Sand Blasting

[Guest boggybogstar]

Me again, person of 1000 questions !!!

 

So I've now got all my doner parts and have started the slow slow process of cleaning, managed to paint up the gearbox and diff so far but the rest are pretty bad so I have 3 questions.....

 

1. I intend to clean up the small items using electrolysis - does this actually work?, not just for rust but also ground in grease?

 

2. I'm thinking of buying a very cheap sandblasting gun (£8.99) from ebay for things like the side of the engine to really clean it up - is this wise?

 

3. this isnt a cleaning question, the rubber boots on my drive shaft are perished, whats the best way of replacing - do I really have to hack saw off the tin?

[Guest boggybogstar]

and - in the sand blaster - can I just use kiln dried sand?

[Guest turbo]

just blasted a pair of bad driveshafts other day with a £25 borrowed sand blaster and my 25 ltr compressor and it did a fine job.

i got blast sand but i compaired it to the kiln dried stuff i had in the garage and could hardly tell the difference, so i guess the kiln stuff will do fine and yes the battery charger does work well.

[Guest MartinP]

Me again, person of 1000 questions !!!

 

So I've now got all my doner parts and have started the slow slow process of cleaning, managed to paint up the gearbox and diff so far but the rest are pretty bad so I have 3 questions.....

 

1. I intend to clean up the small items using electrolysis - does this actually work?, not just for rust but also ground in grease?

 

2. I'm thinking of buying a very cheap sandblasting gun (£8.99) from ebay for things like the side of the engine to really clean it up - is this wise?

 

3. this isnt a cleaning question, the rubber boots on my drive shaft are perished, whats the best way of replacing - do I really have to hack saw off the tin?

 

 

I've just cleaned all my donor parts using electroysis

 

 

 

I used a battery during the night and connected the charger during the day, when I was about.

I used 3 generations of setup;

 

First one was a plastic bucket and a battery charger.

Second one was a larger plastic storage box

and I finally ended up with a 113ltr (20" deep X 24" wide)builders bucket to do the torsion bar.

 

after soaking them I cleaned most of the rust off with a jet wash, then dried them and went over with a wire brush in a drill.

 

finally cleaned them off with petrol and painted all the bits with Hammerite

[Guest MartinP]

Me again, person of 1000 questions !!!

 

So I've now got all my doner parts and have started the slow slow process of cleaning, managed to paint up the gearbox and diff so far but the rest are pretty bad so I have 3 questions.....

 

1. I intend to clean up the small items using electrolysis - does this actually work?, not just for rust but also ground in grease?

 

2. I'm thinking of buying a very cheap sandblasting gun (£8.99) from ebay for things like the side of the engine to really clean it up - is this wise?

 

3. this isnt a cleaning question, the rubber boots on my drive shaft are perished, whats the best way of replacing - do I really have to hack saw off the tin?

 

 

I have used Kiln dried sand in the past at work, I have been advised on this site that there is a real health issue with kiln dried sand as inhaling silicone dust causes silicosis. so best to use a proprietry blasting media.

[Guest salty_monk]

I think you're meant to use Nut shell media or something for an engine so it doesn't get forced inside... could be wrong though, never done it myself only used a small parts cabinet.

 

Dan

[Guest boggybogstar]

used the kiln dried sand but yes it's very dusty although worked a treat, cooked everything else in the electrolysis and couldnt beleive how well it bought rvrything up - everythings all painted up and ready to go

 

thanks to all the advice again !!

[geoff shep]

I hired a commercial sand blaster. It came with a huge engine-driven compressor, the sort that gets towed behind a workmen's truck, and a complete leather helmet with face shield with its own air supply. The 'sand' was very sharp, black shiny stuff. I cleaned up all the steel/cast parts with it very nicely and not had any corrosion come back 10 years later. Only problem was I think if I'd blasted any bits too much they would have been worn away to nothing. It cost me about £100 for the weekend but it was great fun. (Need a bit of spare land to do it on - not the sort of thing to do in a garage or driveway)