Anyone do wet blasting?

[Pete.]

I've got a motorbike engine that has seen too many winters and the paint is all flaking away. It's a 1100 oil cooled boxer engine from 2004 which is the original one for my bike. Nothing really wrong with it despite having 91k miles on it, I just swapped it out for a low-mileage one that came along for a good price.

I'd like to get it wet blasted so I can re-paint it then do the mechanicals (shells, camchains, guides, tensioners etc).

Anyone here got the facility for this?

 

[Brad93]

There's a firm down by you mate. I'll get their details. Have a vixen cabinet iirc

 

[Brad93]

This is them.

 

[Pete.]

Cheers Brad, you have used them I guess?

 

[Brad93]

Cheers Brad, you have used them I guess?

My pals at allspeed exhausts.

 

[Dcal]

If you are painting it do you need wet blast?
Dry blast would give a better surface for the paint to grip on to.
If leaving "as is" after blasting, vapour blasting is the way to go.

 

[Pete.]

If you are painting it do you need wet blast?
Dry blast would give a better surface for the paint to grip on to.
If leaving "as is" after blasting, vapour blasting is the way to go.

I hadn't given dry blasting any consideration TBH I never heard of anyone using dry blast on cases only wet blasting.

 

[Johnnybravo]

Cheers Brad, you have used them I guess?

I’ve had customers parts that have been there prior to me doing any machining on them, couple of ally tappet covers and a couple of water pumps. Don’t know what they looked like prior to blasting, but they were absolutely pristine when I got my grubby paws on them

 

[Dcal]

I hadn't given dry blasting any consideration TBH I never heard of anyone using dry blast on cases only wet blasting.

They are two very different processes.
Vapour blasting uses very small glass beads (so fine they look like talc) and water / air as the propellent.
It peens / polishes the surface and will not remove much material.
As a result the surface is more closed so dirt and grime will not stick to to the surface as well and it will take longer to corrode (but it certainly will if used on our roads without further protection.)
It's a lovely finish but expensive and I think, best left without any further finishing.

Dry blasting mostly uses air and grit, but you can use beads for some applications.
The grit is angular so will cut much better and remove material (and paint) quicker.
However if you use a fine grit you can get a good etch without loosing much (if any) detail or material.
The finish will pick up dirt and grime for fun, but will also be a perfect surface for paint or a thin ceramic coating.

Biggest consideration with either system is keeping the blast media out of where it shouldn't be, or getting rid of it if it does make its way in.

I prefer the first method and bung everything off really well but sometimes you want to blast the inside of an engine for example and you need to be damn sure you get it out of all the oil ways etc.

Hope I'm not teaching my granny to suck eggs.