Formula Outlaw

Where would I look to buy glass beads for blasting. I want to adapt my sand blaster to do glass beading and can't find anyone in this area who sells them (Sarasota). Thanks.

bigcypress

is there a swarovski store near you . just kidding .

Formula Outlaw

I don't even know what that is.....

Tampa Jerry

If you are ever in north Tampa, you can buy glass beads at Harbor Freight on Fletcher Ave., just west of Florida Ave. I paid about $10 for about 25 lbs. of grit. It may be worth the trip if you need tools and supplies. Jerry

firstgear

Tractor Supply Stores also have it....not sure if that is in Florida or not. Check out the yellow pages for sandblasting or abrasive blasting, there might be a supply store nearby.

good luck...expect to pay around $25 plus or minus $5.

Herb

BarryK

if you can't find a local supplier you can buy online at Eastwood.

vintagecorvette

I buy Glass bead from Graingers.

You may need an account.

oWEN


http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/start.shtml

Denney

I usually order mine from TP Tools...

http://www.tptools.com/

skidder865

I buy mine from blast-it-all. 50lb bag of #8 was $23.00. I seen them at the Charlotte auto fair. They wanted $20.00 bag there. Not sure where they supply but here is there # 800-535-2612

Formula Outlaw

Thanks guys. What "grit" do I want for doing my valve covers.

OH BARRY, where art thou??????

firstgear

I didn't know there was a "grit" for glass beads.....so I did a search...here is what I found...learn something everyday!

Glass beads are manufactured from lead-free, soda lime-type glass, containing no free silica that is made into preformed ball shapes. Glass beads produce a much smoother and brighter finish than angular abrasives. Glass beads can be recycled approximately 30 times. Chemically inert and environmentally friendly, glass beads are an acceptable method of metal cleaning or surface finishing when properly controlled.

Glass Bead Blasting

Glass bead blasting produces a clean, bright, satin finish, without dimensional change of the parts. Available in a wide range of sizes, glass beads are primarily used in blasting cabinets for honing, polishing, peening, blending, finishing, removing light burrs and cleaning most light foreign matter. For delicate thin-walled parts and thin welds, peening with glass bead abrasive material provides the right balance of stress relief without over-stressing and causing damage. Consider the size of perforations or holes through which the glass beads must pass when screen separating parts from media after use.

Standard Mesh Sizes Size Description Mesh
#6 Coarse 50/70
#8 Medium 70/100
#10 Medium-Fine 100/170
#13 Fine 170/325

Packaged in 50 lb boxes or bags.


The type that Tractor Supply sells is an 80 grit made by Clarke (or at least distributed by them).

BarryK

yeah, yeah you called? WHAT??!!
;LOL

sorry, I haven't a clue on what grit to use.

all the glass beading I did was at a friends house and I just use his cabinet with whatever glass beads he has in it. I haven't a clue what kind, what grit, or anything they are.
all I know is to drive to his house, turn on the compressor, stick my hands in the gloves and start blasting away!

Eventually I hope to get a cabinet of my own and at that point I'll have to start learning about the different media and grits. In the meantime I'm just happy to have someone who was generous enough to allow me use of his when I needed it.

John McGraw

I use 70-80 sieve glass beads for my all-purpose blasting, and I think that you will find that to be about the best choice, although any glass beading of the covers will be easily identifiable as blasted. It will leave a uniform surface, but it will clearly be able to be identified as glass beaded.


Regards, John McGraw

3car5

I live on the east coast of FL. My local Napa carries coarse and medium in stock. I typically pick a bag up from them when I need it for projects.

I hate to say it, but I love to use the blast cabinet. Something about making a nice clean surface is pretty cool.

BarryK

John, I'm not disagreeing with you in anyway and I was told that previously when I was about to glass bead my covers but since I wasn't going thru judging I just wanted them nice and clean and I actually prefer the nice consistent, uniform appearance to them.

A fellow member of my local vette club sent his covers out to Jerry MacNeish for his "reskiinning" process" this winter and 2 weeks or so ago we were both at a show together with our cars. I had a chance to closely compare his "reskinned" covers with my glass beaded ones and perhaps I didn't know what subtle differences to look for but to tell you the honest truth I studied both sets very carefully for a good 10 minutes back and forth and I could not tell even the tiniest differences between either set! I was really looking hard to see what differences I could see on the ones Jerry did since I've heard so much about his process and the results he gets so I really wanted to see how much better the reskinned ones looked like over my glass beaded ones and after 10 minutes of studying them I couldn't see ANY difference at all.
Maybe it depends on the pressure used in the cabinet? I used as low of a pressure when beading mine that I could and still get them cleaned up as well as I wanted - if I remember I think we turned the compressor pressure down as low as approx 20psi or so. Perhaps if the pressure was higher the beading would have been more obvious?

All I know after comparing mine to the "professionaly" done ones I was happy to have saved the $120 expense plus shipping.

John McGraw

Barry,

You are correct that the blasted ones look pretty good. That being said, They do not look like they did when new, but if you use low pressure, you can minimize the blasting effect. I just didn't want to have someone come back on the board and blame me because the glass beads that I reccomended, "ruined" their valvecovers. I have scrubbed pot metal that has been blasted with bon-ami and a green scrub pad, and after I finished, it was almost impossible to tell from the original finish. It takes a lot of time and experimentation to figure out the best process, and a lot of people will just blast away at 100 psi and wonder why their parts look so bad!

Regards, John McGraw

BarryK

John

I understand your point.
the person whose blasting cabinet I used actually recommended I go over my covers after beading by lightly rubbing them with some steel wool to bring back a more "factory" appearance and while I didn't doubt him about that advice either I couldn't bear to do it and loose the really nice uniform look I just achieved by the beading.
It may not be correct but it is how I liked them.

I guess like you said that by doing them at a low pressure as I did I was able to minimize the blasting effects - at least where it isn't overly obvious.

How's the '65 project coming? I always look forward to seeing your progress pics

Formula Outlaw

What are you doing up at 4:19 in the morning??????

BarryK

i usually get up between 4 and 5am.
if i don't wake up myself than the dog wakes me up begging to go out. Of course half the time after I go downstairs and open the back door for him he just stands there and looks without actually going out......
I guess he figures if he is up than we should be too.

buns

While we are on the subject, here is some info about silica sand. Bottom line is , there are now safer alternatives out there.

A variety of materials may be used in many of the same applications as silica sand in abrasive blasting. Employers are expected to switch to these products when practicable. "When practicable" means when an alternative product is available which can be used to perform the job. If an employer decides to continue to use silica sand, then the employer must demonstrate why an alternative is not practicable. An example may be on a job bid before April 15,1998, but not started until April 15,1998, and silica sand was specified in the bid.
The use of crystalline silica was prohibited in Great Britain in 1950 and in other European countries in 1966. Since 1974 the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the United States has recommended that silica sand be prohibited as an abrasive blasting material.
Workers' exposure to crystalline silica must be kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) below the exposure limits in Table 5-4 in the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation (page 5-35).
Abrasive Blasting Operations • 3