Small scale blasting

J

jdkno

Guest
I tried searching but came up dry on this one.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience using one of those portable blasting machines. Something along the lines of this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=30979

I would not be using it on anything large, more than likely a couple of blades a year and some micarta scales at the most.

In addition, would 80 grit glass beads do the job or is that too heavy / light?

Thanks
 
Hi, I have a blaster just like it! It works pretty good, I use mine out back of my shop with a good face filter and some good gauntlet blasting gloves & goggles. Sand goes every where! I use 80 grit sand and make 220 grit belt scratches dissapear, leaves a rough but no glare finish.
Sampson Knifeworks
 
Thanks

If I used 80 grit glass beads do you think it would produce a nice satin finish on a blade.

Ever used it on micarta or G10?
 
I find that glass beads by themselves don't do much to steel, at least not with the small scale balsting setup I have. I mix a little bit of aluminum oxide in with them. For Micarta and G-10, glass alone should work fine.
 
Brett, can I ask what PSI you are running your small blaster at?
 
Usually 80 to 100. I only have a 10 gallon compressor from Lowe's, so I get just a couple of seconds of blasting before waiting for it to recharge, but I usually only do one knife at a time, so it works for me.
 
Thanks for the input.

I would probably be doing the same as you, one knife at a time.

What grits glass bead and alumium oxide have you tried?
 
80 grit on the glass bead, and I think the A/O is 80 grit as well. I selected them based on the following mathematical formula:

#grit A/O plus #grit glass bead = whatever my local Harbor Freight had in stock at the time.:p
 
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