Harbor Freight Soda Blasters

B

Bill in NJ

Well-known member
Has any body used the harbor freight 15# or 40# soda blasters to strip paint off their model A ? I would like your opionions before I purchase one. Thanks in advance, Bill
 
I find many things at Harbor Freight to he inferior quality to many of the brand names. I am not impressed with their quality !!
 
Can't speak for their soda blasters, but I have one of their pressurized sandblasters, and about the only original part left is the tank!
The valves are junk, the hoses started splitting almost immediatly - it would have been a lot less frustrating, and safer to build from scratch !
Since it's probably coming from the same 'factory' in china, I'd stay away from it - spend the extra money for an Eastwood or Canfield - you'll get the job done quicker, and use less material, (with lower blood pressure)
 
I like blast equipment from http://www.tptools.com

Harbor Freight is good for some things. Their hand tools are of lesser quality but they are cheap and have a lifetime warranty. For limited do it yourself work they may be just what you need.
 
I purchased a harbor freight sandblaster and it certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Never again. But like others have said some items are all the home hobbyist needs at a reasonable cost.
 
I got mine from Eastwood, http://www.eastwood.com/abrasive-blasting/soda-blasters.html
I can change from soda, sand, beads or they have silica/ soda mix for tough spots. You are not going to strip a car on a small compressor. I have a 50 gal 2 horse, and had to take a rest to let it catch up, and pro units strip 3 inches at a time, this is about 1 - 1 1/2 at a time. I would use this for the chassis for the body, there are trucks that will come to the house. If you are not in a rush, and remember a couple hundred pounds od soda say good by to that part of the lawn. I love it, is it a perfect pro unit, no, does it clog every once in awhile sure. But for the price I love it. If you have a 220 4-5 h.p. you will do even better. You are only in New Jersey, drive on up and play.
I sent the list for all the blasters I have this one http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-soda-blaster.html
 
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I was an industrial and vintage car blaster for 30 years, now retired, here is an el cheapo blaster that does an identical job with the same pressure/CFM as the HF crap.

I have done experiments with both on same panels.
Click to expand...

Pooch, Thank You!
 
To the 2 Bills, I just wrote this in case you are interested.


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A few tips on blasting car panels.

Abrasive/grit/media will be referred to as SAND for ease of type.

Always sift/sieve your sand and it has to be bone dry.

Soda will NOT remove rust.

I do not like it, as it leaves a polished type of finish and it looks like it has soda contamination residue left after blast.

Sand has silica in it, and although beach/river sand is harmless in its natural state (size), it is highly dangerous when pulverized after blasting and can give you silicosis.

I used to use a product called Ilmanite, it was a fine black mineral that looked like what you would get if you scraped the particles off some 100 grit wet and dry.

I think what Yanks use...black beauty ...is coal slag.

This may be OK if it is fine and no sharp edges.

If it is like sugar, small and sharp edged , it will dig craters in your panels and chip the dug holes up to above the panel surface, not very good.

Most panels are convex on the large surfaces.

Blasting stretches the surface by heat, and as long as you keep moving, the stretched surface will relax back into originality, as you pass over.

You cannot feel the heat, as the air is cooling it at same time, but blast at night and see the sparks fly off metal.

NEVER blast a panel on the inside, where it has a reinforcing rib.

The panel will be stretched inward around the hot/cold line of blast along rib edge, the stretch will NOT relax back.

From the outside, the panel will APPEAR to have been blown in by excess pressure, but in fact, it has been PULLED in from the inside.

Unless you are an expert. be very careful of panels like bonnet louvres and relatively flat sections,

Turn down sand flow to a finer mist when doing blind/box /corner sections, as the sand will blow back, and reduce pressure at job surface.

When blasting general panels like doors/cowls/fenders, find a sweet spot with air pressure available and sand to get the best with what you have.

Too much sand, and you use too much and it slows down the air speed.

My home setup is a home made metal funnel holding about 10 litres of sand , gravity fed, and a 25 CFM compressor running at 95 PSI and a 1/4 inch nozzle.

The bigger the compressor the faster you do the job.

The guys who say to use 40 PSI must be using a miniscule nozzle and take a whole day to do a panel, not for me.

If I had 125 PSI,and untold CFM, I would be using that.

I was doing aluminium MGB bonnets at 110 PSI / 175 CFM and a 3/8th nozzle with NO warpage..

I always run a ******** or hand sand the blasted panel with old worn throw away 36 grit paper.

Gives a perfect key for primer.

I NEVER wash blasted metal with wax and grease remover/prepsol, but I never have oil or other contamination spitting thru lines either.

Never once had a fisheye or adhesion problem in 30 years.

I prefer bog/bondo and primer to be over virgin blasted/sanded steel.

Handle panels with gloves or rags, as your sweaty/salty fingers will contaminate the surface and you see the results by rusty fingerprints within a day.


A little video I knocked up, will make a better one soon, as I was holding cam with other hand and trying to avoid sand rebound on lens.

Guaranteed NEVER to clog, and is infinitely variable and very visible sand flow, portable and most of all CHEAP.

http://s86.beta.photobucket.com/user/pooch_2/media/MGB/Movie_0001.flv.html?sort=3&o=16


A new car from factory has about 75 microns .... .003 inch...YES THREE THOU.... of TOTAL primers/paint over metal, and 200 microns or 8 thou is absolute maximum any primers/paint should be in total after repairs/resprays, or the paint can be subject to cracking/crazing/crowsfooting and many other nasties.

So to all you backyarders, fill repairs if you have repairs to fill to with BOG/BONDO, do NOT keep pouring on highbuild primer to fill the repair. ..keep the primer/paint to a uniform depth all over if possible.

Results in a uniform finish with no sink backs.

This page was NOT my business but helps with profile knowledge.

http://www.launcestonsandblasting.com.au/surface_profile/index.html
 
Even if HF's soda blasters are not worth buying, they do sell the Arm&Hammer blasting soda for a reasonable price. For me, they are the only place in the area that carries it. Otherwise i would have to order it from TP or Eastwood, and shipping is not especially cheap...

BTW, if you soda blast anything with zinc, zinc-plated, or brass parts, be sure to rinse it off promptly. The leftover soda tends to keep steel from rusting, but it discolors those other metals.

Doug
 
I returned the HF soda blaster, piece of crap, can't fiill it, Poor design, Got a credit to buy the soda media, good price. Bought an Eastwood, made in USA. Good machine. No more HF junk,
 
ScottNW/Ohio said:
Can't speak for their soda blasters, but I have one of their pressurized sandblasters, and about the only original part left is the tank!
The valves are junk, the hoses started splitting almost immediatly - it would have been a lot less frustrating, and safer to build from scratch !
Since it's probably coming from the same 'factory' in china, I'd stay away from it - spend the extra money for an Eastwood or Canfield - you'll get the job done quicker, and use less material, (with lower blood pressure)
Click to expand...

I bought a sand blaster there and could not even get it to work
It went back
 
I have bought two cabinet style sand blasters from HF. At less than 1/2 the cost of any other suplier. I use one with glass beads and one with alumanum oxide media, have had no problems with them. You just need to be carful what you purchase from any discount store selling items at low $'s. when I buy the low end stuff I will purchase it at a place like a HF store where I can look it over well before it goes home with me vs. a on line type of sale.

Not defending any vendor, just stating what I have found.
 
If you are looking for soda locally, try the welding supply, or around the north east we have taylor rental. They sell the soda, and rent blasters. I still like my Eastwood one.
 
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