Do you know anybody with bead blast cabinet? Glass beads, not sand. I have no experience with the stuff you soak parts in. Have had a cabinet for about 30 years now. Worked on & restored a lot of vintage cars over the years and spent countless hours using it. But, yeah, they take up a lot of space and you need some serious air. Plus the initial costs. It's great for doing all your rusty bolts and hardware. Have a parts tray that 5gal tubs of carb cleaner came with. Throw everything in it and use a piece of stainless 1/4 screen that fits on top preventing anything from flying out. Blast away and after a few minutes you have cleaned bolts. Now working on my 78 Pacecar and putting the cabinet to good use. Pedal hanger assembly and under dash brackets, everything. All come out looking new with almost zero effort. Highly recommend if you can swing it. Just make sure to use glass beads, not sand. And keep the air pressure under 90psi to get longer media life and not warp thin sheetmetal parts.

BTW, don't rule out taking GTR1999 up on his offer!

 

Yep.... best and easiest way......

 

Thanks Gary,
I had a couple of parts to drop off at the powder coating shop yesterday.
The owner was there and he said they would blast any small parts I bring in and coat them for $10.00 each.
Which isn’t bad since they blast, bake, zinc prime, powder coat and bake everything they coat.

 

already looks like clean rust to me...

 

I bought a complete Blasting System Cabinet from TP Tools and have never regretted owning it. I also stock several different blast media to allow me to get the best cleaning on different metals. The cost of buying the equipment is not cheap as I have over $2k in my 4" wide full size cabinet and 6.5 hp air compressor. I do love pulling a part, sandblasting it and then powder coating it all in my garage. The TP version I have doesn't make any dust problems in my garage while using it, It came with HEPA Filtration and has an outside air connection with it's own vacuum system.

Having any old vehicle like a Corvette you really need to have a sand blaster as the old corrosion is hard to remove and everything gets corroded. TP tools has great sales every so often and I took delivery of my system at Carlisle so I didn't have to pay to ship it all. They make very nice equipment and it works wonders on anything I use it on. Garage space is a problem for many of us and is a big limitation, my only advice is buy as big a cabinet as you have room for and the same for the air compressor, the bigger the better as it doesn't spend time recharging the air pressure. I use a 6.5 Hp Dual Stage Air Compressor with a 80 gallon vertical tank and it can "almost" keep up with continuous blasting.

Having the right tools makes life a lot easier. I used a sandblasting cabinet for a few hours at a local Corvette restoration shop and I was Hooked. There really is nothing that can replace a sandblasting cabinet for most parts. I use a Eastwood Parts Tumbler for the hardware and it makes the parts look like new in a few hours. Just don't tell your neighbors about it....

 

I agree TP cabinets are great, I am going on 20 years with mine. I use 3-4 lens covers per differential, depending on how dirty or painted they are.
Interesting to hear your 6.5 hp keeps up. My Scroll from Eastwood I think is said to be about 10-12 CFM. I run the large nozzles and they don't last through a diff either if steel, Ceramic maybe 2 diff's. I only use glass bead and their vacuum system.

What are you using for tumbling- shot or stone?

 

on the 2 cars i did. heres my advice;
if you want a natural unfinished looking part. soak it in vinegar or evaporust, clean with water, fine steel wool if needed and use matte clear coat. that is what i would recommend for those pieces that were originally raw unpainted.
if you want to paint the part a color, sandblast or wire wheel and then paint.
i soak about all my parts in vinegar, gallons are cheap at wallfart, then pressure wash the part and most of the rust comes off, then touch up and etch in the sandblast booth. soaking in vinegar saves me alot of time not being hunched over the sandblast booth running my 220 compressor and vac for a long time.

 

I'm a big fan of Krud Kutter. It's basically phosphorus acid. Thin layers of rust are gone in about 30 minutes. You can tell how long to leave a part in it by watching its initial action with the acid. Some metal parts will just produce a small amounts of small bubbles, some will fizz. The fizzers will be done in about 30m minutes. Parts that produce very little reaction will need a couple of hours or so. The metal parts will be left with a dark grey/black appearance due to the phosphate coating they receive from the acid. I buy Krud Butter by the gallon from Amazon....much more economical that way.

I've used vinegar, seems ok, but takes a long time. I paint my derusted parts with a bottom coating of SEM or Eastwood Acid Etching Grey Primer. Then the color coat.

Eastwood makes rust encapsulator primers which have a good reputation. I've used it...dont' know how it'll hold up in the long run. I think Rustoleum's heritage oil based rust inhibitor paints are a good bet. They take a long time to dry....which is usually OK. Don't like POR15 particularly. It doesn't work out to well for me since it has to be brush painted on. Spraying POR15 with an air compressor is problematic....health issues, cleaning out the gun, etc.

I've use the hand held media blasters outside in the back yard. Glass sand. Wear thick rubber gloves with the hand held blasters and hold them at arm's length. The sand bounce back will penetrate bare skin! A good respirator is necessary. I only media blast in the back yard when absolutely necessary. Don't have room in my cluttered garage for a proper blasting cabinet.

 

A huge +1 for Evaporust. Has worked miracles for me. Can't get any easier than soak, rinse, wipe, done.

 

A lot of years ago on this forum and some others I frequented, there were threads on how to set up a battery charger, a plastic tub and a chemical solution to use electrolysis to remove rust from metal parts. Some folks swore by it. Never tried it myself but the concept seemed valid at the time.

DC

 

I use a harbor freight blast cabinet; I've used Evaporust with great success; and I've used the battery charger/electrolysis method also with great success. There are many articles/YouTube on line to explain what you need for electrolysis. I used a smallish plastic garbage can filled with water and soap flakes, rebar as the donor metal, typical battery charger and some old copper wire lying around. Hang the part and let the fun begin. No odor, can be done anywhere and parts come out great. As others have said etch it and paint it. I also got the cheap powder coat system from Eastwood (on sale for 79.99), a 5 dollar toaster oven from a garage sale and powder coat all my small parts. Absolutely love the way they come out including bolt heads when not using stainless.

 

A gallon of Evaporust from any auto part store,and let the parts sit 24 hrs,and clean as a penny.

 

You shouldn’t leave it in more than 24 hrs.

 

This is the one and only thing I found hidden under the carpet.
Maybe I should clean it up and throw it under the new carpet for good luck!

 

obviously needs to soak in something to come out like a new penny...

 

Yea,a hr in Evaporust.although I think it’s about $35.00 a gallon.