I've had glass bead in my cabinet for a long time. I use it for almost everything. Occasionally I swap it out for aluminum oxide for the really tough stuff like well cured and aged powder coating. I've been wanting to baking soda for a long time. Finally did it tonight. Wow! Like night and day.


Before (btw, that brown gooey stuff used to be gas):

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It's like brand new!


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Is that carb for your chevy truck? Nice!

Yup. Carter AFB It needed to be rebuilt big time. Fullavarnish! I need to get the rear wheel cylinders replaced so I can drive that thing more often.

damn, dude!

I tried soda blasting a few months ago and it didn't work worth a damn. Maybe I am using the wrong soda.

I used about two cases of Diet Coke...

Should I be using regular Cola???

Noooow if you just had a caswell zink plating kit.

At least... try Jolt.


Now don't be startin talk like that. I don't meed much prodding...

soda blasting is a great way to get it done without hurting the part. Our cabinet was special built just for it. Works better and is more adjustable. We can turn it down low and clean a carb. but not remove the cad plating!

I got one of those... and a nickle.

got any pics of your blasting setup?

H.F $300 unit. When I bought it years ago it was only $180. Works fine after a few mods. Right after I purchased it and got it built I added a permanently mounted whip hose and had to "work" the door at the bottom of the hopper so it would seal worth a damn.


I turned the pressure down to around 50. I need to experiment with tips.

Hey Gint,

Is your cabinet the style with the funnellike hopper at the bottom and a steel tube that extends down into the material for pick-up?

Did you go down in size on the tip?

Funnel-like hopper. I'll dig up a link. H.F. still sells basically the same unit. I think I've had mine for almost 10 years now.

Haven't tried a different tip yet. I burned up all my garage time until tomorrow. Never enough time in the day is there?

This is basically a newer version of the unit I have. It goes on sale from time to time as well. I nee to buy a new set of gloves for it. The left glove in mine has a hole now.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/disp...temnumber=93608

Here's a similar unit/price. The top loader would be nice.

http://www.tptools.com/p/432,53_780-TL-Top...st-Cabinet.html

I've never regretted buying a cabinet. It's great to be able to clean up a part whenever the desire strikes. This one works fine and has held up well for years.

Blasting requires a lot of clean dry air.

So what mods do you need to do to convert from glass to soda? It would be nice to use the cabinet I have already and just be able to change the media and maybe a tip. Or is it more complicated than that?

Nope. That's it. Like I said, should have tried soda a long time ago. I was considering making up a smaller box for soda, but then I thought, why?

The worst part is cleaning out a courser media than the media you're replacing it with. You need to get all of the, say, aluminum oxide out of the unit before you put in something lighter like glass bead or baking soda. You don't want the coarser media mixed in and screwing up your job.

Hm... you've got me looking for room in my garage for one of those units. FYI, if anyone is looking at one of these units, if you sign up for HF's email alerts, they have extra coupons and often give you a 20% off any single item, which would work great for this item.

Gint, what do you have to do to the cabinet to make it work well??

Answered that in post #10


To be more specific, the unit had a hole in the front for the air hose to go through and a barb fitting for the hose to attach to the gun. Pretty cheesy. I made up a permanent fitting for the front of cabinet with the help of some hardware from the local ACE. Attached an 18" (I think that's the length, also available at H.F.) swivel whip hose on the inside of the cabinet and a real fitting for the gun.

The trap door at the bottom of the funnel for removing media leaked like a 914, so it had to be re-worked a little to be more accommodating. How I did that would take more time to explain than it's worth. You're sharp enough to figure out how to get that to work if you buy one.

I'll get a few pics after work and post later tonight if you're really interested.

It also helps a lot to have a good air dryer and dessicator in line before your
gun or the moisture causes your media to clump up and clog up you gun. I
like to use clear plastic line to pick up the media so I can see what is going on.
If you have a gun with a small nozzle then you need to sift your media through
a screen (especially aluminum oxide) or big chunks will clog your tip.

John

Actually being able to use my compressor and blast cabinet is one of the multitude of reasons I'm excited about my new shop space.

Now I'll have to try soda as well.

I think I have the same unit as yours Mike and also had the same ideas about modding it. Although I dont have the funnel sealing problem.
What do you use to extract dust?
I had the cab before I had a compressor to run it.
I found out quickly that my IR oil-less POS wasnt going to cut it.
You need a LOT of air.
So far Ive used it only w/ glass

I've tried various stuff for exhaust. Finally came back around to my shop vac with a filter bag in addition to the standard shop vac filter. Then I bought a foot switch so I don't have to operate the vac the entire time I'm blasting. Hit the switch for a minute with my foot when the dust kills visibility and the vac clears it out pretty well. Soda generates more "dust" than glass bead also.

When I got sick of listening to my first compressor oil-less 110v 20 gal compressor I bought a 220v 6hp w/80 gallon tank unit and never looked back.

Found out this afternoon that 30psi with soda will allow me to blast zinc plated parts without removing the plating as long as I don't spend too much time blasting the plated part. 20psi would probably work better. The soda doesn't require as much pressure to be effective either, so this worked out ok.

I like this guys version. http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-...p/soda_blaster/

Low tech is always the cheapest most rewarding way for me.

Hell I drive a 914 after all.

I use the Shop-vac for the blast cab too, made the mistake of not using a bag the first time.

I too have the harbor freight blast cab. Works great but mine had sealing issues. Ended up taping all the seams with duct tape. Used a 914 blower motor/hook up to a battery charger to clear the cab when it got dusty. Vented outside into a water container.
I also added a brighter light to mine.

To keep your air dry use a quality dryer. Not those little glass things for $10 at sears etc.

Here is the one I use. Its the M-26
Dryer
Does a damn good job filtering the moisture.

I've got no compressor nor drier - what do you recco for the basic home garage use with this & some CA power tools?

Unfortunately the 1921 garage is loo low ceiling to put in a lift, so I probably don't need to plan for that. ... but if I did put in a shorty lift, what for that as well?