[ratherberacin]

I am mainly a portable blaster so I buy my media in 50lb bags 55bags/pallet it makes for easy handling and storage but my bottom line hurts when I know I can buy bulk bags a lot cheaper. my issue with bulk is I have no forklift for moving so it would be a hand bomb job. Also another problem is moving it to my worksite.


anybody figured out a easier way to do this?

 

[Blast Off]

You could buy in bulk and use 5 gallon pails for transport.

I did not see much of a price difference between bagged and bulk, maybe 2-5%. The up charge covers the cost of convenience and double handling in my opinion.

 

[blastserv]

Pretty much the easiest method is to manage the bags one at a time if you haven't a storage space yet...one member has a bulk container on top of his pot that is custom built into the back of a flat deck truck. It is really nice but from a standpoint of still needing to get the media in there, your supplier would have to load it for you.
My opinion is ...it all is a slippery slope and once you obtain the first thing you need it leads to 5 more steps down the line that needs to be handled. A forklift is almost mandatory equipment for this line of work. I would own one of those before I owned a lot of things...

 

[blastserv]

You could buy in bulk and use 5 gallon pails for transport.

I did not see much of a price difference between bagged and bulk, maybe 2-5%. The up charge covers the cost of convenience and double handling in my opinion.

From the suppliers I get materials from it is a good bit different in bulk...
Black beauty is $75 less a pallet in 100lbs sacks verse 50lb
I very rarely buy black beauty in a bulk bag due needing a lull on a job site to load....
Star blast is $200 ish less in a 4000 lb bulk bag verse 80 50lb bags...

That's a lot of cash in my opinion and we just go home sore....lol

 

[Blast Off]

My bad, rechecked my Black Beauty price and there is approximately 20% savings going from 50# bags to 3000# sacks.

 

[unimog1300]

I'm new to all of this and have tons to learn. I have bought a new Geoblaster and starting to get my trailer set up in the next week or so.

This was one of the issues I was asking myself too. I hate handling stuff more than once if it can be avoided. I was looking for a method to move the abrasive using air since it's readily available to us. My original thought was finding a way to pick up the abrasive after a job and put it drums for disposal if required. I found a product called an air conveyor from Exair that uses compressed air to create a vacuum. I talked with the company and described my application and they said it should work as I described it for picking up damp abrasive. They also offer a 30 day return if it doesn't work for your application. I don't remember the model number we talked about but the "kit" with hose was like $750. They move ball bearings and rock salt with these things.

I was going to vac up the abrasive into a drum and then I could swap the ends of the hose a suck it out of the drum to where I needed it to be dumped. I now am thinking I would do this to load the buckets you would use for a super sack. Sure would be back saver. I'm giving it serious thought. They are available on Ebay from other sellers although I doubt they have 30 day return if it doesn't work.


http://www.exair.com/pages/theater.aspx?gi=4001&dlg=1&gf=Air+Operated+Conveyors

 

[blastserv]

I'm new to all of this and have tons to learn. I have bought a new Geoblaster and starting to get my trailer set up in the next week or so.

This was one of the issues I was asking myself too. I hate handling stuff more than once if it can be avoided. I was looking for a method to move the abrasive using air since it's readily available to us. My original thought was finding a way to pick up the abrasive after a job and put it drums for disposal if required. I found a product called an air conveyor from Exair that uses compressed air to create a vacuum. I talked with the company and described my application and they said it should work as I described it for picking up damp abrasive. They also offer a 30 day return if it doesn't work for your application. I don't remember the model number we talked about but the "kit" with hose was like $750. They move ball bearings and rock salt with these things.

I was going to vac up the abrasive into a drum and then I could swap the ends of the hose a suck it out of the drum to where I needed it to be dumped. I now am thinking I would do this to load the buckets you would use for a super sack. Sure would be back saver. I'm giving it serious thought. They are available on Ebay from other sellers although I doubt they have 30 day return if it doesn't work.


http://www.exair.com/pages/theater.aspx?gi=4001&dlg=1&gf=Air+Operated+Conveyors

I'm not going to try and kill a sale for Exair but I am going to try and save you some cash and headache...that won't work.

I use a Hafcovac dual Venturi vacuum head designed for a 55gallon drum stuck on top of a stainless vessel that I clean up up my media daily with and it wouldn't do anything for wet or damp media. This is in fact the hitch in the wet blasting industry.

 

[unimog1300]

Like I said I have lots to learn. The type of vac you use was my first thought but there wasn't any way to remove the abrasive from the drum by air power. I have a dual venturi Tornado brand I can get new in the box for under $900. 25 HP and 125 cfm air required. I haven't bought anything yet but the Exair applications engineer I talked to said their unit should work for my application. If I buy one and it doesn't work I can send it back for a refund. If I buy one I'll post back here what happens.

 

[Sand Pot]

I go get my media locally with my F350 pickup. If its a bulk sack with the lift loops I pick it up off the truck with an overhead chain hoist in my shop and drive the truck out from under. With the bulk sack hanging in the air I position a large plastic pallet tote under the bag and open up the bottom allowing the sand to dump into the tote. From there I move the tote around with a pallet jack and dip media out of it with buckets as needed, pouring the media into the pot from the buckets. Its a lot easier dipping media with a bucket from an open tote than from the top opening of a sack.

If I buy bagged media I run lift straps through the openings of the pallet and again lift it off the truck with my hoist, pull the truck out and set the pallet on the floor which I also move around with the pallet jack.

In other words, I should buy buy a forklift!! (but the system actually works reasonably well)

 

[Betterblast]

I have not had super sacks around for a while. When I did I had them delivered with a lift gate service. It cost a little extra but I would bet at least two so still save. I would move them with a floor jack and use a two gallon bucket, a strong one just like the five gallon buckets, to scoop it out of the sack and fill the five gallon buckets. I would cut the top down as I went to make it easier because I don't have the cool toys Bob has. For clean up at the shop I shovel in to five gallon buckets with a kitchen trash bag in it. The bags just hold it together as it goes in the dumpster. I don't think you could use an air stream to fill buckets. It would just be a dust storm.