Another neat tool thread...........

[Ghost]

Well I got one of those pressurized abrasive blasters the other day and have been trying to get it to work right.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=34202

Damn thing kept cloggin up. I thnk I had the flow too high on the media. Anyway. I finally got it right after a few tries and 2 bags of sand. One medium and one fine. So here is the result.

What you think? Only draw back is I have sand in places I didn't know sand could get to! LOL!

 

[Matthew Currie]

Nice. Just watch out for moisture in the pressurized air. I've had problems in the past with sandblasted surfaces rusting pretty quickly after they're done. An immediate application of some volatile solvent and quick priming help a lot.

By the way, did you know that with really fine material you can resharpen files with that thing?

 

[Ghost]

No did not know that about the files. I am having trouble finding any type of material around here. What type of volatile solvent you recomend? Denatured alchohol? Turpentime?

 

[Backdraft]

Looks good Ghost. Are those legs from the brackets to the rails 1x1 inch??

If you are up to painting or priming with a gun along with the blasting, ya might want to invest in a water seperator/water filter for the airline. Dunno what you wanna do but they have made work easier for me in the past.

Mike

 

[Ghost]

the blaster has one on the pot b4 the air goes in. But I have noticed a ton of water in my compressor tank so I might put another one on the out line of it. It's all new to me. The compresor was a christmas gift from my parents. So slowly it is getting more use. (The impact wrenches that came with it are awsome.) Those are actually 1.5" square. If I do anothor set I will put the pinch seam mount close to the edge and have the rails stick out a little. They have actually been mounted on the xj for a while. (Wanted to test them b4 wasting money on paint!) I took them off last night and will be doing the same to the roof rack soon.

 

[Backdraft]

Cool, Ill be building mine pretty soon and trying to decide on what to use.

One of those big in line seperators is the way to go to keep the water outta your blaster, impacts, etc. After getting one I wont use a compressor without one. Just a fan of em i guess

Mike

 

[Matthew Currie]

No did not know that about the files. I am having trouble finding any type of material around here. What type of volatile solvent you recomend? Denatured alchohol? Turpentime?

I like something like Prep-sol or one of its equivalents, such as one would use in body work after priming and before laying down paint. Another possibility is a product cabinet makers and the like use called Clean-Woode (not sure if I spelled that right), which removes smudges and fingerprints and the like. They smell pretty similar, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're interchangeable.

I would recommend also that if you're cleaning up surface rust on bodywork, you don't just paint over the blasted surface, because no matter how clean it looks, it will probably have little pits of rust in the valleys. Blasting is a good way to start, but you'll get better results if you grind it smooth.

 

[RichP]

For media check out the local tool rental places. My son works in one right now an they carry several different grades of stuff.