- \n
- you really need a lot of air for it to work well<\/li>\n
- the mess made by all the sand flying about is amazing<\/li>\n
- it is not good for the lungs – actually if you want to do this sort of thing, you need either a fully enclosed cabinet for smaller items, or a full head cover with external air feed to pressurize the hood to ensure you aren’t breathing silica dust and paint chips when blasting larger items<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Bottom line – not recommended mainly due to safety concerns unless you are willing (and able) to invest the money in the right safety and compressor equipment.
<\/p>\n
One of the fellows in the RMS<\/a> branch of the CVMG<\/a> had mentioned to me, that there was a local outfit here in Calgary offering do-it-yourself sand blasting by the hour so I thought I’d give them a try. Consolidated Compressor<\/a> is in the east industrial area of Calgary and the rates are quite reasonable. They have about 8 stations, and on any given day you will find several people happily blasting away as per the photo to the right. As I was new to this, one of the folks there stepped me through the ‘how tos’ before I got started. It isn’t a difficult process – basically just point and shoot, taking care not to get parts of your own body in the way ! They supply instructions, gloves and ear plugs, a fully enclosed helmet with external air supply, work areas where you can clamp your work, and all the compressed air and sand you need. Long sleeves and long trousers are a must, and as well it is also a good idea to not park your car too close, just in case you point things in the wrong direction ! The process is fast – paint, rust, etc., just flew off the work pieces I had, and the resultant bare metal finish is ready to go for paint or additional metal working as required.<\/p>\n
I have to assume the same sort of service is available in other cities, and if not then that’s a shame because its a great idea !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just spent a 30 minutes doing something that was hugely satisfying in a weird kind of way – sand blasting ! The background is that I I needed to clean up some parts for my Suzuki GT750 project (the … Continue reading