Sandblasting

[Electricdreams]

Where can I go for sandblasting and where is recommended?

Is there somewhere in Manchester I can use?
I have sent some emails but there are no replies as of yet.

If you must know it's a commodore pet case that I want sandblasting. But that is irrelevant to my question which is why I posted in general discussion.

[Station X]

Try powder coating companies.

[1100 man]

Hi,
Be very, very,very,very careful before entrusting something like this to any commercial sandblasting company!!
I have been involved for many years with the restoration of Austin/ Morris 1100's (well somebody has to!). We have our own blasting set- up using much finer media than most companies and I would consider that we are very experienced at blasting body panels. Basically, we don't!! We will blast round the edges and rigid areas but any flat areas such as say a door skin, bonnet etc we will avoid at all costs.
The force of the media hitting the metal causes very localised heating which causes distortion.
Without exception, 100% of panel work I have seen that has been blasted by commercial companies has been utterly ruined. It often looks OK with a coat of matt primer- its only when the body work guy who has to fill and paint it takes over that the distortion becomes apparent.
They will all assure you that they can blast without distortion but they can't!!!
Surface rust on flat areas we will sand with a random orbit sander and then treat with rust converters and panel prep chemicals.
I would investigate having it chemically 'stripped' as this won't cause distortion.
Hope that helps
All the best
Nick

[Electricdreams]

And how do you have it chemically stripped? What have you used?

[G6Tanuki]

Sandblasting may be OK for something like the outside of a tractor axle-casing but it's really much to aggressive for anything you're likely to find in a radio, as others have observed. A lot of places can do "soda blasting" which uses baking-soda and is a lot kinder to the underlying material than sand or grit.

I've also heard of blasting being done using finely ground nut-shells as the abrasive!

[M0FYA Andy]

There's a thread running on the Aviation Forum on the subject of Dry-ice blasting of aircraft parts which might be of interest -

https://forum.keypublishing.com/show...eroplane-parts

Andy

[mark_in_manc]

I'd do electrolytic rust removal with something like that, using a caustic soda electrolyte and a bench DC supply to put about 2 or 3 amps through it. Work piece is cathode, anode can be anything - but if you use plasterer's galv mesh you'll lightly galvanise your work piece, which might be a little rough as a finish (I use it as it's so bendy, and I have some). It's a 'line of sight' process so you'll need a few bits of anode to surround your work piece. Process will take all paint off and deal with rust at the same time.

I'm in Whalley Range - if you want to see this working, I could set up a test piece for you. I guess you'd need a big plastic bucket for a computer case, but it's not so very huge.

cheers
Mark

[Electricdreams]

Stockport Powercoating did a good job of blasting and respraying.

[Station X]

That looks very good. I always use a powder coating company for metal cases. The blasting gets into all the nooks and crannies, something you can never achieve with wire brushes etc. A lot less effort too!

[Boater Sam]

By Heck, they did, didn't they?

Lived in the area for over 50 years and I never knew they were there.