Vapor Blasting Services

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 10:20 pm

At TomK's suggestion, I have equipped myself to begin doing vapor blasting for our local and extended community. Vapor blasting (with glass bead media) puts a unique finish on parts that is suitable for direct clearcoating, if you like that look. The vapor-blasted finish can also be powdercoated or painted.

My setup is a new dry blast cabinet which I have converted to wet blasting. That was a project in and of itself! Along the way, I seriously upgraded my air supply and plumbed my entire basement shop and garage for air. This was yet another project!

But the outfitting is now complete and I have done blasting for two complete engines. The first one I wet blasted with aluminum oxide media because I knew Tom would be powder coating all the parts, and I did not need the satin finish. They came out pretty much like a dry-blasted part with a nice matte finish.

l then switched to glass bead media to achieve the satin sheen typical of vapor blasting. Although I expect to be powder coating these particular parts as well, I was eager to see what I could achieve. I am getting some decent early results and am also learning about what can and can't be done.

One thing I am learning is that the original condition of the part has a lot to do with how it comes out. Below are some parts that I recently did. All these parts came from an engine that had been left out in the elements. The paint had flaked off in many locations and then the exposed aluminum corroded and pitted badly. No amount of blasting seems to improve that and so some parts would simply not be good candidates for clearcoating. The good news is that you don't need to do anything further to the part if you rule out clearcoating; it can be powercoated as is.

One thing I cannot answer is whether the satiny finish of glass bead blasting will hold paint as well as the matte finish that aluminum oxide delivers. I am told that it does, but I am not a painter, so I would defer to the experience of others. If it turns out that the more satin finish is too smooth to retain paint, then the part would need to be re-blasted with aluminum oxide to put on a matte finish. If anyone can shed light on this question, I would love to know the answer.

Many of the covers came out pretty well:

Here are some details of the pitting I saw, this on the left crank cover:

The valve cover was very badly corroded:

And it recovered passably well:

But the residual pitting contributes to the overall unevenness of the finish and probably makes this particular piece a bad candidate for clearcoating:

Of course, road rash cannot be much improved by this process:

Head and cylinder:

Engine cases:

Pitting:

If you have any interest in having parts vapor blasted, feel free to let me know by PM. I don't live far from TomK and if he will be doing your finishing, I can do the blasting and then deliver the parts to Tom for powder coating or clear coating and return shipping to you.

Let the adventure begin!

Hawk Joined: Oct 12, 2014 Posts: 380 Location: Virginia

Glad to see you got your setup going Peter and I'm glad to be one of your first customers!

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:56 pm

Hello Peter, I wish you best of luck in your endeavor

Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2020 12:24 am

First off, I have to say that Peter's conversion of a dry blast cabinet to one for vapor blasting was an very impressive feat. It was no weekend conversion and required a lot of research, time, and patience. He went beyond the recommended mods and added some of his own custom features. To date, the quality of the finish is very nice. As far as the question regarding good powder or paint adhesion goes, I have no concerns. Keep in mind that many household appliances and power equipment come powder coated from the factory. Their process does not include any media blasting - the finish is applied over brand new cleaned/outgassed steel or aluminum. If cared for properly, the finish lasts for years. So adding a decent "tooth" by wet blasting improves the substrate and should make for a durable, long-lasting finish.

We have already collaborated on one engine rebuild that included his vapor blasting and my PC work, which we did together. Peter is actually very good at masking and we were able to PC his entire engine much faster than I could have alone. We already have two more engines to refinish and rebuild, so I'm really looking forward to working with him. We're very lucky to be in close proximity to each other.

More to come for sure!