Media Blasting 101

[SuperNovaSS]

Hey guys,


I know that many of you have media blasting cabinets and probably have a lot more experience than I do using them. I thought it would be fun to start a thread sharing our experience with the machine and types of medias and techniques we use. I'll start this post trying to explain the basic components of a typical blasting system along with the types of media I commonly use. I hope others will chime in with their experience so we can all learn something.

I have had my cabinet for about 6 years. Before that, I was paying a local blaster to clean my intake manifolds and other parts. His prices were reasonable but the drives back and forth across town and having to wait to get the call saying the parts were ready got a bit old. I found my cabinet at a car swapmeet and pulled the trigger not knowing a lot about them at the time. I ended up getting a pretty nice machine that I have modified over the years.

Below is a picture of my machine. These cabinets are pretty simple. The media gets poured into the blaster and is sucked up from the bottom to the gun, does its job, then drops back to the bottom again. The cycle continues....



The basic components are as follows:

Main door:

The main door/hatch allows you to get parts in and out of the cabinet. The door has a viewing glass that needs to be cleaned often and replaced periodically due to etching. Many cabinets also have side door(s)





Lamp:

On top of the cabinet is a lamp. Mine has 2 florecent lamps. Others use Halogen. Some cabinets also have side mounted lights.



Drain:

The drain is on the bottom of the cabinet. Many cabinets have a trap door style drain. That is what this cabinet used to have. I have upgraded with a metering valve that has an air bleed to allow you to adjust the amount of media being sucked into the machine. This helps control sputtering with different types of media.



Air Control:

This regulator allows you to control the pressure of the incoming air. Pressure is a very important variable.




Foot control:

Much like a gas pedal, this introduces the compressed air from the compressor into the system.



Gloves:

If you don't have these you will be a mess and your hands will hurt.



Blasting gun:

Um, this is the blasting gun




Vacuum:

All the debris being removed from the part along with media breaking down causes dust to form in the cabinet. This vacuum system removes and filters out dust. The exit from the cabinet is baffled to keep larger pieces of media from being sucked out.






Compressor:

You need to have a fairly strong compressor to keep up with the amount of air you use but can also take breaks to let the compressor catch up if you have a smaller compressor.



Water separator:

You probably have one of these already You don't want your media getting wet.



Stereo system or headphones:

This is the most important part of a blasting system. This keeps you from going insane listening to the vacuum fan and compression working their butts off, LOUDLY!




I think that covers the basic components of the blasting system.

For those who would like to see a video overview, click below:

http://vid179.photobucket.com/albums...psktza4vrs.mp4

Next I will show you the types of media I use most regularly.

Jason