Mini sand blasting airgun usage

[Adrian Harris]

Thinking ahead, I'm wondering whether to ask Santa for one of these mini air eraser pens which have started to appear at an attractive price but have a couple of questions for the early adopters.

Is the sand/Al abrasive reusable, or would the rust or paint contaminants within it after the first pass prevent that ?

Does the abrasive go far - ie do you need some form of enclosure, or is it OK just to do it into an open sided box type arrangement ?

I've seen some mention of air pressures - any instructions as to the range of pressures over which these devices operate ?

I'm thinking of using it for clean-up after silver soldering and for rust removal on small parts.

Thanks

Adrian.

[Peter Silcock]

Not sure about the mini blasters but my experience of any type of media blasting even spot blasting equipment is that it is a very messy business indeed if you dont use a sealed blast cabinet. On the subject of rust removal on small parts I have after many years of trying various methods found nothing better than leaving the items in a jamjar or bucket of malt vinegar(very cheap) overnight. alternatively a saucer of brown HP sauce works equally as well. Not sure whether red sauce works! Clearly wont work on electrical stuff though but you cant beat it for small metal parts. Many of the fasteners on my 50s chevies have been restored doing this.

[Stephen White]

Adrian, my experience is limited so far but here's my first five pennyworth.

I haven't got a sealed cabinet and have used a wooden enclosure (an old cabinet on its side). It does contain most of the material but I'd cover any machine tools around. I didn't get a recirculation bag and I reckon I'm recovering about ten percent.

I bought a small gun from Everythingairbrush (picture on the Comet thread) which works off my airbrush compressor at about 60 psi. It can produce very fine detail and would be great for soldering clean up.

For texturing, the problem I've found is that as Bodo predicted, it isn't man enough to work on the modern high build fillers, once they've hardened off. It was very effective when the filler was recently applied but after about half an hour, it became much less effective. If you work in smaller areas, and keep the filler soft, it's fine.

I've now also bought a bigger Seeley gun which will take 90-100 psi, which is at the upper limit of my compressor. It has a 6mm nozzle which may be too coarse for detailed work.

The guns are relatively cheap now, so it's worth experimenting. There is always Ebay.

If Bodo reads this, it would be helpful to know a make and model of the one you have used.

More as I discover it.

Regards

Stephen

[Brown Hawkins]

After seeing Bodo's results I just ordered a Paasche AECR Remote Air Eraser and an assortment of abrasives for my T34 turret. I'll try it out in a few weeks.

Brown

[Bodo Langbehn]

Hi,

my experience is, to get a casted surface you need a normal sandblasterpistol as Steven has told, I believe my pistol has a 5 or 6 mm nozzle too. I use it in combination with an air conditioning compressor with an air supply from 50 l and 10 bar (145 psi)
You need a big quantity of air to work with a big sandblasterpistol. I blaster the big components outside, no necessarry to save the blastersand.
To clean the small soldered components I use the Badger Mini Sandblaster 260-1, it is a bigger one (1mm nozzle) as the eraser shown in the Comet thread. The sand is superfine and I use a small cabinet, because the fallout covers everything in the room. With the blastercabinet I recover about 70% and clean it with a really fine mesh to use it again.

Bodo

[Adrian Harris]

Thanks for the comments guys - I think a compressor and eraser pistol are going to find their way onto my Xmas list

One thing I've noticed is that the German modelling community seem to sandblast the whole model before painting, rather than just cleaning with solvents. I don't know if it is also usual to use an etching primer, though I would imagine sand blasting gives a good key for any primer.

Does anyone have experience of the Michelin compressors

I'm afraid I have a serious mistrust of the build quality of the offerings badged by the likes of Draper/Clarke/Sealey

Adrian.

[Sarah Frazer]

Hi Adrian,

it's nice to know that I'm not the only one with insomnia

I've got one of the Clarke compressors which I'm very pleased with, it's had a lot of use now as well.


Regards,

Sarah