10 Cubic Foot Blast Pot

blastserv

I am growing my business and becoming very tired of purging the air form my pot and reloading every 1.5-2 hours.i have thought the only way to become more efficient (time,fuel,and consumables) is to purchase a large enough pot to blast all day in my shop without stopping.i will be keeping my surface tek pot for my mobile jobs because it is very handy for the size but it is super expensive for the wear items and too small.

does anyone have any REAL experience with clemco brand and their sand valves?i am curious what wears and what is the cost of upkeep?

my current air supply is a 185cfm airman and i plan to use a electric remote...maybe some can lend some exper. on what is good and what is bad as far as remotes also.

thanks in advance for the comments and help...

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wesschaff

I have a 600 lb Clemco pot for sale its a contractor series complete-call me at 973-885-8036 for info.Clemco has no problems with new generation of valves i use a 1.5 weekly for years with no replacements needed.

blastserv

wes, a 600 pound pot is big but i want to work all day and not stop...i think what you have would just double my blast time wich if i am gonna spend some money i want a bigger increase.

how long can that pot blast for in your past experience?

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painter213

A 600 pound pot with medium abrasive will last around 20 to 30 minutes. If you want to save a little more, you could make a pot last 45 minutes. If you are wanting to blast all day without filling up, then get you a six ton Canned Sand. You will also need a hopper to hold your abrasive. You will have to get your abrasive in bulk form as well. If you have a good fork lift, you could opt for the 4,000 pound bladder bags to fill the pot with at the end of the day. The last time I priced a six ton blast pot, I think they were priced around $18,000.00. For a pot that big you will need at least a 450 CFM Air Compressor to be able to keep the pot pressurized while blasting. Check out my pictures in my Album. I have a picture of a Bulk Blast Pot that I built about three years ago. It has five outlets on it and it held about 36 ton of abrasive. We mostly used Dupont Starblast to blast at the shop. We could blast for about two days before filling up.

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Benny Abbott
Abbott Consulting and Coating Inspections
E-Mail: babbott@abbottcoatinginspections.com
Phone: (205-717-0292)

blastserv

great response benny...i am very ready to move the business to my next level and doing so means spending a little time educating myself and you sound like you can help...maybe the current pot i am using(2.5 cuft) is lasting a long time because i am on and off the deadman quite a bit? i am not blasting walls of nothing but flat surfaces like on the tanks in your gallery. i am blasting tons of little odd ball things ,autos,and whatever peolpe bring me. is this why my pot is lasting longer than it should based on everyone ones figures(pounds of media/ length of time blasting).

it sure seems like if i can put 6 bags of starblast in my pot and blast for a good hour and a half that if i went to 20 cubic ft pot that should hold 20 bags of star blast i should be able to work for at least 3/4 day????

if i kept all the same length hose and maybe even a little shorter and still used a 5/16 (no.5) blast nozzle why would i need more cfm if i plan on staying by myself in my booth?the r ton blast pot needs more air to operate?i have looked around at some 6 ton and 8 ton skid mount units and they are getting cheaper by the week.

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painter213

With a 185 CFM air compressor hooked up to a 6 or 8 ton pot, it would take a long time to pressurize the pot. The first time I used a 6 ton pot, I used a Ingersoll-Rand 375 and it took about a half hour just to pressurize it and once I started blasting my pressure would slowly drop off. I was using a number seven nozzle I believe. This was a long time ago. I have been using starblast since around 1992. It is a very good abrasive for blasting new steel or doing spot blasting on painted surfaces. A Clemco 600 pound pot will hold about 800 pound worth if my memory serves me correctly. Since then I have mostly used Bulk pots with starblast. Give me a call anytime. (205-717-0292)

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Benny Abbott
Abbott Consulting and Coating Inspections
E-Mail: babbott@abbottcoatinginspections.com
Phone: (205-717-0292)

gran_national

I'm in the middle of winter and don't know if I'd want to be blasting right now. I guess FL is a good location for a blasting business. Water all around to make stuff rust and warm weather all year long. It's great to hear how things are going blastserv!! I was thinking things would pick up for the blasting industry since people don't have money to buy new, so they'll just pay to have old stuff re-done.

Blastserv, how do you advertise and to whom?

blastserv

gran national, i am in the tampa bay area ..on the gulf side of the bay so yea i see some corrosion.lots of annoying patio furniture and such.i am also doing lots of autos and parts.i was a snap-on dealer for ten years and have quite a few friends in the business that trust that i will do what i say.also i have a great web designer that somehow got me on the very top of the google page in my area and it is working...i am not super covered up but i am getting all kinds of calls from my web site more than the old way of the phone book.as far as the redoing all your old because of lack of funds ...well that was my thinking 1 year ago or longer when i started this though and it will even be worse in the months to come so hopefully i will see the benefit of all my efforts even more.

as far as winter well it is maybe 75 degrees outside and sunny all day long...by the way,the wife and i were talking the other day, we could not figure out why people live where it snows as much as it does up north.i guess it is why florida is so full of people...

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killzoneq2

Blastserv what kind of dead man are you using?

blastserv

it is electric.i beleive it is a marco switch just band clamped to my blast hose...pretty spoiled now i dont beleive i will ever use a pneumatic.

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gran_national

I love the snow. I have 2 snowmobiles and have to travel to NY to even use them. Now that I got into blasting, the fact that they have to spread salt on the roads is better for business too

blastserv

i hear you and i was just gloating...i love the snow too.good point on the blasting angle also

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Blast&Coat

Blastserv, I am very new to this industry and have been doing nothing but learning the past 6 months. I was just wondering how much work you do onsite. I have a surface tech blaster as well and am looking to maximize the amount of work I can do with it.
We also have a mobile powder coating device we use an many tings right afer we blast them. We do not have a shop per say but I might explore the idea of having it in addtion to our mobile unit if it is work it from a business standpoint.
In addition to what kinda of jobs you do on site, how do you price things such as car bodies, boat hulls, etc?
Thanks for your help.

gran_national

Tell us a little more about the mobile powder coating setup. I assume you have some type of oven for that??

CO2Solutions

silly question, at least for you guys BUT how much media does a 1.5 cubic foot pot hold? I know the answer will change a little depending on the media etc.
If filled with lets say glass, how long blasting time? (once again, I know answer will depend on certain factors but just looking for a general answer)

thanks...

mike

painter213

It will hold about 1.5 Cu. Ft. of Abrasive. Or 150 pound of Sand.

__________________
Benny Abbott
Abbott Consulting and Coating Inspections
E-Mail: babbott@abbottcoatinginspections.com
Phone: (205-717-0292)

blastserv

well for instance...the 2.5 cf pot i run will hold 3 bags of 50lb soda and 6 bags of 50lb starblast.it all depends on the actual size of the media.soda is apparently very large in size or has lots of air between crystals...

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blastserv

sorry for some reason i didnt see your question way back when you posted...
i am doing very little on site work.i am bidding lots but getting few jobs.most of the work i have been doing lately is in my booth and is auto related.kinda slow this month though.
the 2.5 cf pot is very easliy moved on and off my truck and still will fit in doorways for mobile work and is a really good unti in my opinion but has a few flaws.one of wich is the wear time on the tips and chambers due to the company making them out of case hardened mteal instead of through hardening them...i am working on that though.

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