sanding with crashed glass or glass beads

[luccass_j]

Hi,

Ive done blasting using aluminium oxide and sodium bicarbonate but now I need a medium media. I want to use either crashed glass or glass beads. Is this media good for diy work? Im gonna use my pot so is 3M mask and sand blasting hood enough to protect myself?

 

[rtbcomp]

Crushed glass is aggressive and cuts very well, ideal for shifting paint & rust. Glass beads are totally different and used to achieve a smooth surface prior to polishing if required.

For protection an air fed helmet is the best, they're quite cheap on Ebay these days. The lens will soon get scratched so tear-off lens protectors are required.

 

[optima21]

I tried one of the hoods off ebay that wern't air fed and it went straight in the bin, the moisture in my breath caused it to fog up instantly. I ended up using acetate film for ohp projectors as "tear off's". just stuck then round the edge with insulation tape and they were good enough for a couple of hours use

 

[brightspark]

if u haven't a proper air fed blasting helmet just buy a cheap safety visor and a decent face mask respirator those stupid masks for blasting will make u gasp for air after a minute

 

[luccass_j]

Thanks i do use decent mask respirator the one with exchangeable filters even though for the last half a year or longer ive been using sodium biocarbonate for blusting. The hoods little filter broke the minute i put the hood on and the visor had to be taped because it keeps popping out. The air fed helmet is app £50 on ebay from chine so it means waiting for a month for it to arrive.

Thanks for telling me difference between crashed glass and glasd beads. I will have to think what to go for.

 

[rtbcomp]

.... The air fed helmet is app £50 on ebay from chine so it means waiting for a month for it to arrive.

...

Worth the wait, my Brirish one cost me £200 - bear in mind you'll need more air to supply it. I modified mine by fitting a wide bore tube (vacuum cleaner type) and fan blower.

 

[luccass_j]

So how do you feed air? Is it just a long tube going somewhere outside the garage?

 

[rtbcomp]

No, you need positive pressure to force air down the tube and keep the helmet at positive pressure. The air should either be filtered or the intake kept well away from the dust. If you use a blower like I did then a fly screen on the inlet is advisable.

 

[luccass_j]

Thanks ill have to think what to do. Did you get the blower on ebay?

 

[rtbcomp]

I used a car heater blower. The idea being that it would run off a car battery & charger so that if there was a mains failure I would not lose my breathing air. Similarly the lights in my blast room above the main air valve and the door were battery maintained.

 

[luccass_j]

Ok thanks

 

[luccass_j]

Just want to update everybody who contributed to my thread. So first of all I did not go with crashed glass or glass beads. I did not have to many parts to blast so I thought I did not want to spend the money. I build a cabinet using first just cardboard boxes which you can see in the first pic.

I changed it to some I don't know what it is chipboard sheets? that I got from wickes.

I used aluminium oxide that I used to sand blast sub frame for another car couple of years ago and I used this portable sand blaster that turned out to be useless. Ive got a big blasting pot but as I mentioned before I converted it to soda blasting pot and did not want to put aluminium oxide in it. Anyway the next couple of pictures show the results I achieved.

I also painted the parts. There are parts for VW aicooled engine by the way.

I used 3hp 100lt compressor that is pretty small for any kind of blasting. Ive got another compressor that is broken but I want to connected them together and used the other tank as storage for extra air. I also had some problems with moisture in the compressor that I will have to address when I have to blast some other parts.

 

[bigdry]

so what media did you actually use in the end? thx