Posted 2 hours ago

Sand blasting advice please.

I have some metal framed dining chairs that need stripping back. They are coated in something similar to powder coat, with an additional plastic clear top coat.
I've had quotes locally of blasting at £45 a chair. Now I have an air compressor and am considering giving it a go myself. So any recommendations for the type of gun and sand best to use, plus possible supplier.

Thanks
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  1. Roger_Irrelevant's avatar
    I've only done water sanding with a pressure washer and it was a faff.

    But you'll probably get away with kiln dried sand from a builders merchant, and you'll need some kind of tent cos it's very messy (kilograms of used sand mixed with unknown dried paint).

    Mask up well so you don't get silicosis. WD on them straight away.

    TBH unless you live on a big scruffy farm and can devote an area to it I'd just pay the professionals and enjoy the time/hassle saved.
    Mclwrth's avatar
    Yes, having done a fair bit of sand blasting, I would agree with that.

    If it’s mostly paint, I’d be looking at brush-on paint stripper, a blow torch or commercial acid dipping.
  2. badgerbrush's avatar
    Also bear in mind that unless your compressor is at least 14cfm output at 100 psi then you will only be able to run your blast gun in very short bursts .
  3. aLV426's avatar
    Would it not be cheaper to chemically strip the paint off? I guess if it powder coat that may no work nor a heat gun. What about an abrasion disk? If you need to mechanically remove the paint/coating then a drill with a metal brush might be the way to go.
    I have tall metal garden chairs that have wooden arm rest inserts. The amount of effort involved to keep those arm rests looking good just wan't worth it so I covered them with a "pool noodle". Does the job and took minutes to complete instead of days varnishing, sanding and varnishing again!
  4. hubcms's avatar
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    I've quite a large garden, where I could make a booth up, and an air compressor not far off the above mentioned spec.
    Time is only my own, however I had considered having them chemically dipped, but I couldn't find anywhere local to me.
    I tried Nitomorse and it didn't really touch it, along with a heat gun, and a wire brush on a drill. I did have a pad that attached to my grinder which was good, but bloody ardous and required about three pads a chair!
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