Fuel Tank "Blaster" Has Room For Big Parts

Fuel Tank "Blaster" Has Room For Big Parts FARM SHOP Tools 29-5-38 Marshall Litchfield, Macomb, Ill., used an old 300-gal. fuel tank to build a state-of-the-art sand blaster. "It works great and cost only about $100," says Litchfield. He cut out one end of the tank to make an access door and cut off the bottom of the tank to weld in a home-built metal hopper. A grate on top of the hopper serves as a table to work on and allows the sand to fall below for reuse. The tank is equipped with an air-powered blast gun that's pre-plumbed into a quick-tach air hose. A siphon hose runs from the gun down into the sand. When he pulls the trigger on the gun, sand is sucked up out of a bucket and blown out. A 12-volt fan mounts in a metal box at one end of the tank and removes dust during sand blasting. The fan is from an old furnace and so is the filter chamber. An ordinary furnace filter is used to remove dust and debris. A commercial air cleaner equalizes pressure inside the tank. A 4-ft. long fluorescent light mounts in a rectangular box on top of the tank. The light shines through a plexiglass window that Litchfield cut into the tank. Litchfield does quite a bit of work restoring antique tractors and says he needed a big sand blaster to work on light metal. "Commercial cabinet sandblasters aren't big enough to accommodate things like tractor fenders and hoods. We have a big sandblaster that's engine-driven that we use outside. However, it has such force that it can swell up light metal and warp it. With a smaller cabinet sand blaster there's less pressure and we can use a finer grit." To reduce the danger of an explosion when cutting the tank apart, he cleaned out the tank and then hooked up to the exhaust on his pickup to fill the tank with exhaust fumes. "The exhaust is non combustible," notes Litchfield. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Marshall Litchfield, 15495 N 700th Rd., Macomb, Ill. 61455 (ph 309 254-3481).

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