Blast media...where do you buy it?

And for that matter, what do you buy?

Tractor Supply. I use their medium and fine grit. It comes in 50# bags.

Northern Tool. Crushed glass is what I usually use.

Edit: Black Beauty is also good stuff, but kind of harsh.

I currently have black majic and two grits of making soda. The baking soda is too fine to do much, and the coal slag is too aggressive for anything other than iron. I got both from a place in Pontiac (I can find the name if you want).
I've been meaning to buy some milder stuff. Watching with interest.

In reply to DrBoost:

That's why I switched from Black Beauty to crushed glass. The Black Beauty is too harsh for 90% of the blasting I do. The medium crushed glass is a nice compromise.

I'm looking to cleanup a bunch of sheet metal. old (metal) door skins, trim pieces, etc.

Bought walnut shell from Eastwood, don't remember cost or shipping, didn't care either. Used old tube sand from truck winter weight but switched to play sand from Lowes or HD which was a lot finer for blasting. Needs dried and screened if been sitting outdoors but is cheap at $4/ 50 lb. Mostly used it for intakes and exhaust manifolds, heavier metals. Wouldn't do a lot of body metal w/ it though. Local lumber yard sells sandblast specific sand but it's almost the same as play sand.

Toyman has that pressure washer attachment thingy for blasting that looks very interesting for auto body or larger projects.

I've got a little Black Beauty left. Can't honestly remember where I bought it. TSC maybe? I know that Harbor Freight carries some media, never tried it.

I hear it's very bad to use sand because of silicosis, unless you're willing to bet your life on your respirator/dust mask.

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to DrBoost: That's why I switched from Black Beauty to crushed glass. The Black Beauty is too harsh for 90% of the blasting I do. The medium crushed glass is a nice compromise.

Thanks for the info. How much do you pay for it, and does it last very long?

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to DrBoost: That's why I switched from Black Beauty to crushed glass. The Black Beauty is too harsh for 90% of the blasting I do. The medium crushed glass is a nice compromise.

Thanks. What do you pay for it, and does it last very long?

Grtechguy wrote: I'm looking to cleanup a bunch of sheet metal. old (metal) door skins, trim pieces, etc.

I could be wrong, but I think you want something mild like soda, to prevent damaging the metal, or heating it. I have an unopened bad of baking soda (50 lbs?) that you are welcome to. I don't want anything for it. I'm very close to 23, 15 minutes south of 69.

Last few bags I've bought has been play sand from Lowes/HD. It isn't graded worth a E36 M3 and is wet as all get out. When I was seriously blasting years ago, I bought 100lb bags of fine blasting sand from one the local concrete companies for $7/bag.

I did it outside and used a good respirator. Silicosis is real so buyer beware. I would not be surprised if blasting with sand isn't outlawed at some point. I can't imagine black beauty is much better.

I've bought glass beads from HF, as well as crushed walnuts. I have yet to use the walnuts. I like the glass beads and the finish it leaves. I also have black beauty that I buy at my local Menards. Once I set up my new blast cabinet I will have one set up with glass and one with black beauty. The black beauty is only used on steal or cast iron that is very rusty. If a steel item is lightly rusted I will try to clean with glass beads for the better finish it leaves.

If blasting something large outside then sand or black beauty is the only cheap way to go. Unless you can built a blast booth out of some wood and plastic sheets.

Beware TSC who now calls black sand "Black Beuty" . Sand is not a great thing for your lungs. Black sand is just sand of a different color.Black Beuty mediium is supposed to be coal slag. Still not great to breathe.

As to the health risk of glass beads? Not sure on that one.

I love the results of blasting, but the cheap bench top HF blaster I have is pretty much useless since you cant see a damn thing inside. Might as well not have a transparent lid.

DrBoost wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to DrBoost: That's why I switched from Black Beauty to crushed glass. The Black Beauty is too harsh for 90% of the blasting I do. The medium crushed glass is a nice compromise.

Thanks. What do you pay for it, and does it last very long?

Northern sells it for $6 a 50# bag. In the blast cabinet it lasts until there is too much trash in it. It does get pretty dusty, but I run a vacuum on the cabinet. In the pot, I sweep it up off the driveway, dump it through a screen, and reuse it. The pot has had the same sand in it for almost a year.

This weekend I'll be trying it through a water sandblaster. I'll let you know how it performs.

This is the stuff I use. It says no crystalline silica. I still wear a mask, and I'm still going to try water blasting because of dust control.

Thanks!

NOHOME wrote: Beware TSC who now calls black sand "Black Beuty" . Sand is not a great thing for your lungs. Black sand is just sand of a different color.Black Beuty mediium is supposed to be coal slag. Still not great to breathe.

FWIW, the bag of Black Beauty I have carries a claim that it is coal slag and is 99.99% silica-free. Purchased many moons ago.

NOHOME wrote: I love the results of blasting, but the cheap bench top HF blaster I have is pretty much useless since you cant see a damn thing inside. Might as well not have a transparent lid.

Anyone using a blast cabinet without some type of dust collection is not going to be able to see anything and the dust that leaks out will get on anything in the area. Since I blast in my basement I set up a dust collection system using an old canister house vaccumn and a much better filter then the standard paper bag filter. I later set up a system I found on line that allows you to use most any shop vac. There are many ways to do this.

On the subject of being able to see what you're doing; I set up a removable plexiglass panel on my HF bench top cabinet. When I turn on the vac it gets sucked to the cabinet and stays there as long as the vac is on. I also cover the plexigalss with a layer of clear heat shrink plastic sheeting, the kind used to make storm windows. When that gets frosted I just put on a new sheet and get back to blasting.

Back when I used to do more blasting, I got stuff from http://www.tptools.com/Abrasives-and-Accessories.html