Date:         Sun, 03 Mar 1996 09:05:14 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Thom Fitzpatrick <thom@calweb.com>
Subject:      Sandblasting - The next generation

Ok, so I learned first hand what a mess sandblasting can make.  I have sand
in the furthest reaches of the garage.  I have sand in body cavities I
thought were 1-way only.  Not to get clinical, but I'm going to recommed my
proctologist (Dr. Ternyerheadnkov) wear _leather_ gloves.

So, now that I've realised that sand does not live only in 2-dimensional
space, and can actually rise above the plane of the neatly visquined garage
floor (gotta protect that concrete!) I stapled the visquine around the walls
and to the shelves, making a "curtain" all the way around the garage.
Worked much better.

My friend Dean came over to see who the project was progressing, and asked
me what I'd been using for protection, to which I instinctively replied
"Trojans."  I didn't realise he mean the sandblasting hood and gloves.  D'oh!

The blaster works good, but is tempermental.  I thought I'd run out of sand,
so I'd swept it all up and filtered it, but I didn't have that much!  Taking
into account the losses mentioned above, I still had sand un-accounted for.
It was still in the blaster!  I hadn't run out of sand, but just clogged it
up!  So then I had the fun of trying to figure out how to un-clog it.  I
took the hose off and the nozzle, and drained the hose.  Quite a bit of sand
in it!  It seemed that the nozzle was pluuging up, and backing up the entire
hose.  The "sand metering valve" also seems to be causing some problems.  I
think that by replacing those two components with better versions wil yield
a usuable blaster.  The nozzle is $110, and I don't know how much the valve
will be.

The other disappointment with this blasting unit is that the 3rd leg, (it
has 2 wheels and a leg, which sticks out at an angle) which just slips on
and is held on with a cotter pin, has become quite flaccid, and I don't
think it can hold the tank up much longer.  I think they should have made
this part a bit beefier, even if they would have had to ship the unit in a
bigger box.

I wonder, if after I've made all the "improvements" to this unit, if I'll be
somewhere around the price of the primo $400 unit. (That was at a place
'round here called the "Air Tool Store," a neat place where you can go broke
quickly!)

So, the next plan is to "customize" the visquine to the size of the garage.
I'm going to get some PVC and bicycle hooks and devise a system where I can
roll the plastic up to the ceiling when I'm done.
Thom Fitzpatrick
thom@calweb.com - http://www.calweb.com/~thom
Keeper of the Barndoor Bus Web Page: http://www.calweb.com/~thom/barndoor.html