Bead blast

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I picked up a stainless gas block for my new build. Its is shiny and I want to bead blast it to matte it doen like the barrel and brake. I need to check work tomorrow, one of the fab guys might have one. Otherwise, Anyone know a cheap place on the south shore / 128 area that can do it? Hell, if you have a small parts cabinet it could be done in 2 minutes. Ill provide the beers :)
 
Is the polycarbonate like black beauty? I think I'm supposed to use silica carbide but you bring up a great point. What media do I want to use on stainless?
 
Is the polycarbonate like black beauty? I think I'm supposed to use silica carbide but you bring up a great point. What media do I want to use on stainless?

Use size AC glass beads - it will give you a nice matte finish and won't remove or profile the surface. I'm up in the north shore area and could do it for you - shoot me a PM.
 
Polycarbonate = plastic media. Useful for stripping paint or surface residues but supposed to leave the metal as is. Not what you need.

Silicon carbide gives a very matte finish, not so common for blasting.
Aluminum oxide gives a matte finish and is very popular.
Glass beads also popular but the finish will be slightly bright.
Black Beauty = coal slag. Usually very coarse and doesn't leave as nice of a finish as the above. Avoid it unless you have a rusty water tank or rail car to blast.[grin]

Different mesh or grit sizes are available- 80 grit is most common for applications like this. You might be able to check the mfg of the parts you want to match to see what they used for blasting. Good luck.
 
I have a small inexpensive blasting cab with aluminum oxide 150 grit I believe.
its at my work in Hanover. I could only do it or let you do it on my lunch break though 1130-1215.
I used it to prep a few guns for reparkerize. also to restore some mags.
 
Thanks for the input from everyone. I think I'm all set for now. I wasn't able to link up with Mac today but I used his advice and got what I needed at Harbor Freight for <$30. I ended up with 5#'s of glass media, 70 grit. We'll see how it turns out, I can always go back over with something else if I need to.

-Cmaro
 
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