# tools for blasting parts



## SJ_BIKER (Sep 3, 2013)

A harbor freight tool shop opened up near me and I'm debating on what kind of blaster to buy to strip paint and rust off of parts....any tips you can share will be much appreciated....


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## Iverider (Sep 3, 2013)

What's your workspace like? I use a pressure pot with a blast cabinet, both harbor freight. The cabinet comes with a poopy sipho. Feed gun that works if you're patient but doesnt clog too badly. The cabinet helps keep the dust down well when you put a shop vac in the exhaust port. I installed a light in mine which helped a lot.

Use black blast or something other than play sand. Not only is play sand bad for your lungs but it clogs worse than other media.


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## SJ_BIKER (Sep 3, 2013)

*....................*

Its big ....I can fit a cabinet in there....pressure pot....I saw that in harbor freight...looks and sounds dangerous? Is it?


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## Iverider (Sep 4, 2013)

More annoying than it is dangerous. The pressure pot valves are kinda small so the tend to clog if you have the slightest bit of moisture in the compressed air. It has a pressure release valve as a safety measure. I like mine better than the siphon feed, but I use the siphon feed in the cabinet because it's a little more convenient.


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## GiovanniLiCalsi (Sep 4, 2013)

Have you tried using baking soda, as a blasting media?
It will polish nickel plated parts.


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## schwinnbikebobb (Sep 4, 2013)

I second the blast cabinet. So much better than getting the blast media all over everything. You will burn up the vac after a while but still well worth it in my mind.


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## Iverider (Sep 4, 2013)

You could prolong the vac life with an intermediate water bucket. Plumb the hose from the vac and the hose from the cabinet through the top of a bucket lid with a few inches down. The vac pulls air from the cabinet through the bucket part full of water and traps a lot of the particulate before it reaches the vacuum. Dump the water in the yard when you're done.


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## SJ_BIKER (Sep 4, 2013)

*howd you learn all this*



Krautwaggen said:


> You could prolong the vac life with an intermediate water bucket. Plumb the hose from the vac and the hose from the cabinet through the top of a bucket lid with a few inches down. The vac pulls air from the cabinet through the bucket part full of water and traps a lot of the particulate before it reaches the vacuum. Dump the water in the yard when you're done.



was it more trial and error .....expensive mistakes that resulted in such great knowledge?


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## Iverider (Sep 5, 2013)

I roached an old craftsman 2 gallon shop vac that I got for free but that could have been age and hard use. Really you'll just be sucking the dust out of the cabinet to keep the work piece visible and keep dust from escaping the cabinet (some of them have a port to let air in or out because of the pressure you're adding via the blaster. 

In theory, it's no different than using the shop vac as it's intended to vacuum up dust and dirt. The intermediate water bucket came to me through wood working which often uses a large trashcan between the vac and the power tool. In that case, the can is used to collect saw dust and wood chips preventing the clogging of the shop vac filter. It works ok. The 2nd similar set up was a Drywall dust sander. Basically a paddle for the sanding screen with a hose connected to a bucket part full of water with another hose to the vac. The idea was that the dust would settle in the water bucket. 

It will be more effective in use with the blast cabinet because you're just sucking air with a little dust in it from an enclosed chamber. The drywall sander was a piece of crap.


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