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Discussion DIY Wet Blaster

Discussion in 'Tech Tips' started by Andych, Oct 19, 2019.

  1. my67xr

    my67xr Bike Enthusiast Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member

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    Blasted a FZR water pump cover today

    20191130_133954.jpg 20191130_133457.jpg
     
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  2. ruckusman

    ruckusman White Mans Magic Master Premium Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    It's wonderful to see someone share their knowledge that generously
     
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  3. beano

    beano Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    Been planning on making one of these for over a year now, this thread is great and tally's in nicely with the research Iv'e been doing (I was gonna do this as part of my final year project in uni).

    The general plan was to create some kind of hybrid sandblast/vapour blast cabinet so I can both strip paint etc and put a finish on parts. With a simple and easy change over mechanism.

    I have a rough idea sketched out and it looks very doable, so will post back up the progress when i get around to it. I have a few weeks off over the x-mas period so was hoping to get a start on it then.
     
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  4. Andych

    Andych Moderator Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Realistically it is probably cheaper and easier to have both a sand blaster and a water blaster as the changeover would be time consuming and problematic at best.
    If you keep your eyes open you can pick up used sand blast cabinets cheap enough at the alternative is to just use paint stripper and just water blast.
    But if you want to have a go at it then good for you.
    More than happy to be proven wrong


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  5. maelstrom

    maelstrom LiteTek Staff Member Premium Member 250cc Vendor Contributing Member

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    Just a question Chris. If the alloy parts are cleaned first with 'alloy cleaner', containing phosphoric acid, do they come up okay when wet blasted?
     
  6. Damian_74

    Damian_74 Well-Known Member

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    I'd cleaned these with phosphoric acid before Chris blasted them.....

    i-Ft3Vhtw-L.jpg

    i-xhnVZrM-L.jpg

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    i-HGtvk7x-L.jpg
     
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  7. Jethalter

    Jethalter Well-Known Member

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    Is there any particular place you get your glass beads from ???
     
  8. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    https://dana-ridge.com.au is where I get mine, google potters AD glass media, you might find someone local who sells it.
     
  9. Jethalter

    Jethalter Well-Known Member

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    I found someone not too far away, about an hour drive (considering im rural-ish) that has them, $65 per 25kg bag.

    My setup is nothing flash, just a converted sandblasting cabinet, custom tank, septic pump with agitation bypass.
    Still has the sandblasting gun attached, anyway for the moment just using a 25kg mix of soda + 100L of water. Seems to work quite well, more effective than dry soda and more consistent feed with the media. I still need to add some more soda i think.

    Anyway its just a tinkering work in progress till i can get a decent blast nozzle in it (was quoted $240 for one to suit my compressor cfm).
    Glass beads are going to be the long term ideal, but not really wanting to spend a lot at the moment i just wanted to get away from dry soda, to at least wet soda.

    Still gotta add the foot operated pedal that does the air/pump trigger, but most importantly gotta add a wiper arm and motor as well as some good lighting, that will be the most crucial.
     
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  10. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    That bead to water ratio should be 20 to 1 , I go through a coffee cup full of bead in an hour of blasting.


    $65 is about what I pay you can use other media as well
     
  11. Jethalter

    Jethalter Well-Known Member

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    20 parts beads / 1 part water ?

    Yeah im using soda at the moment, cause i had a spare unused bag laying about and i get 25kg of it cheap, less than 1 dollar a kg.
     
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  12. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    20 parts water to 1 part bead
     
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  13. Jethalter

    Jethalter Well-Known Member

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    I was gonna say, be expensive the other way around.
    Seems to be ok with the mix of soda i got at the moment, thinking a little bit more might help tho.
    Have only tested it on a piston so far and it did that well. When i get the chance i'll try it out on a cylinder head and barrels and see from there.
     
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  14. Jethalter

    Jethalter Well-Known Member

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    Tried the AD glass beads today, so far not so good.
    Basically got little to no cleaning action from it.
    Gonna have to see what i can find, tried 4kg per 100l water or so.
     
  15. Andych

    Andych Moderator Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Should be around a 1 in 10 mixture to be effective. Depending on your compressor.
    I bought one of these to try once I get around to setting it up
    cfa30eec59da844ac2cb2153e9f19aa5.png

    It is what the New Zealand guy uses when he doesn’t make his own.




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  16. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    Best way to check Your media to water ratio is to buy a 5l plastic bottle , cut a hole in the side

    9738FFB2-D54B-4E87-8D4C-95E350255958.jpeg

    spray your slurry mix into the big hole you cut until it overflows then stop the hose , let the contents settle and look at the bottle

    723A3E4E-430E-40DF-9CCC-5115192BF1AD.jpeg

    you should see bead about a 1/6th to 1/5th of the way up the bottle , mine is a tad low in these pics and my water needs to be changed , I have been stripping painted wheels which has affected it

    718480B5-A7F5-48ED-AC17-9B362FE05C2C.jpeg

    I use about a coffee cup of bead every hour of blasting , it is important to keep this ratio
    B7EEE311-E1C7-4B50-A979-870FF09D5301.jpeg
     
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  17. Jethalter

    Jethalter Well-Known Member

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    yeah im gonna calculate it all correctly, my biggest issue was the feed. i cleaned a few things and did some things and now seems to have a good feed.

    its all teething process, but i'll get one of those cheap ebay guns when i can and see the difference, but so far the blasting gun seems to work real well.

    i turned off my tank agitation as it seemed to push all the media to the opposite side of the tank where as now it sucking it all through.

    the glass beads seem way lighter than the soda also, so it all helps.
     
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  18. kiffsta

    kiffsta Senior Member

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    My sump is 200l or there abouts , I use just over half a bag of bead when setting it up for the first time
     
  19. Jethalter

    Jethalter Well-Known Member

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    At the moment i've got 8kg in for 100L
    I can add more water, the tank is only about half full, but it seems to be enough.
    Again just more teething issues.
    Also i gotta seal the cabinet up better, found plenty of leaks lol.
     
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  20. Andych

    Andych Moderator Staff Member Premium Member Contributing Member Dirty Wheel Club

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    Depending on the pump you are using and the shape of the tank will determine what sort of agitation you need... these little dirty water pumps work best in smaller containers.. I bought a 35 litre container from Bunnings the other day which is wide enough to allow plenty of room for fittings etc and a reasonable amount of water.
    It is all trial and error... you can also adjust the amount of agitation by having a ball calve or something else adjustable on the agitation line... you only want it to swirl around and keep the beads in suspension.. not force anything into the suction of the pump, they dont work well with high concentrations of solids... uses way too much power for the equivalent flow / pressure performance.

    Also it is good to add a breather (raised about 500mm above the cabinet) which should help with the misting a bit.
     
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