Garnett or Glass abrasive for blasting cabinet?

[Lyaec350]

I'm wondering which I should go with? Both are available locally @ Fleet Farm for pretty good prices. Most work I will do will be prepping metal art projects for paint, and removing rust from things I take apart. There will not be much paint stripping, and I work with almost exclusively steel.

I'm thinking maybe I should go with the glass bead because it should generate less dust assuming it cuts as fast or close to as fast as the garnet.




The products for reference:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00916295000P?mv=rr

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00916296000P?mv=rr

[PAToyota]

It depends on what your materials look like before blasting. Despite being the same grit, the garnet is going to be more aggressive. If your parts are fairly clean and you just want to finish them up before paint, the glass beads will work. If there is heavier rust, scale, or such I'd go with the garnet.

[Junkman]

Garnet will cut faster and deeper. I use glass beads on turbo charger parts, since it will clean, but not damage the underlying material. Each has its purpose, and using the wrong media on a part can render the part unusable. There is no "one size fits all" when it comes to blasting media. I use a product called Black Beauty for parts that are made of steel that I want to clean and don't care about the finish erosion.

[Lyaec350]

It's mostly cleaning up fresh metal parts that have been welded (mill scale only) prior to painting them but I guess occasionally I would be cleaning off rusty parts from something else. Will the glass be totally ineffective at cleaning off rust?

[PAToyota]

Not "totally ineffective" but it will take longer. If you're mainly working with "art projects" then you are less concerned about issues like Junk mentioned about the turbo parts. IIRC, Black Beauty is from coal slag. If you'd want something quicker and were not as concerned about eroding metal away, you could use something more aggressive as a "one-shot" material. If you are concerned about detail, then go less aggressive and just understand that it will take longer to get the heavier corrosion off.

[Lyaec350]

Sounds like garnet is the stuff to use. I don't like black beauty because it is so abrasive.

[Charles (in GA)]

I use 40-60 glass beads. I often do aluminum parts or brass or bronze (keeping the blasting light) or light rust removal. The beads work well for this. Wouldn't mind having two blast cabinets, one set up for black beauty or something that cuts heavy scale and multiple coats of paint, and one with glass beads for giving an even and fine finish.

Charles