Sand Blasting FUN! (pics / 56k beware)

[289FIA_Cobra]

I picked up a Sandblasting cabinet for $70 from Harbor Freights and began doing some "refurbishing" of some donor parts; here's what I've done so far:









These pieces are all ready for primer and paint now; simply amazing tool IMO. Will get to the CV joints another day.

[68GT500MAN]

What media are you using? I have the same cabinet and get very good results using the glass beads that they sell at Harbor Freight. They take a little longer to remove stubborn paint and rust, but, the finish is great for painting.

[289FIA_Cobra]

This is the aluminum oxide media 70 grit. I wanted to use this on the "steel" parts I was going to eventually paint. I do have 25lbs. of glass bead as well. I need to try that and see how it looks but I was reserving that for aluminum parts.

[Jim Gunther]

What kind/capacity of compressor?
Jim

[raceral]

If its got bearings in it... you may as well plan on changing them

[dv/dt]

Al,
I was thinking the same thing but I noticed in his cleaned up pics of the spindle that he had taped around the back of the bearings. Might be OK but I would still be tempted to disassemble, clean and repack them as a minimum. This might be a case of while your in there you might as well put in new bearings for a couple of bucks. BTW, a couple of layers of electrical tape is good for keeping the sand off of sections you don't want blasted as long as you don't hold the blaster on it too long. Masking tape will get torn up pretty easy.

Cheers, Rod

[RedMan]

I have a similar HB cabinet. Works great.

Also go a 40lb pressure blaster.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=34202

It cleaned my frame of the FFR black in about 3 hours.

I only have a 5hp 30 gal compressor and it works fine for this type of work.

You do have to stop every 5 minutes and wait a minute or two. Which about how long it take me to defog my sand blast hood look over my handy work.

[Fred S]

Definitely install new bearings. There’s no way you can mask well enough to keep them clean. They’re like sand magnets and unless you put them in a parts washer and remove all of the grease and start over you can't get them clean. Beside that, wheel bearings are cheap.

[Jeff Benaway]

Do you have the item # of that sand blast cabinet? ...........Thanks Jeff

[331 Notch]

Also go a 40lb pressure blaster.

I have that blaster and it works terrible! I've tried all types of valve adjustments but just can not get the thing to spray worth a da$%. Are your valves all full open?

As for the cabinet can you fit a set of cyl heads in it?

[289FIA_Cobra]

#38440 for $99.99 at Harbor Freight. This is the bench model. They have two bigger ones; one is top open but larger, another is side open and has legs attached to it; probably could swallow a diff. but not sure about a T5 unless it's in sections. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[331 Notch]

Also go a 40lb pressure blaster.

I have that blaster and it works terrible! I've tried all types of valve adjustments but just can not get the thing to spray worth a da$%. Are your valves all full open?

As for the cabinet can you fit a set of cyl heads in it?

[289FIA_Cobra]

Originally posted by 331 Notch:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Also go a 40lb pressure blaster.

I have that blaster and it works terrible! I've tried all types of valve adjustments but just can not get the thing to spray worth a da$%. Are your valves all full open?

As for the cabinet can you fit a set of cyl heads in it? </font>[/QUOTE]Supposedly, it would fit; tight! but it might fit but not a whole lot of room left to manuever. Hmm, the pressurized one didn't work well???? I'll have to try it later. If it's really that bad, I know of some house painters I could probably sell it to; might be good for stripping house paint but I'm not into that.

Oh, as far as bearing, yeah, I heard some grinding in one of them. I'll tear them down and see what part numbers I need.

[Zulu]

The bearings are cheap, and worth doing now.
You have to have the axles drilled for new studs anyway , so replace the bearings.

[Cody]

I have the 40 lb pressurized sand blaster from HF and it works really good. It EATS rust off of things very fast.

I did get some small pebbles stuck in it the first time I tried to use it and had to take the valves apart and clean them out. After that I just ran all of my sand into a piece of screen and then into the blaster to catch the big stuff.

Cody

[go fast]

I have the same blaster, How do you guys keep your filters from getting all clogged up? After 10 minutes or so I get media pushing out of the top cover seal. The first time I used it in the garage and had media all over the floor. I keep it outside now and I wear a mask while blasting.

It does work good, just the media gets all over the place.

Go Fast

[331 Notch]

Where are your valves set at? Full open? When I put them all to full open it spews a ton of media with little pressure. I have pressure set where instructions say too and am using aluminum oxide.