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Paint/Rust Removal .. what methods do you prefer?


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I'm kind of leaning towards just buying the $99 item and the bag o' soda... I figure it's

 

A) likely to work without a lot of screwing around

 

B) won't rocket through my neighbors house when my home made threaded adapters tear out

 

C) won't make 'cool' shrapnel holes in my shed

 

D) won't kill me

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I'm kind of leaning towards just buying the $99 item and the bag o' soda... I figure it's

 

A) likely to work without a lot of screwing around

 

B) won't rocket through my neighbors house when my home made threaded adapters tear out

 

C) won't make 'cool' shrapnel holes in my shed

 

D) won't kill me

 

Each to their own, I have worked in plumbing for years, and I can say that the fittings I installed is stronger than the brass fitting of the pressure gauge. I'm not saying I would max the pressure, but I understand your wanting to be on the safe side. :cool:

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That's a great link, thanks 7.62 FMJ. :Flame:

 

I'm curious now to know how the HF blaster isn't a "dead man switch" for the media flow, I guess they must just have the knob to adjust it. Seems strange that they wouldn't just have an in-expensive squeeze handle like on the fire extinguisher that accomplishes the same thing (not releasing media & air flow with out someone actively holding the valve open, i.e. squeezing the fire extinguisher)

 

I'm also curious how well my fire extinguisher's hose will hold up to the soda, good thing I can get hoses for free. :brow:

Edited by FlyB0y
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Ok, no pics yet, but I will have some up tomorrow, but I found something else to use that is cheap and seems to work as well as soda would ... kitty litter! :lol:

 

Costs about $0.37 a lb, and although it's less consistent, it goes through the fire extinguisher blaster quite well and does a good job on loose paint and rust. zzz

 

I'm using fresh step brand (doubt it matters) because it was $9.99 for 28 lbs at the local grocery outlet.

 

Pics to follow. :drunk:

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Yep! the only draw-back is now all the neighborhood cats are hanging around my brat looking for a place to dig a hole and leave a present! :eek:

 

LMAO , I got enough cats around here, I don't need to encourage them :eek:

 

 

seriously how's it do on pitting and scale? will it flake the big pieces away and how well does it get into the crannies?

 

slight OT - I was thinking this would make a nice aux tank to help settle out condensation in my air lines - set a little air pig off the compressor, plug my work line into that - just a big water trap and a little 'buffer' for the main tank

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woah how did you get a fire extinguisher to do paint stripping.

 

It's really very simple. Fire extinguishers are designed to use dry chemical powders, and baking soda (also known as sodium bicarbonate) has become a very popular sand blasting media for those who want to avoid the normal hazards associated with sand, glass beads and other blasting media.

 

Baking soda isn't commonly used anymore in fire extinguishers except for very specific applications, the more common ABC dry chem is Ammonium Phosphate based powder (which isn't good to breath). So in other words, if you look at the first page, I show a pic and have a list of the parts to make it easily pressurized by an air compressor.

 

The kitty litter isn't ideal (it isn't a uniform size) but it is cheap and effective. It does have a tendency to plug up the valve about every other tank, and just like using fire extinguisher, starting and stopping isn't a good idea, as the interrupted flow can cause the valve to plug. I try to just put 3-4 cups of media in it at a time and just use a constant flow.

 

Here's a pic:

 

27274650068_large.jpg

 

This is exactly the amount of "blasting" I was looking for. It takes the loose stuff and leaves the well-bonded paint, and the rust is just cleaned up enough for a good coat of POR 15. :banana:

 

 

I think the soda like you would buy at HF will be more coarse, but for my purposes, the kitty litter is the ticket. I think after using it a few times over the pieces should be smaller and more uniform, and should work even better. :Flame:

Edited by FlyB0y
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One more thing I realized blasting some more today, you gotta keep the tank up-right (pays to read the side of the extinguisher :rolleyes::lol:) and magically the media comes out in a steady flow. I realized since my hose from the extinguisher was on the short side, I just needed to extend the length of the hose and keep the tank vertical instead of holding it at an angle to get the tip close to the work. :burnout:

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