pix of aluminum cleaned with walnut shells

[Greg Stahl]

Thanks to Tom for the before and after pix.

[Ken_j]

Looks good to me, very acceptable.

[Greg Stahl]

I agree this looks great.  I wonder if I can hook up my woodworking vac system to sandblast cabinent to get rid of the dust issue while cleaning?

[Will Person]

WOW. :o   That looks nice from the "before" pictures.


Will P.

[Ed Allspaugh]

Real nice job!!  Greg when you get your blasting cabinet set up it may make your  electrolysis set up obsolete. If you can get control of the dust. Seeing these pix makes me want to look into one.

[Jack Glenn]

Greg: My dust problem was the leaking out of the sliding plexiglass top I installed. Also the dust collects on the glass on the inside and it becomes hard to see the aluminum part your blasting.

[Greg Stahl]

Jack, Do you believe it could be the electrostatic nature of plexiglass (plastic) that made the dust collect/adhere?  Would tempered glass be better?

[Tom Neitzel]

I really enjoy reading Jack's comments.  He and I have had identical experiences.  The latest is the dust and the plexiglass.  I don't think it is electrostatic problems.  There are IMMENSE quantities of very fine dust that leak out of every possible crack or crevice.  You can see well enough through it to pretty much tell what you are working on.  It also clears up when the gun runs out of shells and you have to scrape up the pile to make it go again.

tom

It is worth it though.

[Ken_j]

Put a piece of screen on the inside of the glass. This will help keep it clean. The lens that comes on these blasters may have a conductive element impregnated in them so that they do not build up a static charge. You may investigate a lens made for this. I'm not sure how the walnut dust will effect the screen. It works well with sand or glass beads. The commercial dust collecters for these use a cyclone type separater with a cloth element. A woodwoking dust collecter may do a good job. Remember you need an inlet for the cabinet at the oppisite end of the exhaust to do a good job.

[Jack Glenn]

I think  tom is probably right about the dust collecting on the plexiglass. There may be some static charge, but my system is home made, the blaster is an old portable Craftsman so who knows. I think maybe the cleaning became faster as the media was used more times. Obviously got finer and dustier.