Post by SpyderLady on Jun 17, 2007 5:37:47 GMT -6
I found this on the same blog as the other thing, how to use electrolysis. We had one of these small sand blasters at a machine shop I worked in yrs ago. It was fun just to play around with it. It was completely enclosed and safe. Don't know about how this guy made one, but thought it might give some of you DIYer's an idea to make one.
How to make a sand blaster
I decided to make my own sand blaster, to clean the old enamel and rust from a motorcycle frame, before having it plastic coated. I certainly wouldn't advise any one to try to use one though!
I am always fascinated by how some things work, because I'm a mechanic by trade. When I was rebuilding an old motorcycle, I went through the routine of totting up how much it was all going to cost me, and to see if I could save some money! One job that required doing was the frame needed re-coating, either with enamel or plastic. Plastic was more popular, and looked better. The way to get a frame ready is to take it for sand blasting, after removing things like locks and bearings, then covering any bearing surface for example, the steering head.
I had access to all this sort of stuff at work. We didn't have a blaster. Sandblasters are very dangerous, they will rip skin off down to the bone. It's also lethal for eyes and to breathe as well. The people that do this wear a protective suit with breathing apparatus. There are probably regulations laid down for using these things as well. I had used a little blaster in a cabinet that used different mediums for different metals like aluminium etc. Because it was in a cabinet you were safe from the medium, the cabinet had holes through with rubber gloves attached. The medium just bounced off rubber. This cabinet was very good for cleaning motorcycle engine parts, especially the fins of the cylinder blocks. It brings them up like new, ready to be re-coated, or chromed.
I had taken motorcycle frames for blasting before, and I took notice as to how the blaster worked. It was pretty straight forward really, I have done an apprenticeship in engineering, and so I not only knew how compressed air equipment worked, but I, at that time worked with compressors; huge 1,000 cubic feet per minute compressors.
I had a friend at work, who I had known for over 20 years, we grew up together! he was a plater welder. I asked him if he could give me a crash course in welding using the 'MIG' welder (metal in gas). He said 'no problem', but if it's for something using compressed air, he had better do it! Together we designed our blaster, it was nothing elaborate, in fact we used an old fire extinguisher turned upside down, this was to hold the sand. A hole was put in the bottom and a threaded pipe socket welded in so we could use this as a filler, and then just screw a plug into it. Half way down the extinguisher body we drilled a smaller hole and welded a small pipe socket to it. This was going to have a reduced input of air to agitate the sand. The neck of the extinguisher had a internal thread anyway so it was just a matter of matching the thread. We put a 'tee piece' here. This was just to let the sand fall and then one end was the input for the air, and the last end was for a hose with a nozzle attached for the business end!
We tried it and it worked great, just so long as the sand was kept dry. Drying the sand was easy, we just put it on a plate with a propane torch under it, when dry, it went into the fire extinguisher. The final job was to make a barrier between me and the motorcycle frame. Because we were going to do this outside, we just made a flat screen, with a plexi-glass viewer and some heavy duty rubber gloves attached, I already had over-alls and boots and helmet! It wasn't straight forward after that because we had to regulate the pressure and make sure the sand was agitated. The frame came up like a new one. As soon as the frame was cleaned I put it straight into the car and off to get it coated in black plastic. I waited for it doing, it's just a matter of putting it into a kiln and when hot enough they bring it out and spray it with powder, the powder is plastic, and it adheres to the hot metal. It's amazing to watch it start to shine. When it's cold it can be taken but I left it until the next day to give it chance to harden. Of course I wouldn't advise anybody to do what we did, we were younger and had different attitudes then. It was may have been illegal as well!! It is best to leave it to the professionals. It's just my nature to try to do things like this, I have an enquiring mind, and I didn't like to be defeated with a job. I also at this time taught myself how to use electrolysis to clean some parts, using soda crystals as a solution, together with a battery charger. I also learned how to use a charger to copper plate and nickel cadmium coat bits and pieces. That's another article though!
How to make a sand blaster
I decided to make my own sand blaster, to clean the old enamel and rust from a motorcycle frame, before having it plastic coated. I certainly wouldn't advise any one to try to use one though!
I am always fascinated by how some things work, because I'm a mechanic by trade. When I was rebuilding an old motorcycle, I went through the routine of totting up how much it was all going to cost me, and to see if I could save some money! One job that required doing was the frame needed re-coating, either with enamel or plastic. Plastic was more popular, and looked better. The way to get a frame ready is to take it for sand blasting, after removing things like locks and bearings, then covering any bearing surface for example, the steering head.
I had access to all this sort of stuff at work. We didn't have a blaster. Sandblasters are very dangerous, they will rip skin off down to the bone. It's also lethal for eyes and to breathe as well. The people that do this wear a protective suit with breathing apparatus. There are probably regulations laid down for using these things as well. I had used a little blaster in a cabinet that used different mediums for different metals like aluminium etc. Because it was in a cabinet you were safe from the medium, the cabinet had holes through with rubber gloves attached. The medium just bounced off rubber. This cabinet was very good for cleaning motorcycle engine parts, especially the fins of the cylinder blocks. It brings them up like new, ready to be re-coated, or chromed.
I had taken motorcycle frames for blasting before, and I took notice as to how the blaster worked. It was pretty straight forward really, I have done an apprenticeship in engineering, and so I not only knew how compressed air equipment worked, but I, at that time worked with compressors; huge 1,000 cubic feet per minute compressors.
I had a friend at work, who I had known for over 20 years, we grew up together! he was a plater welder. I asked him if he could give me a crash course in welding using the 'MIG' welder (metal in gas). He said 'no problem', but if it's for something using compressed air, he had better do it! Together we designed our blaster, it was nothing elaborate, in fact we used an old fire extinguisher turned upside down, this was to hold the sand. A hole was put in the bottom and a threaded pipe socket welded in so we could use this as a filler, and then just screw a plug into it. Half way down the extinguisher body we drilled a smaller hole and welded a small pipe socket to it. This was going to have a reduced input of air to agitate the sand. The neck of the extinguisher had a internal thread anyway so it was just a matter of matching the thread. We put a 'tee piece' here. This was just to let the sand fall and then one end was the input for the air, and the last end was for a hose with a nozzle attached for the business end!
We tried it and it worked great, just so long as the sand was kept dry. Drying the sand was easy, we just put it on a plate with a propane torch under it, when dry, it went into the fire extinguisher. The final job was to make a barrier between me and the motorcycle frame. Because we were going to do this outside, we just made a flat screen, with a plexi-glass viewer and some heavy duty rubber gloves attached, I already had over-alls and boots and helmet! It wasn't straight forward after that because we had to regulate the pressure and make sure the sand was agitated. The frame came up like a new one. As soon as the frame was cleaned I put it straight into the car and off to get it coated in black plastic. I waited for it doing, it's just a matter of putting it into a kiln and when hot enough they bring it out and spray it with powder, the powder is plastic, and it adheres to the hot metal. It's amazing to watch it start to shine. When it's cold it can be taken but I left it until the next day to give it chance to harden. Of course I wouldn't advise anybody to do what we did, we were younger and had different attitudes then. It was may have been illegal as well!! It is best to leave it to the professionals. It's just my nature to try to do things like this, I have an enquiring mind, and I didn't like to be defeated with a job. I also at this time taught myself how to use electrolysis to clean some parts, using soda crystals as a solution, together with a battery charger. I also learned how to use a charger to copper plate and nickel cadmium coat bits and pieces. That's another article though!
You need what ya got left ya know. Some things are more complicated to reattach!!!!!!!!
LOL....yes!