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So I went and bought a media blasting cabinet....
Rack Ops
Member Posts: 18,597 ✭✭✭
So I've got this crazy idea that I'm going to get the money I just dropped on a sand-blasting cabinet back by refinishing beat up handguns.
First things first.......Lets be honest, I'll never make my money back, but its a great excuse to tell the wife [:)]
Second.....for those of you who have one, or have experience, what blast media works best for you for refinishing old guns? I'm leery of ending up with something thats going to be too "aggressive" and take bits of metal along with it.
As always, advise and/or derision is welcome [:)]
First things first.......Lets be honest, I'll never make my money back, but its a great excuse to tell the wife [:)]
Second.....for those of you who have one, or have experience, what blast media works best for you for refinishing old guns? I'm leery of ending up with something thats going to be too "aggressive" and take bits of metal along with it.
As always, advise and/or derision is welcome [:)]
Comments
Might I recommend a S&W 915 like this one:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=283757893
I think that gun would look nice as a two tone.
Parked upper bead blasted alloy lower.
Will your air compressor provide enough CFM to run it?
The ones with a dust collector will extend the life of the media. For gun finish, stick to the fine glass media. Good lighting inside the cabinet is a must have.
Used granulated sugar "once", for one of the best looking matte finishes ever, but jeeze what a mess to clean up![B)] Then I had to fight the ant invasion.
I've never used it, but I hear good things about the plastic bead media.
For small bits, an old speaker magnet works good. Try to hold them, and you'll have rubber gloves and finger tips with holes.
Sound like you need a new gun to test it out on.
Might I recommend a S&W 915 like this one:
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=283757893
I think that gun would look nice as a two tone.
Parked upper bead blasted alloy lower.
I've got a test subject already. I bought a beat-up 1911 last year as a restoration project, but some *uhem* issues with the parkerizing.
I had the gun blasted by a machine shop last time, but they're just too busy now to work me in....so I figured I'd try it myself.
What kinda cabinet did you get?
http://www.tractorsupply.com/sandblasting-tools-accessories/jobsmart-reg-benchtop-abrasive-blast-cabinet-32-lb-capacity-3951103
quote:
Will your air compressor provide enough CFM to run it?
I hope so...The compressor belongs to my father in law. I guess if it isn't I'll be buying a compressor too.....which isn't a bad thing to have laying around
http://www.duracoat-firearm-finishes.com/
Most decent size compressors will run one that size. It's not the pressure (PSI) you need, it's the air volume (CFM).
I had a sand blaster that was way bigger than my compressor could handle. A friend gave me an old 60gal propane tank I used to hook up in series doubling the volume. It still emptied out pretty fast, but I didn't have to keep stopping to wait for the compressor to catch up.
BTW....get some of those paper particle masks, you don't want to be breathing that dust!
,,,,Garnet media works wonders,,,,,I send pistols to C&S for the blasting/bluing,,,,,,,,,,,[;)]
Another good one-
before:
after:
i could have taken the slide down to bare metal, but was using a black oxide finish, so didn't
need to
You will wish you had a 12 cubic feet per min if you buy smaller.[:)]
I'd love to see the start to finish before/after.
Seems like most forget to start taking pictures until they are halfway through, or forget to take pictures during the second half of the project.