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MG MGB Technical - Glass Beading Shocks?

Since I can not chemicaly strip the shock absorber bodies, I was thinking of using a friends sandblaster to clean up the surface. I then remember seing some aluminum parts that had been glass bead blasted. Very nice finish.

Two questions: Is sandblasting the shock body a good idea? Can glass beads be used in the same equipment as the sandblaster? It is not a booth, just a big tank with sand that makes a lot of dust when using!

Pete
Pete

Pete; I'm not experienced with sandblasting but I would think there is a high risk of getting sand around and under the seals resulting in a short life due to seal leaks. Someone else may have a better answer. Clifton
Clifton Gordon

I've done some sandblasting and one of the few things I learned is that sand or any media used gets everywhere. It gets where you don't want it. I would avoid the shocks with it or Clifton is right, it will likely do seal damage.
kids1

If you insist in blasting shocks, here's how. Go to the hardware store and buy a roll of strip plumbers putty. Peel off a strip adout 1/4" in diameter and wrap it as tight as you can around the two areas where the shafts exit the shock body. Pinch it down real good and it will keep the grit from getting in the seal area. After you blast it, carefully peal the strips off and wash down with carb cleaner to remove the residue from the putty and any loose grit that is still around
gerry masterman

Yeah, I do know about the stuff getting into everything. 20 years later, I can still find the stuff in my GT from when it was restored. I am now a big fan of chemical rust removal. I was planning to give the seal area a miss and cover it up. Anyone out there shot any glass beads with their sandblaster? Do I need to modify or buy new tips or such?

Pete
Pete

Pete, I recently bought a small 24 X 18 inch blast cabinet which is designed for glass beads. I don't see much difference in the nozzle except for the material it's made of. Usually nozzles designed for sand or other high abrasive medias are ceramic. This one is made of steel. I have used it on several steel parts for rust removal and also blasted a carb body and a fuel pump. The glass beads give a great finish to aluminum parts without any appreciable damage or erosion of the surface. I also cleaned up some rust on a parking brake handle and the surrounding chrome finish and plastic handle was not mared. Running an 80 grit glass bead with 100psi line pressure.
Bill Young

Just in case anyone is interested in what I have learned over the years http://shadetreemg.com/sandblast.htm

A couple of things to consider right off the bat-one, glass beads are expensive to be using in a open system, that means out in the yard where you do not recycle the media. Best to use them in an enclosed cabinent. Second, running glas beads at higher pressure than about 60# will drasticly reduce the life of the media. Higher pressures tend to throw the beads against the work harder and tends to fracture the beads. I rus 40# in my cabinent with glass beads. Also, the coarser the glass beads, the nicer the finish. Glass beads leave the surface full of tiny spherical indentions. The larger the indentions, the more evenly the light is reflected. Whei I was bluing guns for a living, the most sought after finish used big beads at 40#. It left a irridesicent glow that made the blueing look to be an inch thick. Going with finer beads made a much more matt finish. Also, keep in mind that glassbeads is not what you want for paint retention. The round indentions do not provide as much "tooth" and other grit. For pre-paint I use 60 grit aluminum oxide.
gerry masterman

Thanx to all. Looks like I will go buy a couple of bags of glass and have a go. Thanks for the pressure info. What I am looking for is the smooth finish. Since I only have access to a "open" system, it's a good thing I will only be doing 4 shock bodies!

Pete
Pete

Pete,

Glass bead will not penetrate or remove any grease, seam sealer or other gunk built-up on the parts. First give a good cleaning with Simple Green, hand wire brush and rinse. Now you have a surface that will allow the removal of rust and leave a nice texture.

I glass beaded the entire engine bay and cockpit. Not a fun job. I used about 150 lbs of bead.

I ordere a cache of ceramic tips from mcmaster-carr. These provide for long tip life.

Make sure you have some sort of moisture trap near the gun or you will be forever unclogging.

Here's what the result looks like.

http://www.mzaff.com/Images/1977roadBack/blastCockpit/blast08.jpg

http://www.mzaff.com/Images/1977roadBack/bayPaint/bayPaint06.JPG

-mike
Mike Zaffarano

Im just curious, I also have a jeep wrangler with aluminum wheels I bought at the junk yard for $125 (not too bad of a deal I might add), the style with no holes at all in them. They arent shiny and have some surface corrosion (raised bumps etc). If I had them bead blasted would it bring out that alluminum shine ??? Im sure I would obviously have to used some mothers alluminum polish on it as well afterwards.

Thanks,
James
James

Glass beading is no cure-all. The corrosion that you have has left pits below the surface. Glassbeading will clean up the smooth surfaces but the pits will still be there regardless. The only to make them shine is to make the surface smooth and even again. This usually takes resurfacing and polishing.
gerry masterman

DO NOT USE GLASS BEADS WITHOUT A RESPIRATOR!!!! Silicosis is REAL and is progressive. Once started it is IRREVERSIBLE! And I mean a real respirator, not the silly useless dustmasks.

Mike!
mike!

Thanx Mike. I will use the forced air system available. I had not thought of this and it probably applies to regular sand as well as glass beads.

Pete
Pete

Pete, I cleaned up my shocks with a 3M Scotchbrite pad attachment for the drill. You can pick them up at the hardware store for about $7 U.S. and depending on the grit you use, you can get a nice polished surface, and its really fast!

I second Gerry's statement. Stay under 60#s if using glass bead. They shatter at anything higher.

Jeff Schlemmer

RE: silicosis

The culprit is silicon. If you are using "beach sand" or "play sand" then it is probably a fair proportion silicon. If you are using "sand blasting matrix" it will be marked as to it's content... usually the same stuff as crocus paper...darn can't think of it at this moment...
carbide?
Anyway, it's not always silicon.

Walnuts, plastic beads etc. are no prob in and of themselves but do you really want to be breathing all that kaka???

Mike!
mike!

This thread was discussed between 20/07/2004 and 02/08/2004

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