TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:57 am

I'm off to HF to buy a blast cabinet and plan on bead blasting the rust off of the suspension and brake assemblies, such as the trailing arms, stub axles,, CV drive flanges, backing plates etc. I tried it on a few parts like valve covers and alternator stand with great results. Now I'm ready to go-to town on some of the nastier stuff.

My question is, how carefull do I need to be with the machined surfaces, like bearing caps, axles, and anything that needs a seal. The glass bead looks pretty mild, but I don't want to f' everything up. Should I tape off these areas, or just blast away?

Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:35 pm

Machines items you want to hit with either soda ash or walnuts. Check your local Yellow Pages for a supplier of blasting media and they can assist you with what's correct. I'd also consider hitting up a local blast shop for some advice. It can't hurt.

Mon Jun 23, 2008 5:31 am

FYI
I went ahead and bead blasted a bunch of my parts this weekend. It works great!!. I taped off polished bearing and rubber seal surfaces, but went ahead and hit the bearing saddles and gasket surfaces. I did some internet searching beforehand and found out that bead blasting does not alter the dimensional tolerances of parts. I was able to continuously hold the blast in areas that otherwise would have been difficult to clean - like bearing circlip grooves. The rust/grime would come off, but I could see the steel was unharmed other than the satin sheen the beads give. There's a few pictures on my blog if anyone is interested.

Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:47 pm

Nice job and glad it worked out for you.

Mon Jun 23, 2008 10:04 pm

hey just a quick tip to stop the plexi window from hazing use some clear celophane or painters plastic and tape it to the inside when it starts to get hazy just tear the plastic off and put a new piece on