Anyone have good experience with blasting media? My needs are general paint removal on metal and I was wondering what is a good media to use. I have used 30 grit quikrete sand that does a good job but can cause pitting. I don't have a blasting cabinet, I just use the small hand held unit that seems to work ok for my needs. Thanks!
-
Welcome back Guest! Did you know you can mentor other members here at H-M? If not, please check out our Relaunch of Hobby Machinist Mentoring Program!
Best Blasting Media
- Thread starter pburns
- Start date
T
Tom Griffin
Forum Guest
Register Today
If you don't have a cabinet, you had better stick to sand. The better medias like aluminum oxide and silicon carbide will get pretty expensive if you can't recycle them. Just be sure to wear a respirator when using sand to avoid exposure to silica dust.
Tom
Tom
Black Beauty, aka: coal slag , works really good and it's relatively inexpensive, but not as cheap as plain old sand. You can recapture it by creating a partial enclusure outside using 3 sides of plywood and a tarp on the floor. Cover the tarp inside the enslosure with another piece of plywood. Using this semi enclusure would make coal slag a viable alternative, It's far less dusty than sand and it's very aggresive at removing paint and rust. Around my parts, it's sold at mason supply yards. There might be other places to get it also. I can't remember if it's $20 for 50lbs or if it was 100lbs. But it's a big bag and if you recapture it, it'll last you quite a while. It comes in a few different sizes too.
Coal slag...never heard of that one. I will have to check it out. Ya, I do most of my blasting outside, I will use your recapture idea, I usually just let the ol sand become part of my yard! Is coal slag good for more delicate parts such as Al or fiberglass?
Ever use glass bead? or anything else?
Thanks for your input!
Ever use glass bead? or anything else?
Thanks for your input!
I've used a good bit of bead. It sounds like what you want for delicate jobs. I mostly use it for parkerizing prep so I seldom recycle it since it is mostly small parts with the occasional crmo rifle barrel. I have a cabinet but usually just do it in the BY as infrequently as I do.
Steve
Steve
Black Beauty is handled by TSC (Tractor Service Supply) in 50lb bags for 9-10$ (at least here at my store) What I buy is very aggressive (I dont know the grit)
For speciality blast media - glass bead, silica carbide, garnet, and supplies, etc - try Pro blast (Tacomacompany) on ebay - Decent prices/shipping
http://stores.ebay.com/tacomacompany
For speciality blast media - glass bead, silica carbide, garnet, and supplies, etc - try Pro blast (Tacomacompany) on ebay - Decent prices/shipping
http://stores.ebay.com/tacomacompany
I have done quite a bit of blasting of all types , I used to have my own 500# pressure pot now I just have my small cabinet that I use for working on guns. One of the issues you face with any kind of blasting is there is no magic media that can strip paint and moderate rust and also leave a nice smooth finish. Companies have developed some cool methods that replace regular media blasting giving both heavy removal and a smooth finish but don't expect to see it anytime soon in your back yard. There are numerous grit glass beads and they will leave a very nice finish but will not cut paint and rust very well. The ones Harbor Freight sells are a little on the course side for fine finishing. Aluminum Oxide is the same. Course grit AO will cut like sand and fine will cut similar to Glass beads. I actually use various mixtures of both depending on what I am working on. Glass beads won't do well in a siphon hopper type blaster anyway. Play sand or building sand like at the hardware store is very inconsistent in it's grit so that is why you get poor removal and a poor finish. Also It will make you dead from breathing it.
Coal slag is pretty aggressive. It's always a trade off between aggression and getting her done quick. I think i'm using the medium grade coal slag in my cabinet right now. The coal slag flows nice because it does not retain moisture, it's pretty inert. For aluminum you might want to try the fine grade. Coal slag won't damage your yard either. If you need to preserve the finish on your parts, then soda blasting or glass bead or walnut shells work well.
Softer materials like walnut shells will degrade, lose their sharpness, quicker than something harder. But they can be pretty aggressive on the first pass for removing paint without affecting the metal beneath.
Most of the stuff i blast is gonna be repainted so i like aggressive.
Softer materials like walnut shells will degrade, lose their sharpness, quicker than something harder. But they can be pretty aggressive on the first pass for removing paint without affecting the metal beneath.
Most of the stuff i blast is gonna be repainted so i like aggressive.
Not my favorite organization but this will show you that the risks are no joke. http://www.osha.gov/Publications/silicosis.html This is why most places do not sell or mfg. sand for blasting anymore.