You may be thinking to yourself, “My pressure washer alone isn’t really getting all of the dirt off.” So, what are your next options? What other adaptions may help? You may have heard of a sandblaster and wondered if it may be helpful.
A sandblaster incorporates sand into the water system, which helps to scrape off caked on dirt and grime from the sides of your home. It can reach up to 2500 PSI. There are also sandblasters that blast sand out of an air-pressured power gun at a phenomenal rate of speed.
For your desired project, it may work best for you to have a pressure washer sandblaster, but you might still have more questions. This article is perfect for you, so keep reading to learn more!
How to Turn a Pressure Washer into a Sandblaster
Basically, what you’re going to do to your pressure washer is add a sandblasting element to your existing washer in order to feed sand through the tubing to add alongside the water. Most kits consist of tubing, a wand, and then an attachment that connecting to your pressure washer gun that helps feed the sand alongside the water instead of running through the entire pressure washer. The thing about sand is that it is abrasive, which can ruin the tubing and pumping of a pressure washer, which will decrease the longevity and overall use of the pressure washer over time.
What to Use a Sandblaster For
Here’s the thing about sandblasters, they’re best known for the abrasive qualities for a reason. They quite literally tear off anything that is stuck, painted, or caked on. Sandblasters shouldn’t be used on your cars or anything that is only looking to be cleaned because it will rip the paint off. It’s similar to how sugar scrubs work to get dead skin cells off of the body. Sandblasters are designed to peel off paint, years’ worth of dirt and filth, and anything that is looking to be harshly scraped off. Sandblasters shouldn’t be used for simple recreational purposes, but for extremely difficult things such as cleaning the houses, getting new tires cleaned off, or maybe repurposing something old so that it can get a new paint job.
What Kind of Sand is Best
It’s definitely best to not use just regular sand, as it can be more abrasive than having something manufactured to fit into the sandblaster. If you were to put regular sand into it, it may bore a hole through the project you’re working on if you focus on a spot too long. Some sand blaster kits are different, so it entirely depends on what sandblaster you purchased and what sand it needs. In most cases, what you’ll be using is either dry silica sand, baking soda or washed and dried river sand for your attachment. They’re used for tough projects, so just keep in mind what the sand is being used for and on what.
What is the Difference Between a Wet and Dry Sandblaster
They are fairly self-explanatory, in the sense that wet sandblasters use wet sand. Pressure washer sandblasters require extra tubing to feed the sand, or other abrasive media, alongside the water in order to have both of the properties to clean tough projects. The water mixed with sand can be super helpful when softening while also scrubbing the grime off of the project. Dry sandblasting is just high pressured sand coming out of the spray gun. Dry sand is far more abrasive, so it’s primarily used for extremely difficult projects such as cleaning graffiti off of walls, removing rust, and such other hard projects that require a bit mor elbow grease.
Can the Sand be Reused
More often than not, it’s best to avoid reusing materials once you’re done cleaning. The best part about sand is that it is a fairly cheap media to purchase, so don’t worry about trying to reuse it for future projects. It’s actually discouraged to reuse sand. Especially if you’re using baking soda, don’t worry about trying to recollect it after cleaning. However, some materials that often reused are garnet, glass bead, as well as steel shot. It just depends on what materials you’re using to clean and what you’re cleaning.
Best Sandblasting Kits Available
Tool Daily Pressure Washer Sandblasting Kit
As can be found on Amazon, with over 200 reviews and 3.9 out of 5 stars, this sand blaster is great for tough projects that require more than just water. As stated earlier, this is a suction fed implement for pressure washers. It can get up to 2500 PSI, and works well with baking soda, silica, as well as washed and dried river sand. This sand blaster is perfect for getting off graffiti, rust, as well as baked on grease.
Tool Daily Pressure Washer Sandblasting Kit (Orifice 3.5)
Another great option that can be found on Amazon, having almost 700 reviews with 4 out of 5 stars, this is a great wet sandblaster attachment. The minimum pressure provided is 3000 PSI, which is excellent for the worst kinds of projects. Again, great for graffiti and rust, but not great for cars as it will likely remove the paint with ease. You can add whatever kind of sand or abrasive material you need in order to clean your project, depending on what type of cleaning needs to be done.
Angela&Alex Pressure Washer Sandblasting Kit, 5000 PSI Wet Sandblaster Attachment
Amazon is a treasure trove for finding what you need, and this is another affordable option found on Amazon. The great thing about these attachments is that they are affordable. It has over 500 reviews and a 3.9 out of 5 star rating. What is great about this attachment is that it comes with a 16″ pressure washer wand (water input), 15 3/4″ sand wand(sand input), a goggle, 4 hose clamps, 4 ceramic nozzles, and 2 rubber bands, as stated on the website. Considering the pricing for all of the elements you get, this is a great option for cleaning.