I Made It at TechShop - Sandblasting Chevy Pickup Wheels

http://www.techshop.ws

I never would have been able to do this without TechShop....  I took the sandblasting and powder coating class and look at what I was able to do. 

I tried to take pictures inside the sandblaster but none of them came out.  Some tips:
- Turn on the fan
- Turn on the vibrator to get the sand to the bottom
- Turn on the light inside the blaster
- Turn OFF the lights in the room. 

Here are pictures of the front and back before and after.  I did five (5) of these wheels in about 2 hours time.  The first 25 minutes was wasted because there was somebody using grinding wheel behind me and since he was in the room first; I did not want to ask him if I could turn off the lights.  With the lights on in the room I could not see a thing and so I did not know if I was blasting with sand or if the hose was clogged and I was blowing air... 

Once I got the lights out; I started moving pretty good.

To powder coat I would have needed to get these even cleaner but I think I can finish them up with a wire wheel, prime and paint. 

I tell you this was hard work....

Some things I would do differently:
- The sand blaster is too low; it needs to be higher up so you don't have to lean over to use it
- The lights inside the blaster are not bright enough.   They could be 3 times as bright and that probably still would not be enough
- The blaster clogged easily 

Anyway; Tech shop is still a great place and I never could have done this without them.

http://www.techshop.ws