning finishes and a foot control so you can use both hands. I use a Cal Air compressor 4620AC 2 HP with 4 gal tanks. Don’t remember what the CFM is but it does the job although it needs to cycle if I am doing a lot of blasting.
Here are some pics. PM me if you need more info.
Cheers
Franz
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Hello Rob
I got a Harbor Freight air eraser and pancake compressor. As described on Orchid many moons ago, I adapted a clear plastic bottle to use as a blasting cabinet. It contains the beads and allows them to be reused. The air eraser works well with the provided beads and puts a texture where you want it. I use clear tape to protect areas not to be textured. I have textured silver and 14K gold. The texture is not very deep - probably related to the size of the beads and action of the unit. My use is intermittent and infrequent, so I cannot speak to the durability of the equipment.
Judy in Kansas, where it’s Aug-tober! Temps in the mid to upper 80s!
In the past I’ve used an airbrush gun and aluminum oxide (220 grit) to add a matt finish to silver, so you might try aluminum oxide with the air eraser. The finish is quite ‘frosty’!
Thanks for all the suggestions. I ordered a Paasche Air Eraser. I will report how it works and if it does what I want to do…Rob
I received the Paasch Air Eraser that I order a couple days ago. It was well reviewed and seemed like a good purchase. The threads on the media cup that connect it to the gun where very rough and the metal (aluminum) galled horribly as I screwed the two pieces together. After a quick test to see how it worked, which was fine, I discovered that I could not unscrew the media cup to remove the left over media. It took a lot of leverage aided by inner tube rubber strips to hold on to the cup and a pair of pliers to unscrew the cap to finally get the two pieces apart. Cleaning any stray media with a small brush and compressed air did not improve things much and the threads continued to grind as I tried to work them together. I called the manufacturer, but did not get any kind of reply. The whole package is ready to be returned to Amazon and I will continue my search for an air eraser that works. Several of you mentioned a HF model. I will check that out tomorrow. I usually shy away from HF tools, but at $27 vs $80 for the Passch, what do I have to loose? Thanks for all of you input…Rob
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There are a bunch of youtube videos showing how to make a simple sandblaster. Here’s one. How to make a simple sandblaster - YouTube
Paasch called back today and they are sending me a new air eraser. Apparently they had a number of units get out with bad threads. Stay tuned…Rob
DIY blaster cabinet
Just in case you haven’t figured one out yet
Wish I could afford a compressor etc atm!
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