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I was self employed as a sandblaster and also had waterblast equipment. I stopped doing other people's rolling equipment and antique vehicles after a couple of years. The money is in square footage of anything and quoted/billed by the square foot. This usually means governmental or industrial contracts. To get high production rates, I used all the air a 750 CFM compressor would deliver. We're talking about 5/8" to 3/4" sandblast nozzles and 7 to 20 ton blasting pots. My truck also had a 50 hp Cat pump driven off the front of the DT 466. I have waterblasted paint from ceder shingles and the saw marks were still visible. In other words, no erosion. That didn't always happen. Each substate and surface coating combination is different. Results are frequently unknowable until a test sample is done. Samples can be done with small equipment and multiplied by some factor to determine production rates with the bigger equipment. Generally speaking, bigger nozzles will provide a more uniform appearance on the cleaned substrate. Big doesn't mean destructive. It means faster. An operator will soon learn how to control and distance the nozzle to achieve the best results. Most of the 45 hp and up high pressure triplex pumps are trailer mounted and are available for rent at a good contractor rental outlet. I have a couple of big pumps that can be had very cheaply. These are the kind of pumps that Halliburton uses in my area to clean boiler tubes in power plants. Input hp is probably around 200-250. They can be run slower to make the GPM manageable for hand held operations. Email me and I will take some pictures. A word of caution here. If you use high powered equipment, DON'T hire someone to run it. Your help will get injured and OSHA will have a field day.
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