Media Blasting

[Defiant]

Real Media Blasters go by skill alone.

And, work naked.

 

[OddNotion]

I'm going to blast my throttle body and transmission. Anybody have advice for preventing damage to them and protecting the insides so media doesn't get in the transmission?

You will want to get some rubber plugs of various sizes from the hardware section of Home Depot (I prefer Lowes). They range from bathtub size, (which I couldn't find) to pretty tiny. You can also find various corks at the same place, but consider them sacrificial, because they will disappear quickly under the bead flow. These will work best for the throttle body and its tiny passages. Make sure you don't bead blast the throttle body shaft because I'm pretty certain the green coating on it is some kind of lubricant, since it occurs where the shaft sits in the brass bearings. It is also imperative to plug the two shaft bearings. You wouldn't want to rough the brass bearings up.

The larger, more irregular openings would be well served by Defiant's method of duct taping and being careful. You really wouldn't want abrasive inside your transmission. You have to remove all grease and dirt from any blasting project to get the most out of it. Naval Jelly should be used to remove any rust.

If you're like me, and you do it with the garage door open, please, for the sake of your neighbors, at least wear some briefs............

 

[OddNotion]

Success! After finally getting off my duff, and discovering my regulator was bad, a trip to Home Depot for a new one made today possible. My machine is a resurrected Harbor Freight Media Blaster, with a few improvements. I used my stock Spyder GS airbox and filter as a means to filter the negative ventilation flow. To provide vacuum, I purchased the cheapest shopvac style vacuum they had, which was the Stinger at around $39. That little fat toad worked really well.

Just like Mr. Peepers described earlier in thise thread, the gloves reached straight out under vacuum, and with the gun pressure set high, I had not a single boost leak. Before the vacuum, I would be choking on the dust blowing out everywhere. I laid a little halogen puck light on the plexiglass window, and it actually started melting the plastic, so I had to use a gooseneck light. I blasted a 2G throttle body that I bored out on my lathe and took a comparison pic with a throttle body I purchased from a member (Thanks Eric )

 

[turbosax2]

Wow Erin, stunning work! Do you have any pictures of the tb before or during blasting with everything plugged up? Did you use fine glass beads for that?

 

[OddNotion]

Wow Erin, stunning work! Do you have any pictures of the tb before or during blasting with everything plugged up? Did you use fine glass beads for that?

Thanks Eric, it was a great triumph. If you look carefully, you can see the rubber plugs in the shaft bores in the pictures I posted. Those, and the caps on the ports were all I bothered with plugging. On one side I was able to push the plug far enough that it poked through the other end, requiring only 1 plug. I used a good portion of a can of PB Carb Cleaner cleaning out all the little passages, sticking the little straw into all holes and blowing them out. I don't know about that stuff because it wouldn't evaporate, like it was some kind of residue (I gave up and hung the TB on the wall where it lives). I didn't have any brake cleaner, which always degreases and dries instantly.

I don't know what grit the old beads in the "new" blaster were since they were given to me by my Auto Mechanics teacher some 8 years ago, but I think they were fine grit. I dumped in a bunch of the "medium" new stuff that I have, so it could be a mix of the two, but the result was good!

 

[Mr Peepers]

Very nice! Pulling good vacuum and no boost leaks

I picked up some glass bead the other week so I'll see how it turns out soon.

Looks great!

 

[OddNotion]

When you said "Boost Leaks" the first time I seriously laughed out loud, but just like you said, the vacuum was so strong that it sucked my gloves all the way in and inflated them! I didn't have hardcore, custom Grandma sewn Blue Jean sleeved gloves, just regular media blasting ones from Northern Tool. I have to shorten them because they reach past the back of the cabinet so when I activate the shopvac, they inflate and give it the old 1-2 punch.

I may have to try some other odd media (maybe bash up a bag of dry ice )

 

[turbosax2]

I got extra fine coal slag and glass beads to use. Hopefully I'll get blasting this week, I'm just dreading cleaning all the parts first. Once I get them blasted then I can begin powdercoating.

 

[OddNotion]

Nice, so what kind of cabinet are you gonna use? Your link to the coal slag came up bad, but the other media looks like it will be a nice fine finish! Mine is around 80 grit, so 100-170 should be real shiny. I saw some other cool things on the Eastwood site I want:
Eastwood Co. - Vinyl Protector Caps And Plugs Set 123 Pieces
Eastwood Co. - Blast Media Sifter Screen
Eastwood Co. - Hardware Basket for Abrasive Blasting
I wonder if a wire mesh spaghetti straining basket would work for small parts and filtering the media. I encountered an obstruction during my first attempt with the new bead blaster (now called The Mighty One ). All of the sudden the bead flow went down t almost nothing, so I blew into the pickup tube with the gun nozzle, but no dice. I pulled off the feed tube and saw the obstruction. It was a little cube of broken glass! My dad must have gotten it in there somehow. Sorry dad, 80 grit is one thing, but 4 grit is too coarse

 

[JScharF]

What kind of air compressor PSI/tank is required to do blasting? After seeing that throttle body I kinda want to get into this. haha!

EDIT: I am talking minimum air compressor requirements that is.

 

[OddNotion]

I just use a small 4 gallon Campbell-Hausfeld compressor (from my deck building days). It only has 6.2 CFM @ 90 PSI, and it does start to blow water after about a 30 minute blasting session, but it's what I've got. The answer to your question about air compressor size, with any air tool, is always "As big as you can afford!" While I could get a larger compressor, I live in a townhouse so it's not practical right now. Taking the compressor into the cool air conditioned basement would reduce the water problem, but the noise would not be tolerated by my Little Lady. I have a filter to install, but eventually I'm considering a water removal device for both blasting and when I set up my home-made garage spray booth (for a Pearl White Spyder!):
1/2'' Coalescing Air Filter - TP Tools & Equipment

Keeping pressure as low as possible is a good way to make use of an undersized compressor. I use between 40 and 60 PSI, regulated and could go lower. You might see that I have 2 regulators, but that's because the first one is busted, but I had to use it as an adapter since the new reg knob was too long and I couldn't screw it on without it hitting the compressor motor.

 

[turbosax2]

Nice, so what kind of cabinet are you gonna use? Your link to the coal slag came up bad, but the other media looks like it will be a nice fine finish! Mine is around 80 grit, so 100-170 should be real shiny.

Woops, try this link:
http:// cgi.ebay.com/50-LBS-COAL-SLAG-Sand-Blasting-Abrasive-Sandblaster_W0QQitemZ290171975979QQihZ019QQcategoryZ43570QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

It's 30/60 Grit (Extra Fine) black coal slag. I talked to TRGCoating and they said they use extra fine coal slag to prep their parts for powdercoating so that's what I got.

I'm not sure what kind of cabinet I'm going to be using it since I haven't seen it yet, but a guy that lives a few minutes from me has one he said I could use. And then another friend has one too I can use.

 

[JScharF]

I just use a small 4 gallon Campbell-Hausfeld compressor (from my deck building days). It only has 6.2 CFM @ 90 PSI, and it does start to blow water after about a 30 minute blasting session, but it's what I've got. The answer to your question about air compressor size, with any air tool, is always "As big as you can afford!" While I could get a larger compressor, I live in a townhouse so it's not practical right now. Taking the compressor into the cool air conditioned basement would reduce the water problem, but the noise would not be tolerated by my Little Lady. I have a filter to install, but eventually I'm considering a water removal device for both blasting and when I set up my home-made garage spray booth (for a Pearl White Spyder!):
1/2'' Coalescing Air Filter - TP Tools & Equipment

Keeping pressure as low as possible is a good way to make use of an undersized compressor. I use between 40 and 60 PSI, regulated and could go lower. You might see that I have 2 regulators, but that's because the first one is busted, but I had to use it as an adapter since the new reg knob was too long and I couldn't screw it on without it hitting the compressor motor.

Hmm, my dad just bought a 2 gallon 75 psi compressor from our grandparents, do you think it would be enough? If not I spose I could borrow my cousins or something haha.

 

[OddNotion]

I have a feeling that 2 gallons is too small. I'm pushing it with 4 gallons, I'm just lucky that it's a fast compressor. Do whatever you can to get a bigger one, although borrowing one will suck because it will turn your operation into a big hassle. I won't say you shouldn't use the two gallon if it's there, but you'll get tired of blasting for 20 seconds and waiting for 30 while the pressure comes back up.

wooWOOOOO 50 posts baby!

 

[JScharF]

well my cousin and my uncle both have bigger tank ones that they rarely use, my dad's got a pickup i could throw it in too, not that big of a hassle, if anything if I really got into it I could go out and buy a bigger one too.


My grandparents have wood and stuff in their garage that has been sitting there for 5 years, I figure I will build myself a box and try it out and see if I like it. Then if someone needs something done in my community or if I really enjoyed it I might see making some money on the side. But as of right now I just plan on playing around with it.

EDIT:

So with the thought of having stuff sandblasted down, has anyone here tried powdercoating afterwards? If you can get that down it would save a bunch of money and bring the whole look of the car up and protect the parts wouldnt it? I found a page that completely goes over everything you'd need to do it yourself. Custom Powder Coating

Tomorrow I am going to try building myself a box and see how blasting goes.

 

[snowborder714]

are you planing to offer this as a service?

I'd check out this place if you'd like service done to your throttle body:
DSM THrottle Bodys

 

[JScharF]

Ok I've got a few more questions about this before I start to build myself a cabinet today. (I Can't sleep and thought I'd ask now... )

1. How does the movement of compound actually work? Is it a special head for the compressor? I got too excited about the carpentry aspect that I forgot about it

2. What is a decent sized cabinet to start out with to mess around with? After seeing the plywood one and the orange one, do you really need the pyramid at the bottom?

3. What can and can't be blasted on our cars? My dad kept talking about sand sticking to ports on the insides or something... But I think someone said enough duct tape and being careful in the area would protect this?

Thanks for the answers in advance

Ok, answering a few of my own questions I had last night incase anyone else has them...

1. I found some sandblaster heads online for ~$25 for a kit, not sure how quality they are, I'm going to ace today to talk to my uncle and see whats good and for how much.

2. I'm starting out with an 18" square. I would try to make it a little bigger but all the wood in my grandparents shed was pre-cut for a wishing well that my grandpa never finished. I figure it will be good enough for some test runs, and I can build bigger if I need it.

Another question that came up when I was going through my grandparents shed was... would 1/8th inch plywood work for the hopper at the bottom? shes got a sheet of it that would have covered the whole thing but wouldnt the compound just tear that thin of plywood apart?

 

[OddNotion]

Here's more or less what I have going on in my current blaster:
PBE 9CY 7003 - sand blasting kit

That should get you started.

I think 18" will be way too small. I think the pickup tube is longer than that

 

[turbosax2]

I got my first taste of blasting today. Initial thoughts - VISIBILITY IS KEY!!! The blast cabinet I used looked like this:

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I only used the extra fine coal slag so far. Surprisingly, the cabinet had no problems sealing the media in. There was only 1 door on the right side but it didn't leak at all. Also, the vacuum system worked well with and without a filter right at the inlet. Every time I opened the door there was little to no dust hanging around. The gun was using a fairly big ceramic nozzle that liked to clog up very often for some reason. Some of the clogs were in the pickup line because it picked up some of the plastic bag that the media came in. The bag was very thin and apparently some of it got mixed in the media when I poured the coal slag into a bucket. Lesson learned. The air compressor was terrible - it was large (which was good), but the regulator was broken and so was the part that keeps water out of the lines, plus it overheated quickly. Oh well, I managed. The water in the lines did clog the media but it wasn't extremely bad. Now, the light in the cabinet - plain out awful. Hardly put out any light. The plexiglass window on the cabinet - awful, hard to see through at all. So visibility was the worst part, with the clogging coming in at the second worst part. I'll say it again - visibility is key! I could have probably done twice as many parts in the same amount of time if I had proper vision. But this was my friends cabinet that isn't used much so they don't keep it in good shape. I have no reason to complain though, seeing as they're letting me use the cabinet for free (I provided the media). If I were to make my own cabinet I would have lights galore and a CLEAR window to see through. Oh, and sitting down would be nice - my back started to hurt after awhile.

As much as I complain, I still did get these parts done and they turned out fairly good. This is about 1/3 of the parts I have to do, so I'll be doing the rest and powdercoating this week.

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[VTEC_THIS]

Sand blasting is so much fun, we've had the cabinet for about 2 weeks and have used it almost everyday! This is the blast cabinet we're using:

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We have a Craftsman 33 gallon air compressor. We're using aluminum oxide 70 grit abrasive. Here's some parts we blasted then powder coated.

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[turbosax2]

Here is the cabinet my brother, my friend, and I built based on Mr Peepers'.

Box is 3'x3'x3.5'tall
Box is made of 2x2's
Legs/base is made of 2x4's
The window is 1'x2', made of 1/8" plexiglass and we got a 24"x120" roll of window shield to cover the window
Gloves are from ebay, seller name dscsuperf, custom size of 7" DIA. X 30" LONG
Gloves are mounted in sections of 6" pvc pipe
Light is 18" fluorescent bar light, protected with a piece of 1/8" plexiglass we bent
8 relief holes were drilled in roof / we sealed the cabinet well enough that under vacuum the gloves would stick straight out and were hard to maneuver
Air fitting is mounted permanently in roof so hose can be plugged right in
We made a trapdoor in the bottom for easy removal of media
The walls are made of 5/8" plywood
The funnel is made of some cardboard type thin wood (I don't know the official name)
The vacuum hook-up is a hacked up attachment for the shop-vac
Filter for vacuum is 3 pantyhose clamped to shop-vac attachment
We used an Eastwood gun
The whole cabinet was sealed with construction grade sealant from Lowes
Weatherstripping strips were used on the door and trapdoor
Floor was made of some grating stuff we had lying around, then we twist tied finer steel mesh on
Floor prop is a piece of pipe

I think that covers it all, feel free to ask questions.


What do you guys use to filter water out of the air lines? The gun is clogging up every few minutes from the moisture. I put on a big Kobalt filter but it hardly does anything.

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[turbosax2]

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[fwdmaster]

Good looking sandblast cabinet

 

[xioca]

That cabinate looks awsome. How much was it to make?

 

[turbosax2]

I think it was about $175 for everything we purchased. My friend had some of the stuff already so that wasn't figured into the costs.