Topic: Vapor Blasting Services Offered

[Countrysquire]

So, this would seem to be an excellent way to clean aluminum parts. Any suggestions to preserve to parts after cleaning?

Flat clear?

I personally don't like clear paint because it can change the look of the part.  Sometimes though you might not have a choice depending on the service.  I have had good luck with Boeshield T-9 and recently bought some of the Lear Chemical ACF-50 that is designed for aircraft.  So far I'm very pleased with the ACF-50 on both aluminum and ferrous parts as they don't change the look of the freshly blasted part at all, but time will tell if it holds up as well as Boesheild.  On parts that are to be painted, such as that glove box door in the photo, I use Eastwood's AfterBlast which is a combination of ospho and a degreaser.

[Countrysquire]

Here's a short video of the process in action on a very faded plastic seat back from a 1970 Mach 1.

[J_Speegle]

So, this would seem to be an excellent way to clean aluminum parts. Any suggestions to preserve to parts after cleaning?

Flat clear?

In my experience a painted clear will only cause you more work and aggravation in the long run

[KevinK]

Here's a short video of the process in action on a very faded plastic seat back from a 1970 Mach 1.

Nice to see there is some hope for faded plastic. It seems like a lot more effort that I expected! Is the panel ready to use when done or does it need to be painted?

[Countrysquire]

Nice to see there is some hope for faded plastic. It seems like a lot more effort that I expected! Is the panel ready to use when done or does it need to be painted?

The downside of a gentle process is that it's a slow process on some materials.  Each of those seat backs took about 25 minutes and that's at a low pressure (~40 psig).  Bare metal parts clean up quickly, but paint removal can be very slow compared to dry blasting.

After those panels dry, they still look faded even though all the surface oxidation is gone.  The short answer is that I feel that they should be dyed.  I believe that a professional grade trim restorer (Black Wow is what I use) would bring them back to close to new, but my concern would be that the chemicals in that stuff could soak into the plastic and make it impossible to dye them in the future and not have adhesion issues.  Also, the trim restorers that I've tried that work well all leave a wet, shiny (almost sticky) appearance like some solvent based tire dressings do, and I really don't like that.  It would have made for great before and after photos, but then the owner wouldn't be able to dye them back to the original black or another color and I know that this particular set might end up in a car with vermilion interior.

[HDAshmore]

I'm the owner and I agree with bobby.  They look new texture and detail wise but they will need to be dyed.  My friend with the vermilion interior thinks they look like a good candidate for dyeing.  I showed several plastic pieces to Bob Gaines at Tulsa and he was glad to see them first hand and spoke positive of the plastic fender splash shields, rwsr side marker interior retainers and seat back all for a 70 mustang.  Bottom line is it did not damage the plastic and looked nice.

Dan

[Countrysquire]

Here's a couple items from this week - a C4 bellhousing for Morsel and a Boss 302 intake from a member over on the B2 forum.

[Morsel]

Just want to throw it out there, but I've used Bobby for serval items now and I'm extremely happy with the outcome. I've been mainly using his services for aluminum parts. Previously I would do them myself with a very long, time consuming process that involved lightly glass bead blasting (which took forever), then following with light metal ball peen blasting to get proper sheen, followed up by using steel wool to smooth everything out. While I got really decent results, the process was so time consuming, it was brutal, especially when doing large pieces like a bell housing.

I sent Bobby first a distributer casing, it came out so good that now I've been sending other miscellaneous pieces to him, starter nose cone, C-Servo cover you see in one of his earlier post, the C4 bell housing you see in the his post above, and some other small items. His pictures he's been posting don't do the items justice, they look so much better then I can do with the method I mentioned above.

Anyway, with how extremely reasonable his prices are for this service, I highly suggest just giving him a shot on something you need done and seeing how you like it, I've been extremely happy with what he's done for me and will continuer to use him for miscellaneous items...

Thanks Bobby...

Jason

[Countrysquire]

Video of the process on a Boss 302 intake.

[bullitt68]

How would you go about vapor blasting a small transmission case, say a C4 Case, bellhousing and tail shaft case? Do you have a way to prevent media from getting embedded in the internal areas?

I did my transmission and it turned out great. The wet slurry get completely rinsed out with water and acts more like a polisher than a blaster, hence the b righter smoother finish ideal for parts requiring a natural untreated finish

[bullitt68]

Video of the process on a Boss 302 intake.

Hi Boddy I did a bell housing as well as some other parts. So far the Vapour Blaster has been the best shop investment yet.

[Countrysquire]

It's funny, I thought I would be doing nothing but aluminum parts, but have learned that it does much more as you have demonstrated in your photos.  I blasted some rusty reproduction T-Bird K-H wire wheels yesterday and they came out great (considering what I started with).

[bullitt68]

It's funny, I thought I would be doing nothing but aluminum parts, but have learned that it does much more as you have demonstrated in your photos.  I blasted some rusty reproduction T-Bird K-H wire wheels yesterday and they came out great (considering what I started with).

Agreed. It works so well on everything, even rubber. I am putting everything I can in the vapour blaster. I also only planned on doing aluminum originally, but now any part to be finished naturally is an ideal candidate for this process.

[ExportMach]

Bobby
I’ve got a couple of aluminum parts I’m going to send you.

[Countrysquire]

Bobby
I’ve got a couple of aluminum parts I’m going to send you.

Sounds good. Shoot me an email at bobby@houstonvaporblasting.com and I will give you my shipping address.

Bobby