Consumption rate?

I'll be renting a Sullair 185 CFM diesel powered compressor and a Schmidt 100A or 300A Pressure Pot to clean some equipment trailers I have. My question is how much media can I expect to use?

I live in a remote area and I'll be blasting outdoors. These are equipment trailers, 4 total. One is a 22' tri axle gooseneck w/ steel deck, the other an 18' tri axle bumper pull w/ steel deck, another is an 18' tandem axle with an oak deck (removeable), and the last is my little 4'x6' single axle utility trailer with expanded metal (mesh) deck. The tree bigger trailers range in width from 6' on up to almost 7'.

The 18' bumper pull is really rusty w/ some areas showing significant corrosion. I will be welding "patches" in as well as whole new hanger kit for the axles.

The gooseneck is in really decent shape with most of the original paint on it but some light surface rust.

The 18' tandem is in excellent shape but showing signs of rust beginning. The owner wants it shot though and repainted while I'm doing my trailers.

I'm trying to get a rough estimiate as to how much sand I can expect to go through. For all the safety gurus out there, I will be using a pressurized hood.

Thanks in advance for any help and let me know if I need to provide any additional info.

Phil

Wow, lots of work it sounds like. Where in Ohio? I'll have to bring my wrecker up for you to work on hah. If you could let us know how it went that would be great. I have some blasting I need to do and have not done any work with a pressure pot as of yet.

We jokingly refer to it as "Carroll-tucky". I'm in Carroll county up near, well nothing. I will post before and after pics. I'm not expecting to get started for another month at least.

Can anyone help? I found one article so far that mentioned something along the lines of 350 grams/sq. meter. That comes out to about 3/4 lb./10 sq. ft. I figure I've got about 500-600 sq. ft. on the bigger trailers so I'm looking at ~50 lbs. per trailer.

Does this sound reasonable?

I checked local hardware store and they have black beauty for $7.75 for 50 lbs. This seems to "cheap" to me. I have to be doing something wrong.

Well it also depends on nozzle size. There is no way 50lbs will do a trailer. At least 200lbs for the small one. Have you looked on www.metalmeet.com ? They are a good bunch of guys too.

Ha! I found it!

Thanks for the lik by the way Gimpy! Very cool site.

Check this out...
http://everblast.com/privacy/privacy_policy.html

Looks like you were spot on. With a 3/16" nozzle at 100 psi & 45 cfm they're saying I need 264 lbs. of media for 1 hour. Sweet!

Hey, thats pretty cool. I have it saved to my favorites already!

I use a sandblaster for my business, carving monuments...........
I'd say your 264 lbs/hr., is pretty darn close, 3/16 nozzle, but, I'd say the cfm is way off..........I'd say you'll use 80 to 90 cfm, maybe a little higher..........
and remember, the nozzle wears as you use it, so, will increase in diameter with time and require more cfm's......again, your compressor is plenty big, but, you may need to adjust sand flow as the nozzle enlarges, to get the fastest cutting..........
That wont matter to the compressor you're getting. Good call, can't have to much air.........

Time for sandblasing is very subjective..........there are many variables, like paint thickness, rust thickness, type of paint, metal, primer.........inside corners that are sharp are harder to clean............How clean do you want it,
your technique, patience..........tolerance for hot, dusty work.........
It sounds like you have many hours of sandblasting there...........

There is much debate as to which blast media is best, and for what.........
If you're outside, using a pressure hood, and, not worried about the dust and others breathing it, pure silica sand it the fastest for the price. Some cut faster, but, are more expensive...........Garnet is very good, black beauty (copper slag) is good, too. River wash sand will work, but, depending on mineral content, can be quite slow. it's best to have a 'sharp' media, something crushed, and/or, heavy.
If you can set up a curtain system to catch some of the sand on a slab, you can screen and re-use the media a few times..........but, it has to be dry.

Also:
sandblasted metal oxidizes very fast. And, primer sticks to fresh, unoxidized metal very, very good.
Aluminum only allows you a few minutes before it has it initial oxidation, steel and iron maybe an hour.....all depending on heat and humidity.............
But, don't let the steel or iron sit overnight, especially if it's very humid, or, large temp swings. It'll get a visible coat of rust in that time........you can still paint it, of course, but, I'd guess you'd want to use a different primer.
Note: I'm no expert on paint, but, I do sandblast a lot......and have for years.........and know what the paint guys want and say when I agree to do a job, say, on a motorcycle frame for a custom bike........

How's that for babbling?........

If I can help, please let me know.

Of course, other opinions may vary, and, so may your results...........

good luck,
Henry