February 22, 2011
I’ve been slowly working on my sandblasting capabilities, so far I’ve got:
- a exterior vented cabinet 3/4 complete* that serves as a small paint booth/fume hood/sandblasting cabinet. Made from a repurposed aluminum frame. (*of course it’s the front/door that’s not finished, I sealed the box with duct tape and the gloves were a bit leaky… still have tiny beads rolling on the floor)
- the blasting pot (Princess Auto)
- big ol’ bags of glass beads & green glass, maybe some walnut shells will follow
- bigger compressor was a score from helping a friend remove equipment from a closing business (thanks Seb!)
Looking at the prop on my 1981 Johnson Sailmaster 9.9hp, I noticed it was corroded and covered with zebra muscle goo and oxide etc. a prime candidate for a blasting test with my new old-compressor.
It appears that the previous owner didn’t have a sacrificial anode as the prop and the gearbox (lower unit) have blisters and a fair bit of corrosion. I can’t seem to find where the anode would go… on later models it bolts onto the cavitation plate – but on this unit there aren’t any bolt-holes so perhaps it wasn’t used…
My cabinet’s media return is a bit rudimentary – dust pan & whisk, funnel. Here is the blaster in action.
I entertained notions of refurbishing the motor with clear coat and spiffy decals – however seeing as I’ve got three unrestored motorcycles in my garage, I thought I should stick to my self imposed rule of “only do what is needed”. Determining the the prop needs a fresh coat of paint – I did what was needed. Blasted it, primed it with zinc chromate and three coats of black Tremclad.
I plan to sand down the lower unit and give it a coat of paint. Sandblasting isn’t an option as 1.) the motor doesn’t fit into my cabinet 2.) I’m worried about getting grit into the intake 3.) the oxide isn’t like rust, I don’t need to be aggressive in removing every bit of corrosion, just need to seal the surface.