Many people use a sandblaster to remove old paint off of outdoor furniture, car parts, industrial machinery, etc. so that it can be repainted.
At times, you may realize that the part has many coats of paint or has a very thick or durable paint. Even sandblasting may struggle to get this type of paint off. Here are 4 different solutions that can help you sandblast thick paint off:
1. Combine a Paint Stripper with Sandblasting
Since sandblasting will often take some time 
to clean off a thick paint, you can use a paint stripper. Simply brush the paint stripper over the paint, wait as instructed for the paint to soften and bubble up, then sandblast the paint off. Since many paint strippers don’t get the paint off perfectly, it will work great by using a sandblaster afterward.
Many paint strippers are extremely nasty and toxic substances. You do not want to get these products on your skin. If you aren’t blasting it off in a cabinet, you should use protective clothing.
Luckily, companies have been manufacturing some paint strippers that are non-toxic and biodegradable such as the product to the left. I have not use it yet, but the reviews look promising. You can search through a whole list of these paint strippers here.
2. Use a Paint Heat Gun with Sandblasting
Many people use heat guns which is 
a electrical tool that directs a lot of heat onto the paint’s surface and causes it to soften so that it can be scrapped off. A lot of times scrapping it off can still be tough. After you soften the paint with a heat gun, you can immediately sandblast the paint off easier. I think it would be best to have two people to do this job so one can be ready with the sandblaster off the paint is heated up.
This quality heat gun can be found here.
3. Use a Courser & Harder Grit
This is more obvious, but is another suggestion. A course 
abrasive will hit the paint harder and is more likely to take larger chips of paint out. A harder grit may penetrate into the paint better also. These will collectively reduce the time it takes to sandblast, but they are also more likely to roughen up the material below the paint.
4. Turn Up the Pressure
Another obvious solution to turn up the pressure past 50 PSI 
until you hit a good blasting rate.
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One of my email subscribers, Peter emailed me something that I didn’t really point out. “Using coarse grit at high pressure can remove a significant amout of metal underneath the paint.”
This holds true for an abrasive that is hard also, which is why many people use a softer material such as crushed glass than say- aluminum oxide. If the material you are blasting can be rough, that it isn’t as big of a deal.
on heavy cast iron parts like early ford i beam axles, it really doesnt matter about texture. i just want a good clean surface to chrome on to. thanks in advance, mike daniels