sand/bead/grit blasting

[chamber66]

Going to have a go at doing this at home, on small items. Just wondering what i could use to contain all the grit when blasting. Some soet of box or tent. anyone have any thoughts on this?

p.s I can't afford a cabinet or have the room

[billy]

Is there really no way you can build/use a box? A box is worth it's weight in gold I tell ya! It doesn't have to be very big either.

Use old wooden furniture or whatever, it'll last fairly long if you add a piece of sheet metal under the part you're blasting. Most of the wear inside the box is located at the floor area under the part you're blasting.
I'm using a box in stainless steel with these measures (rough measures):

Width: 70 cm
Depth: 50 cm
Height: 40 cm

This box is rather big for small parts, I rarely need to have it sized that big tbh. I could have had it half as big and it would have worked fine.

I don't have an air seal kinda lid btw, I just lay a piece of glass on the top that fits rather nicely, then I cover up any remaining holes with wood and old towels. It doesn't have to be 100% air sealed (and if it is, you have to add a car air filter on the box to let the air/pressure out).

It works allright (at least if you're not blasting parts often or trying to make a living out of it) but you have to hold your breath and do it outside, preferably in a slight wind so the cloud of sand blows away. You gotta be really careful with the dust, most of the time you don't see the dust, but I assure you, it's there! The particles are microscopic and very hard to see, so don't breathe that crap in, the lungs won't be able to get it out.

PS: You don't need to add a sandblasting glove to the box, just cut a hole in the box (preferably on the right side of the box if you're right-handed) where you can stick a glove wearing hand in, and then use a welding glove or whatever. A regular working glove works fine, too.
You'll get sand into the glove but just empty the b**tard every once in a while and you'll be fine.

[chamber66]

Brilliant answer thankyou ;D

[paulo]

Hi chaps, sorry to sound like the Health & Safety department, but wear decent goggles & mask. There's silica in most blasting grits which is very bad for your lungs. Also if you have a old hoover, you can plumb this in and it will help with the dust build up in the cabinet, so you can see what you are doing.

[chamber66]

I was thinking of having a go at using bicarbonate of soda as a blast material. I know this is supposed to be good for carbs. Anyone tried it?

[twostroker]

well.... my 2 pennies worth is if your only using the sand blasting contraption to do a few parts from 1 bike by by the time you have spent the best part of a day nocking up a make shift cabnit you could probaly buy a cheap second hand one from ebay or even just pay a local firm 1 hour labour to blast them for you.
the firm i work for does some sand blasting and from my limited experience there is lots of different grade mediums for different jobs ie corse for removing rust from steel to very fine for cleaning alloy and etching glass.
sorry if ive come asross with the wrong attitude but thats just how i look at things but then again ive got limited free time due to my many commitments.
i also agree strongly with paulo atleast wear a carbon filter mask and some leather welding gloves with rubber gloves inside.

[Deleted]

gday , i have done the bi-carb for the carbs, but remember its a gentle process and to get my 2 carbs and fuel tap how i wanted them took 2 kg of bi-carb, i also have a good size compressor.it does work but its slow

[jollyr6]

Yeh av got a shipload needs doing where u based curz??

[jollyr6]

Had a go last year used and pit sand just used a box got sand every where but worked lol have fun curz ;D