Topic: Day 1 with my vapor blaster

[MauiK3]

Kind of rare to find a dry ice blasting set up.

[DME]

So an assembled engine can be done no problem, without worrying about stuff getting in the engine?

As Zunspec already has replied, everything must be disassembled before blasting.
The process involves glass beads and every single one of them must be removed before assembly.
I get a few customers that drops off oily, greasy, and just plain dirty unwashed parts thinking that the blasting process will get rid of the dirt.
In essence they are correct, but the grease and dirt will contaminate the media and that in turn will give a worse end result and a higher cost due to more maintainence to the cabinet.
So, everything shall be disassembled and cleaned as well as possible before blasting.
My take on it is that I can do the disassembly and cleaning for the customer at a price, or they can do it themselves and come back later.
Most guys choose the latter...

[wannabridin]

Great to see some other vapor blasting!  I recently got my cabinet built and operational.  Currently trying to get the compressor CFM upgraded (have a new pump & motor on the shelf).

What size glass beads are you using?

[MauiK3]

I forget what my box of beads said but they may be “medium” size.
Glass isn’t very aggressive which is why I am using it. I cleaned my parts a lot, no grease or dirt. I even removed most of the paint in advance.

[newday777]

Has anyone tried to get flaking chrome off with vapor hone? I have some covers on a motor that have bad chrome on them.

[MauiK3]

Could it be reverse plated somehow? I'm not sure, I do rust in a tank of water with washing soda and a battery charger with re-bar.

[Don R]

 I actually hand peeled the chrome off of an engine cover. It wasn't pitted however, just poor quality chrome.

[newday777]

Could it be reverse plated somehow? I'm not sure, I do rust in a tank of water with washing soda and a battery charger with re-bar.

Yes I think they dip it to remove the old chrome.
I do the electrolysis cleaning too. But I don't know if that would work on removing chrome.

[MauiK3]

I’ve always been skeptical about chromed engine covers, I’ve seen too many peel.

[newday777]

I’ve always been skeptical about chromed engine covers, I’ve seen too many peel.

Back in the 70s I polished my own covers on the bike by hand with Semichrome polish. I never had the money to waste on chrome as chrome don't get ya home.....