Date:         Tue, 31 Oct 2000 23:53:58 -0700
Reply-To:     "Gary2a@telusplanet.net Gary" <gary2a@TELUSPLANET.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Gary2a@telusplanet.net Gary" <gary2a@TELUSPLANET.NET>
Subject:      re. Subject: Is it about time for Sandblasting?
Comments: To: derekdrew@RCN.COM
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

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Derek Drew <derekdrew@RCN.COM> WROTE:
Subject: Is it about time for Sandblasting?

It strikes me that we should all have sandblasters, but this doesn't seem
to be a hot thing with our group yet.

Could somebody know who knows about how to go about procuring a
sandblasting capability spill the beans on this?

I see sandblast cabinets that cost $300, and at the same time, simple
gravity sandblast guns that work with your compressor that can be had for,
say, $25.

What does it cost to be able to do this, and what should be purchased, and
why are we not all doing this?
_______________________________________________
Derek Drew                                            New York, NY

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For whats its worth, here my experience on the subject:

I bought a sandblast gun and made a cabinet last fall.  I find it very
useful for cleaning parts for restoration type work.  I just used a wire
brush on the bench grinder before.

What I use 95% of the time is glass beads, not silica sand which is much
more aggressive.  With glass beads the finish is clean, smooth and a little
dull.  The glass beads are very gentle on a metal finish.  And it does not
eat away at plastic like sand, so you can blast something made of plastic
and metal and not ruin the softer plastic portion.
What I use it mainly for is cleaning VW gas heaters before rebuilding them
(and automotive propane components).  You are able to clean small crevices
and cracks that cannot be cleaned any other way.

Other than restoration type work where appearance is important, I don't
think it would be very useful.  You don't need things to be all that clean
for general maintenance work on a vehicle.  On the other hand, the whole
set-up is not that expensive and it does work good.

You will need a decent sized compressor.  I have a 5hp, 220 volt, 12 CFM, 60
gallon, 2 cylinder compressor and its just big enough for small items.  Any
compressor on wheels or that is 110 volts would not be big enough

After using it awhile, I find that the cabinet I made is too small.
When I made it, I was not sure how well it would work so I did not want to
go all the way.

Don't count on using a sandblast gun without a cabinet unless you can do it
outside. The sand flys everywhere and makes a mess.   Glass bead media is
rather expensive, so you need to do that in a cabinet to recover it for
reuse.

Whatever part you are cleaning, the blast media finds its way into
everything on the part. So if you wanted to blast an alternator for example
you would have to disassemble it first.


Gary Lee
Calgary, Canada
1987 syncro westy, dual fuel.