Knowing what air compressor to use for sandblasting is very confusing and there is a lot of information out there that makes it even worse! Wouldn’t You Agree? You may want to know which air compressor is right for sandblasting.
However, the question is not accurate and the more proper question would be what type of sandblasting are you going to be doing. In this brief article we will cover psi and cfm of air compressors and make things a little bit easier to understand.
What Kind Of Air Compressor For Sandblasting?
The best kinds of air compressors to have for sandblasting are higher cfm models.
For smaller sandblasting
Look for a compressor that can produce between 10 CFM – 20 CFM.
For a more powerful sandblasting experience
Look for a compressor that can produce between 18 CFM and 35 CFM.
For industrial type of sandblasting
Look for a compressor that can pump out 50 CFM – 100 CFM+.
CFM Requirements For Sandblasting
Like the above paragraph shows, the higher the CFM rating of the air compressor the better. Sandblasting is extremely demanding on the compressor.
You will need a lot of airflow constantly, especially if you want to eliminate stopping and letting the compressor catch up before you start sandblasting again.
The following chart gave a nice comparison of the CFM recommendations for specific PSI pressures and also had listed the size of the nozzle and the orifice used for the nozzle.
The different CFM comparison charts for sandblasting show different figures. The fact was that there was not one concise answer as far as how much CFM was needed at a specific pressure and they all were a little bit different.
The easiest way is to have a compressor that can pump out around 15 CFM, if you want to be able to continually run the sandblaster without having to stop and wait for the compressor to play “catch-up”.
What Kind Of PSI Do I Need?
The ideal PSI for running a sandblaster is 90 psi (in most cases) so having a look at the chart (above) we can see that the minimum CFM for an air compressor, using a small eighth inch nozzle is around 20 CFM, which is quite high.
Compressors that can produce that type of CFM output are usually pretty expensive.
The air tank will drain typically when sandblasting and you want to maintain a working PSI when sandblasting somewhere around 50 PSI to 90 PSI. If you drop below 50 PSI, there simply won’t be enough pressure to sufficiently take material off then you will have to stop and wait for the compressor to catch up before you can continue blasting.
