What media for blasting?

[dobbslc]

I need a bit of advice about what blasting media to use.
I've just made a real mess in my garage using fine glass bead to test my homemade blast cab!
I goes everywhere!!!
I bought it for steel and alloy bike parts I want to clean before painting.
I soon realized this wasn't for me so I cleaned it out and reused the stuff that came with the blast pot, it's a kind of black sparkling grit and works very well (the set up needs a bit of fettling still)
What is it likely to be as I need some more of it but a finer grade?
The best results I got were from putting the pickup hose into a bucket full of the grit and using one of the cheap eBay blast guns.
The pressure pot seems a ball ache to be honest as I don't know what to do set up wise.

Edit: I was using a (5/8")? Ball valve with a flatened nozzle on the blast pot. The compressor is a 3hp 150 liter SIP, it seems to have plenty of puff for what I'm doing.

 

[rtbcomp]

Whatever media you use will go everywhere if you don't use an extractor and filter setup.

The black stuff you describe is probably J-Blast, it comes in various grades.

I used glass grit (not beads) from Stacey processing. Cheap as chips. I recycled it to get a finer finish.

The best stuff to use in a cabinet on steel is chilled iron, it produces hardly any dust and can be reused a couple of hundred times, but it is expensive and will rust solid if you say "water" within a couple of yards of the stuff.

Have a search of this section of the forum, there's loads of stuff about using and setting up these blast pots.

 

[dobbslc]

Here's a photo of what I've got ,

Does it look like J blast?.

 

[rtbcomp]

^^ Looks like it.

 

[brightspark]

Here's a photo of what I've got ,
View attachment 90056
Does it look like J blast?.

yes that's the best stuff for steel @90 psi right size as well. ally its best using kiln dried sand @ 90 psi it doesn't damage the surface and will strip paint and corrosion of ally no probs but u really need to seal your cabinet and use a decent extracta that can pull more air out than the compressor can put in. I use a 4inch wood chipper fan and also use a dust mask. any sort of dust and rust from blasting is bad for health . ive been doing it for over 40 years and still healthy so must have been doing something rite

 

[dobbslc]

Thanks for the advice, I like the idea of j blast as it's pretty much dust free and most of my work will be in my garage so I don't want a coating of ****e over everything! I can't really get all the extraction gubbings done.
Not sure what grade the stuff is that I already have, it leaves a fairly rough finish.

 

[brightspark]

u probably have 0.2 to o.85 mm fine