Shot Blasting etc

[ackack]

I use a cabinet (with arm holes) for small items up to a small wheel rim (jeep sized) fed from a small Perkins powered Hydrovane road compressor and for larger items we have a 30' lorry back with a roller shutter rear door (bought for next to nothing). It has a clear perspex roof which provides plenty of light during sunlight. I wear a full face mask with an air supply, don't forget a breathing mask. Dust extraction is with a large snail fan/motor, this pulls in the sides of the body when the door is shut fully! No extraction and you won't see a thing after a few seconds.

Air supply is from a Ford diesel 6-cylinder engine driving a Hydrovane compressor all housed in a large soundproof cabinet. Fuel consumption is quite good, about a couple of gallons for about half a days work. We use black grit which gets smaller each time it is used, but the finer grit gives a better finish anyway. Think we paid £100 for a ton. Grit is tipped into a large hopper after sieving and fed through a hose which will throw you backwards when you first turn on the air tap! Only problem is light items will be blown about all over the place unless you hold them down.

I can shotblast a 25' lorry chassis is about an hour and do it to my own standard, most professional blasters seem to miss bits. I can do anything I want when I need it and prime it straight afterwards. The total cost of this set up was less than I paid to have all the bits on my Chevvy done proffesionaly which was about £500 a few years ago.

If you plan on doing a few restorations this is the most economic way to go, and you could earn some of it back by doing some blasting for your mates!

[Davie]

"Think we paid £100 for a ton."

 

 

Where did you get your grit from? Every place I've tried wants silly money.

[ackack]

Someone had a clear out auction, that was the agreed price. It shouldn't be that expensive being expendible. Do a search on the web.

In the cabinet I use G12 grade chilled iron grit which lasts for ever. That is expensive. Six sand bag sized sacks was about £75 about 10 years ago. And it weighed the back of the car down!

[captainsmoke]

For any shot blasting and powder coating restoration jobs I can recommend

Keynsham Powder Coatings, (Bristol) who over the years have always been good with

various refurb projects that I've had. They have a large shot/sand blast set up

ideal for bigger lumps of metal (!) to be cleaned before coating.

Cant remember the contact details but I'm sure they got a website up.

[paulbrook]

Obviously no good if you are in Kent but for those in the North or the Scottish Lowlands these guys are tops and do all my blasting:

 

http://robinsonblastclean.co.uk/default.aspx

 

They can come out and blast on site or do it at their premises. Their rates are reasonable and they use the full range of equipment and medium to get the best results without killing your components. They tend to use crushed recycled glass for most of the work which folks on here would be interested in which leaves a superb surface for priming. The soda blasting is quite impressive too (they can take paint off a beer can without marking the surface) but it is pricey (based on the cost of the material at about £70 a bag...)

 

I have all the gear myself but quite frankly they can do it quicker and better than I can and for not much more money.

 

As for prices, like everything else you get what you pay for. I keep costs down by making as big a batch as I can to be done.

 

The last time I bought blast medium in any quantities I paid £170 a ton from Scangrit.

 

I can recommend the glass in home blasting kit though (it is available on ebay) - the slag-based stuff tends to clog whereas the glass doesn't and it is not prone to the same sort of damp issues. In fact the superfine stuff is really weird, it flows so well you cant hold it in your hand, it just finds the gaps and out it comes, making it perfect for home pots and lower output compressors.

[MICHAEL01]

Hi all, Im Michael from Devon

Im new to this forum thing, but this thread caught my attention. My company specilises in grit, glass and cabinet blasting. website www.kblasting.co.uk. If you have a spare couple of minutes log onto my website and have a look at what glass and grit blasting can achieve.(Its great stuff, ultimate for paint stripping.). From experience anything that can Flex or bend needs to blasted with finer medias and lower pressures this reduces the chance of warping or bending. chassis and axles, as long as they have been prept properly making sure all data tags, bearings and sealing surfaces have been taped or removed can be blasted with courser grit i.e copper slag. This gives the steel or cast a much courser profile and gives a much better addition surface for the paint to bond to. Again from experience For the little extra money l prefer to use 2pack epoxy paint systems. I find its way more advance than powder coating or single pack paints which are prown for chipping and then cracking then peeling off.( Oh yeah also stay away from Hammerwright, C**P). Hope This Helps and hopefully get some pics of my Diamond T rebuild. KEEP EM ROLLING!