Blasting on the cheap

[Brmorgan]

Everyone always talks about bead blasting their parts; well, I've always had a blasting gun (it was here when I bought the place) but I don't have a cabinet, so I've never wanted to drop the cash on a bag of beads to just blow them out all over the driveway. So for kicks today I went out on the quad with some buckets to the gravel pit a half mile away down the trail, and brought back a couple hundred pounds of nice, clean good-old-fashioned fine sand. I screened it down to where it wouldn't jam the gun up, and gave it a whirl. First I tried it on an old junker cylinder; it was surprisingly less aggressive than I thought it would be and didn't touch the metal at all, so I did my two 066 cylinders and flywheel:

They could still use a bit more time, but I think it did really well considering the cost. What a mess though without a cabinet. Sand down every nook and cranny of my clothing! I haven't tried it on Magnesium yet, but so far it seems to be fine with Aluminum. Must be fairly round-grained sand, i guess.

 

[eyolf]

living in BC, you likely have nice, clean glacial till soil everywhere. I have a lot here in MN, too. South of my house about 8 miles is a glacial esker composed almost entirely of rocks from fist-size to soccer-ball sized. There is literally no soil!

But what about the folks living south of the glacial limits? clean sand is hard to come by away from lakes/rivers in many places.

 

[SawGarage]

free sand blasting media?? cool!

looks good...

do we have a before pic??

J

 

[redunshee]

I have a top loading hand held gun that was a gift. Bought some play sand and screened itdown. Problem I have is it pours out of nozzle even when trigger isn't pulled. ????????

 

[SkippyKtm]

Yah, I have a Harbor freight one like that, I just leave it on its side when storing.
You've got to react fast when you aim and pull the trigger so you don't waste too much sand. Its just a cheapie, I think it was $15 or so, it works OK for small jobs.

 

[redunshee]

Yea. I hear ya. Troubling part is mine is a Mattco and wasn't that cheap. BTW where in CT. do you live? I was raised there and lived in Bristol, Terryville, Ellington and Southington.

 

[Torin]

Beware of silicosis when using sand. Try keeping a box fan at your back to keep the fine dust blowing away from you so you don't breath the dust.

 

[SawGarage]

Beware of silicosis when using sand. Try keeping a box fan at your back to keep the fine dust blowing away from you so you don't breath the dust.

Yeah....NOT a good thing.
I ALWAYS use a respirator...even when it's 80+ out.

 

[upstateny]

Silica is found in all types of sand, except the true sand blast sand that one buys for sand blasting.

Here at the shop we use between 300 and 1100 pounds of the sand I mentioned. Its a dirty messy job that even with a fresh air hood and all the appropriate PPE you still get some dust that makes it into your body.

 

[Bubbles Up]

For a cheap blast cabinet,make one out of plywood ,for a window, us can use a piece of lexan, sealed with urethane and a handful of screws washers. drill the arm holes using a holesaw and the gloves can be bought for cheap from an industrial supply place,add a light which can be had for a few bucks more .have a look at a metal one and copy it .
As said above check Harbour Frieght,Princess auto,cheap tool places once you have one you'd be surprised how much use it gets.

 

[MS260 Fan]

Looks really good to me. I like this idea a lot. I don't like the idea of buying blast media and having it end up on your lawn or driveway within minutes either.

I tried to rep you but it wouldn't let me. Then I noticed the red text in your signature. I'll be sending some as soon as it lets me! Very funny!!!

 

[Brmorgan]

living in BC, you likely have nice, clean glacial till soil everywhere. I have a lot here in MN, too. South of my house about 8 miles is a glacial esker composed almost entirely of rocks from fist-size to soccer-ball sized. There is literally no soil!

But what about the folks living south of the glacial limits? clean sand is hard to come by away from lakes/rivers in many places.

Other than the flatter valley bottoms, pretty much everywhere is sand and gravel around here, or clay if you're really unlucky. A guy could open a viable gravel pit pretty much anywhere, it seems! The sand I brought home had already been sifted out at the pit, so it was pretty clean. Worse comes to worse and I can't find any at a local pit, I can drive out west to the Fraser River and get some really nice beach sand quite easily.

free sand blasting media?? cool!

looks good...

do we have a before pic??

J

I'm pretty sure I have a photo of at least one of the cylinders around here somewhere. Been trying to find it to no avail though.

Yah, I have a Harbor freight one like that, I just leave it on its side when storing.
You've got to react fast when you aim and pull the trigger so you don't waste too much sand. Its just a cheapie, I think it was $15 or so, it works OK for small jobs.

Mine will spill a bit of sand after the air supply is shut off, but it doesn't just keep coming out. I don't know a lot about such things, but maybe you should be using a smaller orifice inside the gun if it's spilling that badly?


I do get the Princess Auto flyer and catalog in the mail, and I know they do have cheap cabinets on sale all the time, but I just haven't had the cash. Something inevitably comes up every time. Building one is an option if I can find the materials cheap enough. I'd weld one out of 3/32" steel plate if I can find it, I think, rather than plywood.

 

[pioneerguy600]

Cheap blast cabinet from Princess Auto, seal up all the joints between the panels as you put it together and you have a great place to blast chainsaw parts.

I use glass beads on magnesium or change it out for fine sand on harder metals like steel. Also have crushed glass, crushed walnut shells and volcanic glass, with a big twin 60 gal air compressor for air supply the parts can be stripped quickly.
Pioneerguy600