I'm looking at a variety of media blasters at Harbor Freight and could use any insights/experience to lead me to the best purchase for my needs (below).

A:
I have come to a point in my project that I have the underside of both trunk lids and the door jambs that need to be prepped for paint. A real crappy paint job was sprayed on at one time. (rest of car has been stripped, reworked, sealed)

B:
Lots of little parts that I would like to bead blast and paint/powdercoat before the car goes back together.

C:
Picked-up a set of 2ltr alloys that I would like to bead blast the backsides to clean-up before I polish them. Not to sure if I should bead blast the front before polishing. I'm not going to send them out. Last set I wet sanded and polished the hard way, but they turned out real nice. Not sure if bead blasting would help or make more work for me.

Here are the choices I have and current prices at HF..some on sale.
What do you think?

Blaster Gun 16 sale (19.99)...would take alot of refilling but price is right?
35 gallon with vacumm 249 (not on sale)
40 pressurized 79 sale (129)
110 pressurized 119 sale (199)
cabinet 69 sale (87)...not sure if you can connect a hose for bigger stuff?
gravity feed (top load) unit 119 sale (139)

I've got the 40lb pressurized unit. It works pretty good but you need a high capacity air compressor to keep up with it. I have a Craftsman 5hp 25gal compressor that delivers 7.1 scfm @90psi and it can't keep up.

I would pass on the blaster gun unless you have a lot of parts too big for a cabinet. It's mostly for spot job on a body. You also have to deal with clean up since the media will shoot everywhere...not to mention how much area could 20 oz. really do? I would think you'd be refilling constantly.

Good Point...I have a Charge Pro 220 volt 5 hp 60 gallon compressor. I am able to run a DA for hours (if I'm possessed enough) at 90 psi and it always keeps up and even catches-up and turns off. So I figure it should run a media blaster just fine. Not sure what the scfm is.

Just curious...how long does say a 40lb load last?

Not that long and blasters use more air than anything. 40 gal pressure is what i have, it's nice to take a break when you have to refill it, but it is to small for extended work, i would opt for a 90gal unit the valves on the bottom are a little heavier duty these wear out fast. You will need a overkill water line dryer as this is the biggest problem when it plugs up the blaster.

You on a budget?

I spent another $20 on one of these right after I bought it. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=93608 Then it was a decent unit. Works great and I've had it for well over 5 years now. In fact I think it's been closer to 10 years.

But my compressor is 220v, 6hp, 80 gallon tank. SO I don't have any issues there either. But for that you'll need a coupla... $$

Don't bead blast the front of Fuchs if you intend to polish. BTDT You'll end up with a lot more work to polish that way. I'd like to get some soda actually for my tank and try that on some softer metal to test. It's supposed to profile the metal surface much less than glass and can even do delicate stuff.

Buy a d.a. and sand the panels with sand paper. The DA will end up being much more usefull later on than the blaster will, and you won't be taking a chance of warping the panels with the DA. OR use chemical stripper. Sand blasters are not practical for someone who is doing one car IMHO. They EAT up air and will kill a small compressor like most will have in the garage

DO NOT blast the wheels if you intend to polish them. Again, eay off and paintstripper will do the job and leave you with a good finish to work with.

Oh, and soda will not work in a standard blaster. Soda blasting requires a special setup so don't waste your money. If yopu wanat someting less harsh buy a bag of glass bead.

Everyone is in agreement here...won't blast the wheels.



So if I where to blast those hard to get surfaces, which media is best...sand, glass bead?

As far as a budget goes....no more than $200. I just don't want to end-up buying a something that is inadequate for doing the job. I really like the cabinet you bought, but it seams so limiting to what you can put in it. Can you attach a hose for big jobs, like a hood?

I understood about the areas you want to blast. My point is instead of buying a piece of equipment you will use once, just sand the prior paint off. Hard to get areas are easier to get to by folding a pice aof paper in half and going at it by hand

IF you still insist on blasting the areas I would recommend glass bead as it is less harsh and will get the paint as well as and light rust off. Just DO NOT point the nozzle directly at the panel, shoot at an angle so the media will glance off of the part, this will help to prevent warping.

As far as the cabinet goes the hose isn't the problem it is the internal space. Most if not all cabinets under about 1500.00 won't EFFECTIVELY hold a wheel. Yes you might be able to fit it in there but you won't be able to manouver it around to get it all blasted

My cabinet worked just fine blasting for wheels.

Even at an angle, glass bead will profile the surface of a Fuchs wheel enough that it will make the polishing process that much more tedious. Like I said, BTDT. If I were to do wheels again I would go the oven cleaner route, or find a local anodizer that would remove the finish.

Thanks for the tip on different equipment for soda blasting. I'll have to look into that some more.

I have a small gun $20. It makes a mess but works OK @ 60psi. Too much pressure doesn't work as well and too little just pisses out lots of media. I use glass beads in it and am completing my second restoration. I do have a good cabinet at work' It wouldn't be hard to make a plywood box with glass window, and a shop vac to do cabinet type stuff work. I saw one on the net once and it looked like it would work.

I've been thinking about doing just that. A nice big box for larger parts. Built such that it could be torn down when finished and stored away for the next time.

Try to find a commercial Blaster that will use Dry Ice or plastic media..

Sand is not a good idea; soda needs to be washed out, also not a good thing.. Dry Ice will take off ose coatings, not heavy rust tho..

For small parts, make your own blast cabinet out of plywood, and use abrasive media (NOT sand)..

Wiki article I put together awhile back on different media type...

http://www.roadglue.com/wiki/index.php/Blasting_media

I plan to use chemical strippers to remove the bulk of my paint and then will use a media blaster to get the hard to reach spots or rust areas. Currently I am using coal slag, but plan to try out some aluminum oxide at some point.

Great Wiki...what a nice resource, thank you!