Sandblasting talk

I've been doing quite a bit of outdoor sandblasting of large car parst with an old Tip portable blaster that has a 90-lb. pot, and using 30-mesh sand as the abrasive medium. My compressor has 10 hp. and is connected to an 80-gallon air tank.

With the 30-mesh, I find that a 1/8" blasting tip is the smallest I can use without clogging (I'm using a small tip so I can blast longer before having to wait for the compressor to re-charge the tank).

I've found that if I regulate the pressure down to 80 lbs. at the blasting pot, it still works well, I can blast longer than by leaving it unregulated (around 120 lbs.) and I don't get that big, wasteful blast of air containing no sand when I first open the blast valve, the way I do when I run it unregulated at the pot.

I've assembled an HF blast cabinet but haven't used it yet because I want to "do the mods" first and haven't got a round tuit yet. It will be nice to start using the cabinet for blasting smaller stuff because I will then be able to re-use the media.

So please tell me your experiences and words of wisdom about sandblasting!

FWIW, I was ready to scrap my cabinet when I saw this and tried the mods. The metering valve being the best mod, I now just have a cup or two of media in the bottom of the cabinet. There are other videos of similar mods and I suggest watching them for ideas.