K'archer Wet Sand Blasting: a review (sort of)

[gerg 10,871]

Just forked out $127 for a sand blasting attachment for my domestic model Karcher washer. I was apprehensive at first but I'm quite chuffed at the result so far (ok it was only half an hour usage). I tested it on a grubby snowflake that had some serious brake dust impregnated into it. I tried soap, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda and it just laughed at all of them. Mechanical means was the only option left to resurrect this set of classic rims.

 

Here are some visuals:

 

Back side:

 

First, some good points:

- unexpectedly good performance on alloy casting

- relatively clean compared to air blasting

- it's as portable as your pressure washer is.

- if doing small jobs, it's much more cost effective than outlaying for a massive air sandblasting rig.

- water keeps things cool.

 

Ok some bad points:

- a lot of money for basically a venturi attachment to a Karcher tip with a bit of cheap nylon hose to suck sand.

- the hose coils up and pulls the suction tip out of the bucket

- you get wet... A lot.

- you'll go through quite a bit of sand: count on a 10 litre bucket for each wheel.

 

I'll post some end-product pics when done.

[GspecZL 979]

very interesting. Did a pretty good job on that snowie. Good review.

[deankxf 20,266]

interesting.. Zip ties would be your friend regarding the hose coiling? or duck tape it to a stick?

 

how would it go on car panel? i bought a super cheap air blaster and garnet.. didnt do much on what i tried for the effort(will be handy for places the flap wheel wont fit though.)

[n00bus m@x1mus 465]

Cool and so does it matter if the blast grit gets wet?? How does it pull it up the hose?

[Gav 616]

Seen a wet blasting technique video on YouTube where a guy strips some Yankee iron (whole car) in around an hour...looked good from the point of view that the airborne mess was reduced..lots of wet sand to clean up afterwards. I suppose at least with dry blasting you can re-use the media as quickly as you can sweep it up. Can you dry and re-use the blast media with this technique?

 

I guess there are pros and cons with each method. Start-up costs would be higher for dry blasting and containment is an issue. You don't get wet...but you get filthy! Can you use different blast media to give different results..is there any point? 

 

What kind of finish did it leave on the machined surfaces of the wheel?

[steve mcqueen 1,796]

perfect for cleaning wheels, the snowies seem to come up well.

Did it only remove the brake dust?

How about loose paint?

 

Will it work on a car panel, remove paint bare metal?

 

Something you wouldn't do whilst the panel is still on the car due to the use of water, bare metal and water   but say "you had to do a guard" whilst it was off the car?

 

Thanks for sharing your finds.

['Nova 997]

Whoa thats an impresive result! Do you have any links or photos to the unit? Its cheap for what it does IMHO!

[gerg 10,871]

I'll take some pics of it when I get home today. I was running out of light yesterday.

 

You have to use dry sand, as it won't pull clumps through the hose. There's nothing stopping you drying out the sand and re-using it, in fact I'd say it's safer than re-using air blaster sand because the smaller dust particles get washed away but the larger ones remain.

 

I asked the bloke what happens when the tip wears out and he said he didn't think it was replaceable, but looking at the design, it works differently from an air blaster tip in that the outlet is quite wide, and I don't think the sand actually touches it once it hits the water stream.

 

I reckon garnet will work better, but I only used river sand. I looked pretty silly digging around my little bloke's tractors and trucks in his sandpit trying to find a decent amount of dry sand.... Things we do for our hobby!

[gerg 10,871]

It seems to struggle a bit with getting paint out of little nooks, and snowies have plenty of them. I'd take a guess and say it has about 2/3 the power of a good air blasting setup. I think you just have to take your time, and bank on about an hour per wheel. Simpler designs may well take less.

I'm painting these gold so I'm not too concerned about surface finish, just wanted flaky paint and brake dust gone.

 

The machined surface wasn't that affected by it, but it will need a polish regardless. It would mostly depend on what media you use: garnet would definitely knock it around more.

[gerg 10,871]

 

One down, three to go...

[Thom 6,650]

Don't forget about the small patch under the wheel weight

[revhead 1,392]

that looks smick

[gerg 10,871]

Don't forget about the small patch under the wheel weight

 

Yeah I thought about that but I'm polishing the rim part anyway and painting the spokes gold, ESP style.

[gerg 10,871]

The attachment:

 

[gerg 10,871]

Ok last post.

 

Complete before and after:

[Thom 6,650]

Fuck, improvement or what, not a bad little setup there, nice snowies are nice

[GspecZL 979]

Looks awesome. Defintly worth thinking about if you have a Karcher.

Wagon looks good to! Thoms right nice snowies look nice. But filthy ones make me think of shitty E series bombs.

[Campo 869]

Wonder if they work with other high pressure washers?

[gerg 10,871]

Wonder if they work with other high pressure washers?

 

The tip is removable from the Karcher attachment, and I'm pretty sure it's a standard pressure washer fitting

[SPArKy_Dave 8,863]

What gold paint did you end up using?

[gerg 10,871]

What gold paint did you end up using?

 

Just a generic one called "Super Gold". Mind you it wasn't cheap. It actually oxidized very quickly to a dull bronze even after clear coating so next time I'll use the right one and make sure it's an automotive type paint.

[tpak addict 1,909]

I seen a video and they used spray on paint stripper and a hose....

 

found it.....