Here’s a great little spot blaster that I use for quick rust removal and parts cleanup. The Zendex brand is made in the USA, I believe, and their website has replacement parts, etc., for them. And their shipping is extremely reasonable for those parts!
I’ve used regular blasting media (fine) for years in the yellow one pictured. The ceramic nozzle does slowly wear to the point the opening is just too big and it wastes the media but it takes quite a while to get to that point. There’s also one small steel bushing behind the nozzle that slowly wears away. But both are a low cost maintenance item available from Zendex. There are copies of the speedblaster for less money but I’m not sure if the replacement parts would fit those or not.
Now the interesting part: I needed to clean an old carburetor and wondered if some baking soda would work. Bought a box of baking soda (to replace the box I snuck out of the cupboard) and it worked pretty well. The baking soda is pretty fine grained and really poured out the end. But it sure cleaned up the carburetor with its hardened residue, inside and out. Harbor Freight sells some soda for their soda blasters and that worked really well. But there’s more!
Always looking to save money, I knew my brother was a large animal veterinarian and used bicarbonate of soda to treat some dairy cow ailments. Bingo! It’s almost exactly the same grain size as the official soda blast material at a fraction of the cost. The nice thing about using the soda is that it won’t hurt the carburetor, brass, copper, soft metal, aluminum, etc., etc. It’s environmental friendly and water soluble for cleanup. Or just blow the parts out with air. If used carefully it’ll do an excellent job on just about any delicate part. But it can remove paint so caution warranted there.
Recommended air pressure is up to 80 PSI. Even a small compressor will run one for a few minutes before you might need to let it build up pressure again. If you need to clean/degrease carburetors, small motor housings, armatures, delicate parts, etc. these work very well with the soda media. For spot rust removal the other fine media of your choice does the job nicely. And of course, all PPG safety equipment should be used. Here’s some pics of the blasters and the "medicinal" soda blast media.
Not recommended to refill your wife's cooking supply of baking soda from your stash!
David
I’ve used regular blasting media (fine) for years in the yellow one pictured. The ceramic nozzle does slowly wear to the point the opening is just too big and it wastes the media but it takes quite a while to get to that point. There’s also one small steel bushing behind the nozzle that slowly wears away. But both are a low cost maintenance item available from Zendex. There are copies of the speedblaster for less money but I’m not sure if the replacement parts would fit those or not.
Now the interesting part: I needed to clean an old carburetor and wondered if some baking soda would work. Bought a box of baking soda (to replace the box I snuck out of the cupboard) and it worked pretty well. The baking soda is pretty fine grained and really poured out the end. But it sure cleaned up the carburetor with its hardened residue, inside and out. Harbor Freight sells some soda for their soda blasters and that worked really well. But there’s more!
Always looking to save money, I knew my brother was a large animal veterinarian and used bicarbonate of soda to treat some dairy cow ailments. Bingo! It’s almost exactly the same grain size as the official soda blast material at a fraction of the cost. The nice thing about using the soda is that it won’t hurt the carburetor, brass, copper, soft metal, aluminum, etc., etc. It’s environmental friendly and water soluble for cleanup. Or just blow the parts out with air. If used carefully it’ll do an excellent job on just about any delicate part. But it can remove paint so caution warranted there.
Recommended air pressure is up to 80 PSI. Even a small compressor will run one for a few minutes before you might need to let it build up pressure again. If you need to clean/degrease carburetors, small motor housings, armatures, delicate parts, etc. these work very well with the soda media. For spot rust removal the other fine media of your choice does the job nicely. And of course, all PPG safety equipment should be used. Here’s some pics of the blasters and the "medicinal" soda blast media.
Not recommended to refill your wife's cooking supply of baking soda from your stash!
David
