Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion ready to sand blast and prime got questions.

Hey all, I am ready to start blasting my pump and have read on the bag of silica sand about how dangerous this stuff is. Do you all use this or something different and where can I find other stuff? Or is it ok to use outside with a mask? I know nothing about this. I was thinking of using a small plastic swimming pool(to catch the sand) at the back of my barn and hanging up some tarp on the back wall of barn. What do you think? Ok then when I get all that taken care of I guess I need to prime the metal soon after to keep from rusting. What should I use for that? Thanks very much for any info.

Sandblasting....ugghhh!!! I never used it after I tried it once. If you already have the silica sand, make sure you wear a mask and eye protection. A pair of those white type coveralls would also help. My choice for media would be plastic or walnut shell. The silica has a tendency to heat the metal resulting in panel warp. I used a high speed wire brush with a knotted wheel made by DeWalt. I found it is no more time consuming then blasting, a lot less messy, and you actually go over every inch of the pump so you can find the smallest ding. Blasting also requires a heck of a compressor to keep it going. Sand blasting would be no problem for a professional body shop which is set up for it, but for the ordinary guy, I personally don't recommend it.

Many of you just dred sandblasting pumps because of the mess it creates. I haven't done many pumps but let me pass on a tip that I use while working on large automotive stuff. So far it's worked well for my short '54 Tokheim 39. I sandblast everything in a standard sandblast cabinet. The cabinet I have is about 36" wide, but it has a door on the side to load and unload parts. To blast long parts I modified my blast cabinet. I removed the door and constructed a panel out of plywood, lined the inside with a piece of sheet metal and fit it to the side of the cabinet in place of the door. The panel has a large hole cut into it, with a large flange surrounding the hole. I then made a large canvas bag with a draw string. The part you want to blast is inserted into the blast cabinet, half of it hangs out, the canvas bag goes over the portion that hangs out. The drawsting on the bag is used to keep the bag tight around the flange on the plywood panel. When your done with one end, remove the bag and flip the panel.
This works very well. It keeps most of the mess down. I do get a little bit of dust coming thru the bag and some unsealed gaps. but not much. The vacuum on the blast cabinet keeps the mess in check. When I'm done with the long panels, I remove my "fabbed" panel and put the door back on. There are limitations to the length of panel that can be blasted. But the mess is kept to a bare minimum!
Hope this gives some of you ideas and can help ease the dreded sandblasting.

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Slowly progressing on a '54 Tokheim 39
ECO wanted...cheaply

Heck, I just sandblast the smaller stuff in the driveway. When the hopper runs outta sand, I sweep it up, run it thru the screen filter and go back at it. For the larger panels and doors, I take it to a chemical strip shop. Much easier and cleaner when their done than anything I can do at home.

Later . . .

Jim





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http://www.vintage-logos.com

I am using "Black Diamond", bought it at Northern Tools for around 5.99 a bag, does a whole lot better than sand in my opinion. You do have to have a good compressor to keep your blaster going. I also filter screen my used sand and reuse,I usually capture about 2/3 of my used sand.
Jason

[This message has been edited by JasonBullis (edited 06-18-2004).]

I took mine down to a place that does sand blasting... best 60 bucks I ever spent... no mess and a whole lot easier.... IMHO.