Got me a blasting cabinet from Santa and while I have everything apart for a build I'm going to do my cases, cylinder, and other parts. From what I've read glass beads or walnut shells are good on aluminum.. Just seeing if anyone has personal experience with it?
Blasting my engine.... Walnut shell or glass bead media?
wes350x
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Got me a blasting cabinet from Santa and while I have everything apart for a build I'm going to do my cases, cylinder, and other parts. From what I've read glass beads or walnut shells are good on aluminum.. Just seeing if anyone has personal experience with it?
I stopped using walnut shell because they seemed to stain the aluminum which I didn't like because I like to polish and it made for more work.
I agree, the aluminum seemed to turn a darker color. The finer the glass you use the less aggressive it works. The air pressure is turned down to keep from exploding the glass beads upon impact. A common problem with glass is the air pressure is set so high the glass beads explode and turn into dust up[on impact. So they only last a small amount of time. You want to set the pressure down 40-60 lbs to make the glass beads function as designed. They are supposed to hit and bounce off taking dirt with them. The beads get recycled and the dust goes into the filter.
Here is what you need right here for doing cases. I have a commercial level blaster and it's what I do engine cases and virtually everything else with -
http://www.tptools.com/p/354,183_Skat-Magic™-Abrasive.html
Price seems reasonable and they ship fast.
http://www.tptools.com/p/354,183_Skat-Magic™-Abrasive.html
Price seems reasonable and they ship fast.
Did you get it set up yet? What model did you get?
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My dad got me the 100$ table top one from tractor supply company. He bought me some of that black diamond media but I bought some glass beads from there. I got half of my cases done so far and they are looking good. Pretty easy to do. Any pointers? I'm doing it at 60# air pressure, when it was lower it didn't strip as fast.
You can blast at any pressure as long as you realize the glass is exploding into dust and is not able to be reused. 60# is safe. If you use the abrasive black diamond media you can blast at 120# and it will take off any paint real fast. Only problem is getting it into the bearings and seals. If you have everything removed from the cases you can use a more aggressive media and higher pressure. I tape off all bearing and seal surfaces as the media will remove aluminum as well as paint and debris. Here at work we have access to garnet the waterjet uses to cut steel. It is very sharp and works extremely well to remove junk. Glass is used to give a better finish than the abrasive media. It takes longer but leaves a real smooth finish.
I have extra fine glass beads to get a real bright finish on aluminum. This is what I use to get into the water-pump cover crevices before polishing the outer areas.
I have extra fine glass beads to get a real bright finish on aluminum. This is what I use to get into the water-pump cover crevices before polishing the outer areas.
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