Grit blaster

[MikeWilliams]

I'd like a grit blaster to clean up jobs prior to painting - especially soldered steel parts like chassis, but also soldered brass assemblies.  The Seeley seems standard, I've used them before, and they seem to be around £100 with a container large enough for Gauge 3 models.  That's OK, but they run on compressed air and the cost of a compressor makes it quite expensive in total.

Any suggestions?  What do others use?  Since it won't be used a lot, maybe there is a suitable total loss system out there?

Thanks,

Mike

[midnight miller]

Hello Mike

Get the parts to me and I will do them for you .



                                              John

[IanT]

To answer your question Mike - I've got a 'sand gun' (from Halfords I think - a long time ago) and I seem to remember Lidl's (or Aldi's?) having something similar last year for about 30 pounds. You do of course still need an air compressor (typically about 3.5 cfm at 50psi) and most importantly a face mask!

I tried mine on some old machinery I was working on but the grit gets everywhere and was clearly going to be a problem in the workshop - so I got myself an air-powered chisel, which worked very well in removing the old paint/filler but which I would not normally use on my G3 models! 

You can get sand blasting cabinets but these will run out at about 250-300 pounds - plus the compressor and gun. I have thought about making a cabinet and I've seen plans on the web for them in the past - basically a box with a glass window and some heavy duty rubber gloves poking through.

For smaller jobs Badger (airbrushes) used to do a small sand blaster that could be used inside a cardboard box but it still needed an air-can or small compressor (and that face mask! Grit and paint mixed is carcinogenic). But sand blasting is not quite like spraying paint in that you can do small parts/areas at a time with no ill effect. I imagine it would also be very good at cleaning up/smoothing down soldered joints etc before priming/painting...

But if you can get someone to do it for you - then that sounds like to way to go! 

Regards,

Ian T

[MikeWilliams]

Thanks very much John.  It would be (as always) more convenient if I had a machine on hand for immediate use, but if I've not got one set up by the end of the assembly I'll take you up on that.

This is an example of what the Society is all about, and how the forum helps it to operate - a very kind offer.

Mike