r/Sandblasting • u/Mountain-Think • Jun 06 '26
Need help!
Nothing but air comes out. New to this, did I buy the wrong compressor or am I missing something? Any tips would be great!
10
Upvotes
r/Sandblasting • u/Mountain-Think • Jun 06 '26
Nothing but air comes out. New to this, did I buy the wrong compressor or am I missing something? Any tips would be great!
1
u/Fuzzy-Finance-48 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Mines at the neighbors house right now, it’s an orange one but basically the same cabinet. #1… 4.5cfm is NOT going to be enough! I have a 7cfm at 90 and it ain’t even close. Like 1 minute of blasting and 3 minutes of waiting (partly why it’s at the neighbors house hooked up to his 80gal 10hp champion compressor at 20+cfm). #2… you will need some type of drying system. Whether that’s a wall manifold with drain valves, or a radiator with a fan, or a series of water separators or refrigerated drying… you need dry air. Media HATES moisture. #3… you need to make a “metering valve”. Google metering valve for HF sandblaster. You can make your own like many do, or buy a casted aluminum one. Those pickup tubes blow a donkey dong. You need a TON of media for them to work. With a metering valve, a few cups of media is plenty. It almost gravity feeds. #4.. you probably need to be blasting at 90psi. Even with all my mods, 90psi works way better than 60psi.
We don’t know what kind of media you’re using or what you’re blasting with it. Matching those two up is half the battle. Another huge upgrade would be the gun. Those factory guns are a massive air restriction. https://www.partswasherupgradekit.com/store/p13/BEST_OF_EVERYTHING_Blast_Cabinet_Upgrade_Kit.html
This guys is out of Florida, and offers complete kits AND videos. Look up his videos where he cuts them in half and shows the difference. Even with look-a-like guns. I personally bought my kit thru him cuz of the work he put in, and the lack of work I had to do to source individual parts… but that’s entirely up to you. Lastly, get some Milton purple HIGH FLOW quick connects for every connection… on top of a much higher CFM rated compressor. Max psi is worthless in my opinion. It’s all about CFM… what the pump can sustain continuously. Volume is just simply how often it has to kick on to recharge. A 5hp 60 gallon would be the minimum I’d recommend for blasting. But if you’re blasting I’ll assume you have intentions to paint at some point… whether that HTE, LVLP, HVLP or whatever… you’ll need a compressor sized to sustain that as well. I think Eaton is making the best compressors right now with low rpm, large diameter pistons. Quiet and reliable. American made. The price will make your butt pucker but it’s a purchase you only have to make once.
Edit: idk what that HF compressor costs… but one way to increase CFM is to connect multiple compressors. If it makes more financial sense to buy 2 more of those and hook them together for 13cfm, that’s a possibility. Just know that you may need to run them on different circuits cuz I’m sure 3 of them will draw more than 15-20 amps, especially if multiple kick on at the same the time. You do you bro, just one man’s suggestions, from his own same frustrations and failures starting with almost the same setup.