Bead blasting question.

[s2_bo]

This is a bit of an odd one but my dad has just bought a large old manor house and it has around 30 radiators that need refurbishing.

A few quotes came in and at between £70 - £100 each to have them sanded down and painted i think it would make more sense if i have a crack at it.

I was wondering if any one had any experience with a none cabinet enclosed bead blaster?
I was going to use one to strip off all the old paints.

I know they exists but not sure where such a thing would be obtained. The one i have seen is basically like a pressure washer but it blows out glass beads instead of water and rips anything apart that gets in its way .

Im guessing i would need a very large compressor and a huge amount of blasting media to use one of these.


Does what im suggesting sound reasonable or is it a crazy idea to try and strip old radiators of paint this way?

[Jon441cc]

If they are cast iron Section Rads, bead blasting can cause leaks on the seams.

[PeteUr]

I've been looking into blasting a load of subframes so also interested in this, my mates offered for me to take my stuff up and use his kit. We're just going to do sand blasting outside as he's in the middle of no-where. Sand blasting would probably be easier on the rad's i'd have thought.

[newsh]

This is how we did under the bonnet of the white car ur cos it had had a fire. My mate built a tent out of polythene sheet and got inside in a paper suit and mask, hat etc, you can re-use the sand up to a point by just sweeping it up and putting it back in the feed.

[PeteUr]

Yeah we're going to use block paving sand to do my parts, i've seen some of his results today and its not too bad

[dest]

I used to work at a reclaims yard years ago, and they used to dip them (some sort of acid) then simply pressure wash it all off.

[s2_bo]

Ahh ok, thats good to know dest. Maybe that will be easier and safer as they are cast iron and we dont want them to crack any seams.

But if sand would be safe to use then that would prob be the preferred method, saves taking them all away, they are so heavy. Takes two to lift one radiator.

[Ducky]

Ever thought of Soda blasting them, doesn't inflict any damage and just washes off.