Hey Guys Has anyone ever had any parts aqua blasted \ wet blasted ? @Phil and I are thinking of buying a machine should our business venture take off, as such I am interested in hearing from anyone who had it done, were you happy with it ? What did it cost you ? For those who don't under stand the process, its basically like a sandblaster except the machine uses a mixture of compressed air, water and an abrasive such as glass beads, the outcome is a almost surgically clean piece of metal that is resistant to fingerprints Here is some before and after pics and a video Cheers Chris
I do my own stuff with it when i get the chance, also called vapour blasting or wet look bead blasting The process was common in the late 80's and early 90's, but people have only just started doing it again in the last few years.
There is one UK company I have seen that blocks all oil ways and orifices with plastic plugs prior to blasting. Without which there is always going to be glass trapped where you do not want it to be, not as much as with dry blasting but still an issue to be aware of. Here you go http://www.aloh.co.uk/process/
I have seen a motor ultra sonically cleansed and it came out like that too, no blasting just constant vibration
I use my small blasting set up, i have a bucket with bead blasting grit and water in it and have a pump to keep the water and grit agitated. It's not the best setup but it work's well for what it is. You can have a tarp underneath to catch some of the water/grit and recycle it, but it does go everywhere This is an alternator i did a while ago, part way through wet blasting it I also use another grit blaster that connect's up to your high pressure water cleaner like a Karcher etc, the adapter screw's onto your gun where the original adjustable fan head went and the water pull's the dry grit through the pick up hose which is in a bucket close by These cost about $130 - $150 from Karcher dealer's and are a bit cheaper on ebay, if you search there's kit's from UK for under $100 inc delivery Supercheap also sell a similar kit far around the same price but you may need to adapt it to your pressure cleaner I got one from there a while ago for $100 when they were clearing them out, but have recently seen them for sale again there http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Karcher-...632669?hash=item3cf53fbc5d:g:G0YAAOSwv0tVBW26
Kiffsta, One of our club (CB750) members has one in his workshop. It's a Vixon Aqua Blaster 915 (http://www.vaporblastingequipment.com/products/aquablast-915-vapor-blast-cleaning-smaller-components) and from memory it was about $20,000. It's the full monty...enclosed; blaster; water; air etc. I went and had a look at his operation a few months ago and it looked great. He also has a huge compressor hooked up to it and buckets of different medium. Cleaned stuff up almost instantly. I've got his details at home, so I can send them to you if you want to have a chat with him. Let me know. Frank
I am on resto number 15 now and if I want a bare/polished look I get this done. Not cheap it cost me $1200 for the CX500 which included some other bits as well. It does look awesome and is a very resilient finish.
The only negative I heard about these things is that for people doing classic restos where a part had a certain colour finish (?) these things rip that off too. Nothing I'll ever have to worry about.
Here are some of the bikes with vapour blasted engines. If I am getting something painted I wouldn't get it vapour blasted.
Have had a couple of engine cases done by one of the VJMC members in Sydney. I just cleaned them and clear coated when back together and they still look like new. Definately worth doing if you want a concourse 'factory' look.
I had my engine, fork tubes and rear master cylinder done. It was only 150 from memory. Very happy with the results. The parts still look good plus it's very easy to clean. I fully stripped the engine before having it done: pulled all the bearings, crank etc. I think with soda blasting you can probably do an engine in a frame but wet blasting uses glass beads.
I got good results from 6 bucks of bi carb soda. Did it on drive way with air comp. Hardest thing was cleaning both cars after
well Phil and I went and saw one of the vendors today and took some parts to test blast here are some before shots