# Sandblasting in St. Louis!!!



## rebirthbikes (Oct 16, 2012)

Hey everybody,
does anyone know anyplace near St. Louis where I could blast my frames and parts? I've been in contact with a few friends and random people I've met at swap's and so far I've come back with nothing!!! Does anyone have a blaster that I could use, that lives close to St. Louis? I'll buy my own material, I just need a blaster big enough to do three frames, three forks, six rims and a chain guard!!! Shouldn't be but a few hours of blasting. Any help would be fantastic. Any leads would be better!!!

thank you,
judd


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## Talewinds (Oct 16, 2012)

If you've never done it before I would budget for considerably more time. That many items will take a FULL day to blast well.

Powder coaters and chrome platers all posses media blasters as its an essential part of their business. Also, the blast media is expensive. If you can make an agreement to have them do it for you for a fee I'm VERY certain it would be cheaper/easier/less time consuming to just let them do it.


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## rideahiggins (Oct 16, 2012)

*Sandblasters*

Did you try any of these places.
http://www.yellowpages.com/saint-louis-mo/sandblasting?g=Saint+Louis,+MO


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## 46powerwagon (Oct 16, 2012)

~I agree with Tailwinds~


Gary


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## rebirthbikes (Oct 16, 2012)

Thank you everyone for all the responses. I have blasted before and I guess I should have been more specific, the frames are all almost all the way down(emory cloth, easy-off, and grinding pad) But I need to get into the nooks and crannies. When I did it before, rims took about fifteen minutes, the forks are just the two sides of Schwinn springers and the chain guard is relatively stripped. And the fenders aren't done yet. So I guess-timated a few hours. Probably more like seven to eight. I do everything on a budget and I'd be using the black sand form lowe's as that's what I'm accustomed to. I looked into some sandblasting companies around the area and for the most part I was pretty shocked at some of the pricing. But I thank you all for taking the time to try and help me out!!!

thank you,
judd


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## John (Oct 16, 2012)

*Sand blast sink*

You can always make one from the wifes garage sink
http://www.letterville.com/steps/hines/


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## Johann (Oct 16, 2012)

*a bucket style would probably work best for you.*

Hi,

They make a bucket style that will hold 2-3 gallons of sand.   They don't handle coarse sand well.  They need fine sand to properly spray. I used one on lots of media, did a complete frame and all suspension parts on an 84 thunderbird.  I had a 200 gal. tank that would hold 200psi.  You could sandblast for 20 minutes at 90 psi.  Then wait for the compressor to get you back to 200 psi.

Definitely wear some breathing apparatus and also a full face shield, leather gloves.
I went to smoke a cigarette and after lighting put lighter back in shirt pocket.  A grain of sand held the lighter valve open, still lit.
be careful!

Johann


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## rideahiggins (Oct 17, 2012)

*Sandblasters*

Companies in my area charge $10 to blast just the frame and I do the forks in my blast cabinet from Harbour Frieght.


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## rebirthbikes (Oct 17, 2012)

The price I was quoted by numerous companies was $60/hour with a minimum of two hours!!! Other than that, I haven't been lucky enough to find anyone that will do anything but commercial blasting, no blasting if your not a corporation. I do know a guy that has a small media blaster unit that I could use, but it will only do the forks. And it's a soda/media blasting cabinet. As I have never used those materials before I'm not quite sure as to what materials are best on bicycle frames. Any suggestions???

Also, how bad would it be to leave the door open in a small cabinet when I blast? I only ask in regards to my previous statement about the small media blasting cabinet, if I have to I could put half the frame in and blast it one half at a time, but that would cause me to lose most of my blasting material... has anyone ever tried this???  

Also, the DIY blast cabinet is awesome, if I owned an air compressor I would be all over this. And Johann, where could I find the bucket you were speaking of? I checked Harbor Freight and they have a 20 gallon sand blaster with attachments for $60 and then a pancake compressor for another $60. Honestly I'm considering that route over $120 for two hours of blasting by a company!!!

thanks,
judd


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## rideahiggins (Oct 17, 2012)

*cabinet*

You definitely don't want to leave the door open on a blast cabinet. Blast cabinets need some sort of vacuum system on them to suck up the dust and keep the cabinet from getting so dusty you can't see the part.


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## John (Oct 17, 2012)

I make a cardboard and duct tape enclosure on mine, when I need to blast parts lager than my cabinet.
You can just use heavy duty paint remover on the area that you cant get into.


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## Johann (Oct 18, 2012)

*grainger is where I bought my bucket*

Hi,
Grainger had a bucket, 2/3 gallons, had filter on top and a connection for the gun (gun and hose were included). Can't remember what it cost been so many years ago. I also do things on a small scale as far as expenditures.  Good luck, doesn't sound like you need much for what you are doing.  Just be careful of the dust, don't breathe any of it.



rebirthbikes said:


> The price I was quoted by numerous companies was $60/hour with a minimum of two hours!!! Other than that, I haven't been lucky enough to find anyone that will do anything but commercial blasting, no blasting if your not a corporation. I do know a guy that has a small media blaster unit that I could use, but it will only do the forks. And it's a soda/media blasting cabinet. As I have never used those materials before I'm not quite sure as to what materials are best on bicycle frames. Any suggestions???
> 
> Also, how bad would it be to leave the door open in a small cabinet when I blast? I only ask in regards to my previous statement about the small media blasting cabinet, if I have to I could put half the frame in and blast it one half at a time, but that would cause me to lose most of my blasting material... has anyone ever tried this???
> 
> ...


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