Blasting cabinet, what should I use ?
 

Well,as a last resort i will ask my questions here and know i will get good answers from those who know.I have a chance to buy a commercial grade blasting cabinet at a very good price.The man has never unpacked it after buying it.My question is what media is best for using in the cabinet? What are the pros and cons of sand-soda-walnuts-glass.I will mainly use on cub cadets and my cubs.I was told you could use soda blasting on plastic.Is this true? what do you have to do to change from glass/sand over to soda? there seems to be a lot of companies that have kits and things to sell you to change things over.Do you really need them? This cabinet comes from Greg Smith Equipment who i have delt with in the past,so I know it is of good
quality.Anything else i should know.I welcome any thoughts on the subject.Rick

We have two at work, one with glass bead and one with extra fine black beauty. The glass bead seems to work better and is a bit less abrasive so the finish looks nicer for aluminum parts that don't need painted. The biggest issue with blasting cabinets is the tip getting clogged with paint chips, try to avoid blasting parts with flaking paint as the big chunks will cause constant clogs. I don't know why you'd want to blast plastic but I don't see it as a necessity so I wouldn't worry about it, if you need to remove paint from plastic just soak it in brake fluid, it will remove the paint without hurting the plastic.

Olds-thank you for your answer.That was what I'm looking for is information from someone who is already using a blaster.I want to soda blast plastic "G" scale buildings i have built 20+ yrs ago for a big train setup in my back yard.Trains are my other hobby.I have 100+ cars plus buildings and engines that need to be cleaned and rebuilt due to age.I was told some of the old plastic cars and building kits that came from Germany in the late 70s could be damaged if soaked in fluid.I was wanting to get a cabinet that could do both soda and glass blasting.My problem is i have read where you need to change the tip and get a adapter to make it work and then i read where you don't.It has me wondering if some know what they are talking about or just want to sell me something.Rick

With plastic that thin I don't see anyway you won't destroy it with a blaster, i once tried to remove paint from an old tamiya rc car body that was made from pretty thick abs plastic, even with the air pressure turned way down it still messed the plastic up pretty bad. I suggest you try it on a piece of scrap first.

Try brake fluid to remove the paint on the model trains.

I believe I'd try soda on the plastic.

I'd have a concern that the brake fluid would contaminate the plastic and the next coat of paint would be all fish eyes.

Maybe not.

Here is some info from Eastwood.

http://www.eastwood.com/abrasive-bla...int-with-media

Brake fluid won't contaminate and cause fish eyes, when your all done stripping the paint just wash the parts good with dawn dish soap and there good to go.

Through the fish eye'd lens, of tear stained eyes....

Pink Floyd

Living in a fish eye lens
Caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger
Is a long-awaited friend.
RUSH

We use glass beads in the cabinet where i work, otherwise we blast it w/sand outside.



All the worlds indeed a stage and we are merely players peformers and portrayers each anothrs audience outside the gilded cage.....



With insufficient tact one must put up barriers to keep oneself intact...