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Blast media recommendations


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In the spring planning to media blast the chassis I have,  any recommendations for what media to use, was thinking of either crushed glass or garnet appreciate the latter is more expensive but was wondering if it was more effective and so I would use less material and time ? 

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Soda is popular, not too aggressive. But a lot of the skill is down to the operator. 

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On a frame, I'm not sure why you wouldn't just use ordinary sand.  A frame isn't a sensitive item, and sand is  cheap enough that you really don't need to collect and re-use it, but you can if you want to.  My frame took about 400 pounds of sand, but it was only about two bags, used multiple times.

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Sand is not allowed over here for health reasons;I would not use it, not only because it is not allowed.

Not only for yourselves (you can wear proper ppe), but also for others in your area. And if you later clean, dedust, you will get some of it in your lungs too.

Waldi

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Thats interesting, Waldi.  I didn't know sand was not allowed in some places.

I wear a mask and hood, which is a good idea with any media, and live in a fairly rural area, so others are not really affected. 

After all, sand can get airborne in ways other than sand blasting.

Ed

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43 minutes ago, Waldi said:

Sand is not allowed over here for health reasons;I would not use it, not only because it is not allowed.

Not only for yourselves (you can wear proper ppe), but also for others in your area. And if you later clean, dedust, you will get some of it in your lungs too.

Waldi

It is not allow in UK either (commercially) silicosis is the dreaded disease caused.

All the current media blasting guidance from hse states. Do not use sand.

 

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I wouldn't consider soda on something like a chassis, it's not really suitable and as Roy implies it would need thoroughly washing afterwards to remove all traces prior to any paint.

I have grit blasted a chassis before but never again - even with an air fed mask & full protective gear he damned stuff worked its way into pretty much every orifice :blink:

The last one I had that needed doing was only a few months ago & I farmed it out to a local compay who blasted & powder coated it for me to a very high standard for less than £300 all in so I would never do my own again - just not cost effective.

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In the blast cabinet I have 80 grit aluminum oxide and a big ass dust collector to keep the dust down in the garage and keep things visible in the cabinet. I have a pressure blaster filled with dirt cheap Black Beauty that I only use outside on stuff that is not delicate. For small aluminum parts I use a home made soda blaster made from a blow off gun and a box of baking soda, also used outside.

Stan

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28 minutes ago, ed_h said:

Hse states?

Health and Safety Executive -  same as OSHA

Edited by RobH
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28 minutes ago, ed_h said:

Hse states?

 

2 hours ago, Hamish said:

It is not allow in UK either (commercially) silicosis is the dreaded disease caused.

All the current media blasting guidance from hse states. Do not use sand.

 

 

“Do not use sand. “

 

Ref

http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/ocs/200-299/273_18/

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/cn7.pdf

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/guidance/wl20.pdf

 

 

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OK, I wasn't familiar with what HSE was.  Thought it might be a typo. 

So if HSE is similar to our OSHA, it addresses occupational exposure.  (the O in OSHA is for Occupational).  Certainly, it's good to have restrictions on what an employer can require an employee to be exposed to. 

Also, if HSE rules are similar to OSHA rules, they don't apply to occasional home use by a hobbyist. 

That being said, there is still the exposure safety issue.  I haven't delved into exposure levels of silica specifically, but in some other OSHA regs I'm familiar with, it would be very unusual for  occasional hobbyist's exposure to reach levels where OSHA limits would even kick in.

Now, I frankly don't know if the exposure to sandblasting for an average of maybe an hour or two a year would harm my health, so I take precautions by wearing appropriate PPE.

It's a calculation everyone needs to do for himself.

Ed

 

 

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Agreed it’s all about occupational exposure. So not illegal as a home activity.

but with sand (silica) being band from use as a work activity. See link above (The inclusion of the prohibition in the COSHH Regulations Schedule 2, of item 2 was to enable the repeal of the Blasting (Castings and Other Articles) Special Regulations 1949. Effectively the latter Regulations prohibited the use of sand or other substance containing free silica for the blasting of articles. However, the application of the definition used in Schedule 2 requires some interpretation.)

Thus to my interpretation there isn’t a safe exposure or “dose”

thus to my mind you could treat it as asbestos ?

 

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Hamish--

A big difference between silica and asbestos is that silica is so ubiquitous in the environment.  Silica is one of the most common minerals on earth.  It's a major constituent of most soils.  It is naturally in the air as dust.  So silica exposure is really just a matter of degree--but no one's silica exposure is zero.

Ed

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One has to make their own decisions on safety in the non work environment regarding shattering sand/silica particles into nano particles to breath in.  And I gave up h & s and environmental nuisance enforcement couple years ago.....so fill your boots.

 

But this doesn't help the original poster to find a useful answer. 

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When I did my 4a I had the chassis shot blasted which certainly found all the rot, theres not much point in pussy footing around with blasting as you need to know where all the rot is.

I have a local company do all mine and they prime them right after in a red oxide weldable primer

Stuart.

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4 hours ago, stuart said:

When I did my 4a I had the chassis shot blasted which certainly found all the rot, theres not much point in pussy footing around with blasting as you need to know where all the rot is.

I have a local company do all mine and they prime them right after in a red oxide weldable primer

Stuart.

Hi Stuart hopefully there won't be any rot as the chassis is a NOS one thats been dry'ish' stored so just surface rust.

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21 minutes ago, Graham said:

Hi Stuart hopefully there won't be any rot as the chassis is a NOS one thats been dry'ish' stored so just surface rust.

Ah in that case just a light blast off with Garnet is all that will be needed, just make sure whoever does it is capable of giving it a coat of Bondarust or similar as soon as its been done.

Stuart.

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