Spot blasters

[Blobber]

Does anyone use one? are they a waste of time? are they as air hungry as normal blasting? ive got quite a few areas of pitted rust I need to deal with, not on me on the car

 

[droopsnoot]

I've got one which I'm using for exactly that purpose - pitted rust that needs to be cleaned out. It's doing the job, but slowly, though that might be down to my compressor as it's only a 50l tank. I'm not using the media that came with it - I got some other stuff for my blast nozzle and it seems to be better. The plastic "ends" that come with it are OK, but they don't seal properly against the panel so I cut a "washer" out of closed-cell foam which I hold between the tool and the panel to minimise escaping media. If I get round to it before I've finished the job, I ought to stick it in place. I may get back on to my job next week - it's been a bit warm for getting dressed up in the overalls, mask, goggles etc.

I got mine from Aldi for a tenner, so I hadn't much to lose in trying it.

 

[Blobber]

So is that the type with a pot a bit like a spray gun for the media? Is it that messy in use then?

 

[indy4x]

I've got the Aldi/Lidle jobbie, had it a few years now, doesn't get used much but it's a useful bit of kit

It has a pot to hold the blast media and there is a bag that collects the used media. Came with a selection of rubber nozzles to contain the media when you are blasting

You do get some sneaking past but not a huge amount as long as you get a good seal against what you are blasting

The last job it did was the front edge of the roof above the front screen on my D2

I had Autoglass booked in to change the screen and a few days before the were due I took out the trim strip from across the top of the glass, blasted the edge and painted it

 

[bricol]

I have an old one - Clarke I think - the nozzles are still flexible and seal well after 25 yrs plus. I am now using an Aldi version with those nozzles, as the Aldi ones are just too hard and inflexible to contain the media.

Use decent media and they work well - I have some fine stuff I bought cheap years ago. Works well at high pressures - less well at the suggested pressures on the box. I clean the worst off first so I get the most blasting for my quid of media.

 

[droopsnoot]

Yes, that sounds like the same issue I've had, the nozzles are more like plastic with very little give in them, as opposed to rubber that might actually seal. I'm very rarely blasting a panel that's actually flat, so the closed-cell foam takes up the gaps. That all but stops the media spraying all over the place, but you can see dust coming out through the fabric of the collection bag while you're blasting, that's what gets all round the place. I expect it has to do that in order to gather the media back into the bag - if it was a sealed bag it'd probably not work in the same way, perhaps it's just circulate the same media rather than allowing new through.

This is the one: https://www.aldi.co.uk/air-compressor-spot-blaster/p/085502245853301

 

[graffian]

I have an old one - Clarke I think - the nozzles are still flexible and seal well after 25 yrs plus. I am now using an Aldi version with those nozzles, as the Aldi ones are just too hard and inflexible to contain the media.

Use decent media and they work well - I have some fine stuff I bought cheap years ago. Works well at high pressures - less well at the suggested pressures on the box. I clean the worst off first so I get the most blasting for my quid of media.

Mine is getting on a bit, it's a Swedish thing made by 'Lectorstatic'? Nope I hadn't heard of them either.
I hadn't tried it, thought it was like the Ronco things on telly. Yes I was given it for Christmas.
I was explaining to a mate what it was meant to do and he asked to borrowed it.
He had a 58 Fairlane, the proverbial new car from the front, but the back half had been bare metalled. It had been bare metalled
before being left outside to rust!
I went round to his brothers a few weeks after lending him the spot blaster, the back half of the Fairlane was clean bare metal!
So they do work and I started and still use it as a spot blaster whenever it's needed.

With the bits that make it a spot blaster removed it works as a bead blasting gun, I have it in blue drum I use for blasting.

I haven't used the media that came with it, Geoff bought a 50lb bag of aluminium oxide and I use that.

Someone who saw Geoff's Fairlane went and bought a snap on spot blaster. I never took a lot of notice of it, but gather it was much better
than the thing I have. It looked like an upright vacuum cleaner with the vacuum cleaner hose surrounding the blasting bit.

 

[dave h 2]

All you need to do is wear a glove and make a fist like someone stole your broom handle.
They tend to choke up and need the feed tube restricted.