[TR] blaster info

[Bob Labuz]

For those of you who are thinking of getting a media blaster cabinet but are 
not sure what model to get read on.

About 2 years ago I decided to get a blaster cabinet but had no idea of what 
to get.

Sooooo I went to HF and they had a table top model for only about 70$ ON SALE! 
Seemed ok so I got it and hooked it up to my compressor.

Well the gun supplied didnt work very good. Ok I went and got a new gun for 
about 50$ from Eastwood.

THe cabinet didnt have a light so I made one up. about another 10$.

I hooked my garage exhaust fan to the output in the cabinet to keep the 
working area clean etc. Cost about 20 $.

Well the new gun did help but because the media area was so small, I kept 
having to shake the whole mess etc. because it would not run down to the pick 
up. ALso media leaked every where . When I was blasting, it would come out 
every crevice. I had to use breathing gear because it even came out of the 
rubber seal that sealed the viewing window!

Now fast forward to yesterday. My new Eastwood cabinet arrived and what an 
upgrade. Cabinet has a built in light and is almost leak proof. Solid plastic 
with no seams etc.

I use glass beads and it works just fine, and also the working area is about 
2.5 times as large. 

Now the eastwood blaster is about 300 + delivery but it is well worth the 
extra $.

For a test I took a piece of native silver ore I collected way back when and 
gave it about a 1 minute blast.  Wow did it come out nice! Even cleaned the 
host rock. Now this stuff is very old, mined during the turn of the century 
(that is about 1910 or so). So the native silver was almost black and the 
host rock was stained etc. from iron, cobalt, and other sulfides.

Ever since I collected this stuff I tried everything to clean it but on a whim 
tried the blaster and what a job.

Now this winter I will start to clean up alot of those old car parts that I 
have collected over the years and maybe sell some on ebay.

Gives me something to do now that the 4 restoration is complete.

If it is one thing I have learned over the years is that in order to do a good 
job one needs good quality tools and the right tool for the job. Sometimes 
going to HF for a cheap tool turns out to be a waste of time and $.

Here is a link to the cabinet: 
http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=5180&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=1310&iSubCat=1312&iProductID=5180

Bob