HF soda blaster

[JointTech]

got the 15 pound soda blaster today. They didnt have any soda... So I went to a powder coater down the road and he was nice enough to sell me 30 pounds.

1. There is a 1/2" hole to fill the tank. yea seriously. 1/2". !~!@#$ing impossible to fill the thing.

Even with a funnel unless your soda is bone dry it doesnt flow into the tank. So Im using a peice of wire to shove it in. After about 30 minutes of filling I have it about 1/5 full.

2. My media must be dampish because it spits and sputters like crazy.

I saw a few people that had the idea of putting a vibrator inside the tank. Hilarious, but no vibrator I've seen would fit in a 1/2" hole.
Second idea was a guy duct taped a palm sander to the side of the tank to keep the soda around the pickup tube.

another guy said drilling a few more holes in the pickup tube helped.

So all that said I wouldnt recommend this piece of crap. Im going to make the modifications to it and see if I can at least make it useable. As it is now its a boat anchor.

I read I can put the soda in the oven to dry it out. Anybody done that or have any idea of temp or time in oven?