Opinions on Handheld Sandblasters?
While taking a stroll through the local Harbor Freight, I noticed they carry the same handheld sandblaster as several online shops, including Eastwood. It’s a 7 cfm @ 90 psi unit with an 18 oz. gravity feed hopper on sale for 30 bucks. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like 18 ounces of media would go very far and replacement nozzles are 11 dollars a pop.
Normally, I am quite wary of anything from Harbor Freight that involves moving parts, but I’ve been eyeballing one of these critters for quite some time. Anybody have opinions on handheld sandblasters or have an idea of which model is the best? Several well-known companies market handheld sandblasters, including Craftsman and Matco.
Posted: April 5th, 2008 under Tools, Restoration, General Interest, Classic Car.
Comments: 1
Comments
Comment from Bill Gauch
Time: April 7, 2008, 12:50 pm
I have no experience with the hand held blasters, but everything I read says that they are ineffective for all the reasons I am sure you are aware of like small quantities of media and the general poor results from gravity/suction feed guns. You can buy a 50 lb. capacity pressure blaster for a little more than a hundred bucks from Eastwood. It seems like a much better way to go. You still get a minimal capacity for media, but pressure blasters don’t have as high an air demand as the suction blaster so you don’t need a massive compressor.
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