Sandblasting: What abrasives do you suggest?

[Kern Dog]

I had no idea of how many options there are.
Glass beads, Coal slag, Red Garnet, steel, stainless steel, walnut shells, etc...
I just want to clean up some metal parts in my cheap blast cabinet.
I have used glass beads....talk about S L O W progress! Red Garnet was much faster but mine must have broken down because it has been clogging more and cutting slower. I saw that there are multiple grits to choose from.
What do you like for cleaning stuff like backing plates, motor mounts, engine brackets and intake manifolds?
I've found that my stuff I've used doesn't take caked on grease very well. It sucks to have to run a wire wheel over stuff then blast it afterwards. Am I asking too much? It seems to me that the blaster should just run right through everything.

 

[Bighouse]

I use coal slag for rust, and walnut shells for soft metals like an intake manifold so it doesn’t change the profile of the surface. I’ll use glass bead if the soft metal part is going to be painted.
Clean the grease off first and make sure your parts are nice and dry.

 

[Wojo68]

I use black diamond. It’s a pain in the *** but you gotta clean up the parts first.

 

[bearman]

How about power washing first Then use blaster as you usually do. May help just a thought

 

[slimt]

00 grit. Its fine to remove. But not coarse enough to damage. Even 000 grit would be better .

 

[Kern Dog]

I saw on the Grainger website that they have Garnet in grits as coarse as 36.
My parts aren't too rusty, just chipped paint, dirty and greasy.
I like cleaning parts with the blaster. It really sucks though when the sand wears out and won't do much.

 

[RemCharger]

I think it's the 30-50? that you don't want. Way too coarse.

 

[Kern Dog]

I'm curious as to how coarse is too coarse. Most of what I'm cleaning is steel and cast iron.

 

[71RRHI]

My local company recomended aluminum oxide blast material. It's expensive but it lasts for 10-15 recycle cyles. When iI went in and asked what they recommend for cleaning automotive parts, for hobby use. They said if I bought a bag of aluminum oxide I wouldn't be back for more for five to six years of hobby use. So far they been right. Ive used it for upper and lower control arms, and misc brackets and such. With lower pressure about 50-60 Psi ihave stripped paint off plastic grilles and they came out perfect. Still have half a bag in a bucket never used about 2 years now.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

Seems like the grease needs to go away before blasting. I would think the grease would get mixed in with the abrasive and cause problems. The old shop I worked in, the parts were hot tanked to degrease them before they entered the glass beading cabinet. The bead blasting was mainly for removal of rust and old paint.

 

[493 Mike]

I use and recommend crushed glass. I have also used glass beads but, as you noted, it's slow. The crushed really does quite well. I even use it for a replacement for sanding manually on parts that are not needing a finished/polished appearance.
Mike

 

[66Satellite47]

My buddy has two blast cabinets, one with sand or granite for the coarse cleaning and the other with glass beads for the finish. He said changing the coarse stuff often was very important.

 

[joe smith]

Absolutely need to clean any grease and oil off first.. Solvent tank, pressure washer or hand scrubbing
Watched an episode of ' American Restoration" where they had just changed to Coal Slag and were very happy with how much quicker it worked...

 

[gkent]

I've found that my stuff I've used doesn't take caked on grease very well. It sucks to have to run a wire wheel over stuff then blast it afterwards. Am I asking too much?

Yes you are !! If grease mixes in with the blast media it will leave residue everywhere in the system to glog and contaminate. Then whatever you blast needs to be degreased before paint. Do the cleaning first and the blast results will be much better.

As far as media, my go-to for years has been strictly aluminum oxide. A finer grit will take longer to blast heavy rust BUT it gets into smaller areas - like bolt threads, tight corners, etc. and leaves a finer finish for painting. Aluminum oxide will outlast virtually any other blast media.

For really HEAVY rust I soak the parts in a rust remover. I'll finish them in the blaster if necessary but I don't want to stand at the blaster for an hour blasting heavy rust when the bath will do a good job and I can be doing something else.

 

[rumblefish360]

Grease will for sure mess up everything and be a royal PIA to correct. Also get as much of the RTV off as well.

 

[snakeoil24]

Star blast xl

 

[ckessel]

Make sure your air source and cabinet/media is DRY. Any moisture is going to plug up the works.

 

[Ron H]

Make sure your air source and cabinet/media is DRY. Any moisture is going to plug up the works.

A bud that has done a lot of blasting and painting suggested I reroute my compressor regulator/filter at least 10 feet away from the compressor as I’ve dealt with moisture accumulation. Something I didn’t know; but haven’t done this yet..

 

[Kern Dog]

Make sure your air source and cabinet/media is DRY. Any moisture is going to plug up the works.

I run the line through an air trap.
The comment about RTV... I was surprised that the blaster was worthless against it.
It didn’t occur to me to clean grease and RTV off first but it makes sense. Thanks for that!

 

[slimt]

we ise this thing often for oil rigs. Over a 6 month time frame 400 pieces. 36 is what we use for that stuff. We will go through 3 of those 2000 lb bags , parts range from 75lbs to 2200lbs each