Bead blast set up

RDT

RDT

Joined
Dec 17, 1999
Messages
4,117
Just curious what the Pro's use for BEad blast set up. Cabinet, tank, media etc.... what your requirements are in an Air Compressor, etc.

I have had several compressor and beat them to death over the years. In need of another now... ugh!

Thanks!
R
 
All my equipment is from HF. My media is half Glass beads and half AO. Gives a nice gray finish.
 
What capacity s your Compressor? Gallons, CFM, HP, Voltage, max pressure?\

Thanks!
 
i as well use a HF blasting cabinet. White play sand works beautifully for scale removal from just outta the forge steel. I use glass media for more finished work as well , such as cleaning up file work after heat treatment, and for removing scale on railroad spike knives. The glass beads work on wood as well (stabilized) but i don't do hardly any of that with mine. Not sure they would work on unstabilized wood.

Andy
 
don't mean to hijack the thread but I also would like to know. Do I need just a compresser and blast cabinet? I have been looking at HF and depending on the cabinet it tells you what compresser hp works best
 
The larger the HP on the compressor, the better. The blasting gun takes air from the tank like MAD. So you need a tank that can keep up with the gun and isn't constantly filling up. Large tank is good too! i say 80 gallon or larger.
 
That was one of my problems as well, I had to do things in sections sometimes becausemy tank was too damn small. I had to toss it though(Grizzly) because it crapped out on me.... and wasn't worth the trouble.

Thanks!
 
a compressor can never be to big. imo get the largets tank and motor you can afford, even if you don't need it, cause eventually you will.

andy
 
I use a compressor from HF , forget the model , 60 gal , 7 hp , 14.7 CFM at 90 if recall.
I also use one of these for glass bead:
93608.gif


and one of the small Grey cabinets for al ox.
 
John T Wylie Jr said:
I use a compressor from HF , forget the model , 60 gal , 7 hp , 14.7 CFM at 90 if recall.
I also use one of these for glass bead:
93608.gif


and one of the small Grey cabinets for al ox.
Click to expand...

All good numbers on each piece. I have the bench top version of that Cabinet too. I never understood why there were different cabinets for different media other than possibly mixing media. Someone once told me you can eventually blast through a cabinet becaus ethey are pretty thin with AO or other tuff media....lol
 
You could potentially blast thru it , if you stood there for a long time.
My little gray cabinet has been in use by me for 2 years and by a friend for 2 years before that. All I have had to replace was the hose from the gun to the pickup tube and a few tips on the gun itself.

Big red being just used for glass ( for knives as well as cleaning parts for dad's 37 Pontiac ).
 
I use a Harbor Freight set up also. Nothing wrong with it at all from my point of view except that I mail ordered it to save having to drive to Tulsa to the store only to have to drive to Tulsa to the store anyway to give it back to them for one not dented in by shipping.

My compressor is a quick recovery dental compressor that I snagged from selling dental equipment and supplies for my whole career. It pumps up from 80 to 120 three times faster than most others but has a small tank of only 7 gallons. Its also very quiet which is typical of dental compressors from the days when this one was built. If you have a dental supply company near by you can ask the service guys about keeping an eye out, not so much for an old compressor as to keep an eye out for one of the used refriderant dryers they used on a lot of these. These are rock steady and usually plug right in and kick on with little problems. The compressor I got was completely rebuilt by my service guy for my territory when I got it. Its good for another 30 years but if you get a used one without doing that it will likely give you problems. The dryer units on the other hand are usually replaced when they buy a new compressor because the dryer they use today is built in and a different type.

By the way, you can save money by using a small compressor and a 'bladder tank' and join the two by a common hose and doing it this way you can actually use something small like the Hitachi nail gun compressor and actually do just fine to run a cabinet. I have a friend that has done that and its a good set up equal to having a much bigger tank.

I use the blast media from Harbor Freight that is the #80 glass bead. From what I see the finish is identical to what most production companies use to bead blast their knives and since most of my work is with production folders or making clips to match up to them it works out for me.

Some of the makers use some proprietary 'recipes' of mixing different media to get darker finishes. My only suggestion to you if you do that is to make sure you can repeat it. Its not so much a problem until you get something sent back that needs one part redone when you realize its going to mean re blasting the whole knife and not just the one part if you forget to write down the recipe. Its also possible to keep using the media you have over and over and over and create a recyle type system to keep from losing the powder. Gene Basket does this and his media is so fine after years of use that its like fine talc powder now compared to the larger particle size it was when he first got it. The finish he gets is pretty remarkable too and quite dark. I really like it.

STR
 
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