ehcoplex 

Anyone here tried DIY/home media/soda/shell blasting to strip a frame? I mean, I've got a compressor, a couple frames I want to strip, Harbor Freight has this (yeah, I'm sure it's crappy, but worth trying..?)....

Andy_K 

I think the problem is having a cabinet to contain the mess. @gugie has talked about building one. He spends more time with raw frames than most of us do.

randallr

I've blasted numerous small things out on my driveway with plain ol' sand as the blast media, using something like what you show above. N95 Dust mask is necessary, glasses, too, but not a big problem otherwise. I could do a frame like that in the back yard where the grass would absorb the sand. It is a fantastic prep for bonding or painting.

ralphs

I would suggest that you don't use "plain ol' sand" for sandblasting, it's not a good choice.
Here's something to read concerning the health risks:
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/92-10...0sandblasting.

Mad Honk 

Order a proper blasting media and things should work fine. The cost of the media is what requires a cabinet to save the media. Just a heads up on the process. Smiles, MH

randallr

Thank you! Duly noted.

Pompiere

I was thinking of putting a tarp down on the driveway to collect the media. I have a bag of ground corn cobs. They work similar to walnut shells, maybe a little softer.

Velo Mule

I have used the equivalent media blasting set up for my car. Mine is a Craftsman. I put down a tarp to collect and recycle the media. One problem with these suction blasters is that they have more of a tendency to clog the feed hose than a pressure blaster. It shouldn't be too bad for working on a bike, but when you are under a car and have to crawl out to shake the container to get the media flowing again, it is a pain. In fact, the feed hose clogs right were the hose is kinked in the picture. I ended up replacing the cheap feed hose with a clear Tygon tube with twine reinforcing. It will kink, but you have to work harder to get it to kink.

Now with all of that said. I still have my suction media blaster and I have painted several bikes, but I don't use it. I go with paint stripper and then sanding. If I had a blasting cabinet and a pressure feed blaster I would probably go that way.

This is not finished, but most of the paint is gone at this point. This is with stripper and sanding. You could get it to this point with stripper and sanding the tubes. Then use the media blaster to get into the nooks and crannies.

At one point, when I starting to strip a frame I envisioned a five sided plywood enclosure that I could break down instead of building or buying a dedicated glass bead cabinet. I never built it, but it might happen in the future. Looking at this picture reminds me that when I get the details, a glass bead cabinet (or 5 sided enclosure) could be a big help.

Let us know what you end up doing @ehcoplex , and be sure to include pictures.

ehcoplex 

yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking. Definitely don’t have the space (or $) for a cabinet that would accommodate a frame.

merziac

Respirator, face shield, long sleeves, out in the yard or driveway and it will be fine.

That article concerns foundries and shipyards from the dark ages when men were men and died for it, no safety and no complaining if you wanted to keep your job.

Common sense wasn't allowed but it's not rocket science, pretty easy to mitigate any danger in this situation.

merziac

Consider this too.

gugie 

Retirement beckons.

Retoocs

We used one in college to blast our Mini-Baja OHV frame. It works, makes a huge a mess outdoors. Make sure you have an air compressor with enough capacity.

dedhed

I did a Ford farm tractor with one of those. tarps around and under in my driveway to collect and reuse media. Slow but there was a lot of surface area.
+1 on the clog & shake, especially with used media getting stuff in it. Have enough CFM/tank and expect to let the compressor catch up.

Schweinhund

Wimp. If you're running your angles right, you shouldn't hit your arms.

In fact, Call Barro Structural Steel and ask them about the old fart who always blasted in a t-shirt.

t2p

mini Baja for school competition ?

huge mess is what I recall after using a sandblaster back in the day

crap everywhere

I would search and pay (just about anything) to avoid

Retoocs

It's a competition that Society of Automotive Engineering puts on. 10hp Briggs & Stratton engine powering an off-road vehicle that you have to design and build to meet competition requirements.

merziac

Yep, not rocket surgery, that was for others benefit, I do it in shorts and t-shirt.

Do as I say, not as I do.

randallr

Yep. And dosage * frequency is a big part, too. I very rarely blast things.

merziac

Exactly

Workers didn't stand a chance back in the day.

Schweinhund

Whatdoyamean back in the day.
They have those poor souls in china sandblasting jeans with absolutely no respiratory protections and the gov. won't enforce any.
Silicosis is cumulative and they get it in spades.

SJX426 

@ehcoplex - Don't buy that one. I have one that was a PITA. Don't use sand, it will remove metal use Aluminum Oxide or other media that doesn't remove metal.
Bought the next pressurized one at HF and it works better but difficult to set up. Need lots of media too.
I bought PVC pipe for a frame with black plastic Visqueen to make a temporary booth in the driveway/ I still lost a fair amount of media. Also used a screen to fitter out the large junk that gets swept into the dustpan. Also a PITA.
I used it to clean up a very rusty mowing deck before painting.
P1030857 on Flickr

Hopefully I will make the effort to do a couple of frames this summer.

merziac

Back in the day USA and yes, plenty of places here still hazardous too.

tiger1964 

I've done open air blasting and even with the correct media I still REALLY irritated my eyes, and it lasted long enough that I thought I had permanently damaged them. I do not think glasses are adequate, I would use goggles if I did it again, and tape over any venting in them.