Recommended Steel Ball Valves for Pressure Pot Sandblasting

If you use a pressure pot sandblaster to etch glass or sandcarve like I do, you may realize the ball valves have to occasionally be replaced.

The pressure pot system typically has up to four ball valves or more, but only the below two require replacement the most often because they come in contact with abrasive:

Abrasive Metering Ball Valve

Abrasive Metering Valve– this valve is directly below the tank holding the abrasive and pressurized air. It is used to adjust the abrasive to air ratio and shut off the abrasive from filling up the hose.

Hose Shut-off Valve

Hose Shut-off Valve– this is located on the end of the blast hose just before the nozzle to control the on/off release of the abrasive.

Steel Replacement Valves

Since those valves wear off quickly, most folks (including myself when I started this hobby) would simply replace these with the brass ball valves because they were readily available in local stores.

Eventually, using the brass valves became quite annoying because they worn out quick and I would just have to replace it again a few weeks later. This takes time and effort when I would rather be blasting.

Since brass is a soft metal, the abrasive always tended to tunnel a small hole on the side of the valve and abrasive would shoot all over my garage.

My recommendation is to just use a better steel valve for these high-abrasive areas. Even though they are a little more expensive, they may save you money in the long run. Plus they should reduce the amount of times you will have to stop what you’re blasting to fix it.

Ordering Steel Valves

We now offer these steel valves on Amazon here and they will be shipped to your door. It is always a good idea to have a backup on hand for when another valve needs to be replaced.

Steel Valve with Nozzle Tip

As you may know, we also offer a several popular steel nozzles with the steel ball valve. Options vary from a regular ceramic tip, to one with a boron carbide or ROCTEC tip.