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I am thinking of upgrading my current siphon system to a pressure pot system. Obviously none of the industry have any clue about requirements for sandblasting pipes, they are mostly dealing with metal parts etc. So any advice on what I should be looking at as far as pressure requirements, nozzle types etc? I'd rather not spend a fortune messing around with different stuff as the guns and parts are quite expensive.

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Mike Butera uses a pressure pot, if you can get in touch with him.

So, my setup is not really professionaly assembled (besides the cabinet), from a technical point of view, but I try to make it work.

I set my pressure gage on the cabinet to max, which is 6 bar (my compressor theoretically pumps higher than that, the needle can go about one unit further, but I just leave it at 6) and use 0,8-1,5mm nozzles (some type of carbide, I need to check that). While blasting the pressure gage show about 4,5-6bar, depending on how full my compressor is. Obviously it works much better in the higher range...

The key is dry and clean abrasive, in my experience it influences the flow and air/abrasive ratio a lot on small nozzles...

Also the shape of the intake of air/abrasive mix from the pot can also be made in different shapes, not sure which one is more effective- I actually simplified the one on my blaster and just left the tube plain open (less clogging, better intake, easier to clean when a piece of bark gets stuck in there).

I think there are ways (or just better equipment) that give better control of the air/abrasive ratio, but I've never used one...

Hope that helps!

I'm interested in this too. We used a preasure pot system for spraying lacquer in my piano rebuilding shop for a while, and worked much better than the syphon system we were using before it. Lots more control and consistency in the flow.

I found this basic introduction to the two systems interesting, although certainly not specific to our application:
http://azglassclasses.com/Reference/SiphonVsPressure/
Sounds like a cool project... Keep us posted, Chris!

There is really no black magic with a pressure pot. The whole idea is more abrasive out the nozzle with a more consistent flow. Also, a slightly smaller compressor can be possibly used. What you have to do is find the correct pressure settings and nozzle sizes to give you the results you want.
Down side: having to refill the pot.
Moisture is a big enemy here. Water removal filtration is a MUST!
If you are a D-I-Y person here is an interesting web site: http://www.sandblasterinfo.com. This guys has down-loadable plans (accepts PayPal) to build two different size pressure pots using a standard BBQ grill propane tank or (if you are into grain chasing) a propane torch bottle for a mini-blaster.

Bumping this topic since I recently bought a pressure pot to add to my cabinet and I am having, umm fun shall we say getting thing running right.