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Grit blasting (at home)


Cannonball Bob

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It's fine. I've done a fair bit. The big problem is what the hell you do with all the grit. Your choices are take it outside and use it once, or build a cabinet, or get an old tent up in the garage and do it in there. You need to be outside the tent or prepared to dress in hooded overalls, gloves, visor, goggles, the works. You can reuse the grit but you MUST sieve it otherwise flakes of rust and paint block the gun. Finally don't neglect your air consumption, most guns are about 8 CFM and so a little toytown compressor like mine won't cut it. You are into 2 or 3 hp, 10+ CFM items and they are a bit more expensive and bulky.
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Don't do it indoors, or Mrs to be won't be impressed !

 

Sue was out one evening recently, and I needed to do a bit of power planing on some wood. It was raining, so I didn't want to push the Seven out of the garage and plane out there, so I did it in the hall, with a view to sweeping/hoovering up the shavings.

 

It is amazing how much waste a power plane can produce in a few minutes. Carpet was about two inches deep. Took a lot of sweeping/shovelling and hoovering. Should have taken a photo before I started clearing up.

 

In the garage or outdoors for me in future !

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TBH, you are better off taking it to a proper blaster and coater. You need a pretty hefty compressor to run those guns and the mess is a pain. For a few quid you could get them either blasted or dipped and stripped. The old Nitromores used to work well, but I fear you will not have any lick with the new stuff.

 

 

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Quoting jonboylaw: 
you are better off taking it to a proper blaster and coater. You need a pretty hefty compressor to run those guns and the mess is a pain.

The gun featured above claims to recirculate the grit (not sure how and I'll admit to being a bit "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it" on that front), and the guff says it runs off the size of compressor I've already got.

Thing is, for the cost of outsourcing once, I could get the gun and 20kg of grit and clean up everything in sight.

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CB, i have one of those guns, u can get different heads for it to suit the application, they are fantastic on sheet metal but not so on tubes, different type of sand will give a different finish. I would buy a small cabinet to do the wishbones,from say machine mart ?
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When you've a second Bob just have a cruise around some of the local small Ind estates.

 

Our local coatings firm on such an estate works by the "black bag full" usually 40 quid to blast and coat all the bits in it if he's already using that colour on a bigger job.......with them being black he often is.

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That's my point though kenny, for the cost of diesel to take it all somewhere, then collect next week, plus paying the guy.....I could set myself up.

Elie....what they like on calipers and other castings?

 

Edited to add: Something else kenny......I live in the South. We have Business Parks, not grubby "industrial estates". *tongue*

 

Edited by - Cannonball Bob on 20 Jan 2012 11:09:16

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Quoting Cannonball Bob: 

The gun featured above claims to recirculate the grit (not sure how and I'll admit to being a bit "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it" on that front), and the guff says it runs off the size of compressor I've already got.

Recirculate my foot. How does that work when it zips by at 100mph? Do not underestimate how savage and messy these things are, I wouldn't entertain it for a moment without shoving it in a tent or a cabinet. Any notions of "I can probably catch most of it in a bit of plastic sheet" are pure fantasy. You will be sweeping it off shelves for years to come. If you have anything mechanical in the garage it will be coated from top to toe in grit. By all means do it, it's easy enough, but you WILL have overspray.

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It will recirculate if forced hard against whatever you are blasting. But you won't remove powercoat with it, unless it's half off anyway. No good for any area - as it says, it's a spot blast gun - areas the size of a penny. Put it on rust and it make it silvery looking - but scratch it with a screwdriver and you expose more rust it's not removed.

 

A 3hp copmpressor struggles to keep up with it. Good for small spots on car bodies etc, but not much else.

 

For the amount of time you will spend blasting and reblasting penny sized bits, find your local blaster (your powdercoater might do it, but he will certainly know someone who does) and get it done right once.

 

When I sorted my integrale when I bought it, I did the tiny spots with it, but paid a mobile blaster 75 quid to come and strip inside the rear wheel arches and the rear diff subframe - 25mins setting up, 3 mins work and job done. Would have taken me days to do.

 

Bri

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Tim,

I used the plastidip stuff, masked off the bushes, nicely cleaned WBs treated to a good dose of 400 grit paper to give a good key, the grey primer followed by a fair few coats of the rubber paint (you need to paint as the primer is just dry!).

 

You can thin it and spray paint it as well (did the roll cage) but you need to build up a good few layers to make it effective.

 

I really rate the stuff on the suspension, no chips in 2 years and no sign of rusting.

 

Jon

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I was contemplating with the Fluorescent colours as well but decided to stick with black for the initial trial.

 

I need to do my roll cage again so my consider a highlight colour and possibly the gloss finisher (it is a final layer you paint over thaty makes it gloss effect instead of matt).

 

Anyone for a bulk buy ??? :D

 

 

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If you are talking powder, yes I understand that the basic finish is semi-gloss, the glossiness depends on the coating chosen. Final gloss, and metallics, is a lacquer. I have a powdered bike frame, it was in a mess when I was given it and a grotty black with corrosion, but now in a powder equivalent of Ford Asbo Orange with met lacquer it looks absolutely ace. It stands up to the hammer on a MTB as well.
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