getter done

[flyguy]

Sometimes there are advantages to being single.
DC

[Robert Lees]

Re: getter done

I see your baffle boiler and raise you:

One additional pot & pan holder.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: getter done

Looks like a really savory soup base to me.

Hank YUM!

[mike lutz]

Re: getter done

Hope its 5052 alloy.Much easier to chew than that crunchy 2024 t3.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: getter done

300 series isn't bad either, but stay away from the 7000 series stuff. Almost NO flavor and REALLY boney.

Hank

[flyguy]

Re: getter done

I want to tell you, I cannot believe the stuff that is on those baffles. It is a mix of baked oil, adobe dust, desert sand, and corrosion. It is like trying to scrape off the bottom of a ceramic cup. Been at it off and on for 3 days now. Almost as bad as refinishing the flange surfaces on the exhaust manifold (that I just finished doing).
DC

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: getter done

Have you tried media or soda blast? (NOT SAND blast!) The soda blast seems to take almost anything off aluminum without causing the metal to distort. They sell an inexpensive one at HF (yea, I know, Chinese. If they made one in the US I would have bought it). The quality is "OK" if you are using it occasionally like we do, wouldn't stand up to commercial use.

Hank

[flyguy]

Re: getter done

I have a sand blast setup. I'll have to check if it will work with other media? Thanks for the suggestion, I have tried about everything else. Everything works more or less, but only partially and tediously.
Darryl

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: getter done

The soda blaster is an independent, complete unit. Nice thing is the soda isn't going to kill everything it touches like sand when you breath the dust. It WILL kill your grass if you use it on your lawn because it changes the Ph of the soil, but at the airport here guys use it on the ramp and a soft breeze blows the soda away. I would NOT breath the dust, but a normal dust mask works well. They are pretty inexpensive and you will find yourself using it on lots of things.

You can put "Media" in the sand blaster and it will do less damage than sand to soft aluminum, but doesn't do as good a job as soda.

Hank

[gummirat]

Re: getter done

Marvel Mystery oil. Great stuff!

[M Towsley]

Re: getter done

I have a small black plastic Craftsman blaster. Has a handle and hose on it, you just hook air up to the blaster nozzle. Works fine with soda, if Sears still carries it.

And yes, it will kill the grass and takes several years for it to come back.

[Mark Julicher]

Re: getter done

There are at least two excellent blast units made in the USA.
Barrel Blaster http://www.barrelblaster.com
and Texas Blaster http://www.texasblaster.com
Both of these are excellent units and will shoot soda extremely well. The Texas Blaster has a carbide nozzle and comes with a blast hood for the operator. The Barrel Blaster is less expensive but comes with a ceramic nozzle which still lasts a long time - like about 40 bags of #5 blast sand before the nozzle needs to be replaced. The built in funnels on these units add a great deal of utility. Both blasters are made like the proverbial brick outhouse and will stand up to very hard use. Barrel blaster also makes an excellent blast cabinet, but here I am speaking of the vertical canister type blaster. The blasters sold at HF and N Tool don't hold a candle to these US made blasters.

I use both blasters regularly and I own the Texas Blaster. Where the soda lands on the grass here in S. Texas, the grass gets greener. Out soil is 90% limestone (very basic PH). The greatest risk is forgetting to put your wallet into a zip lock bag before blasting… it is really ugly what happens to the magnetic strip on your credit cards.

Soda blasting is so gentle that it can strip paint while leaving an alodine coating underneath undisturbed. I switch my blaster to "sugar sand" if I need a bit more aggressive blast. Sugar sand definitely leaves the blasted surface slightly rough, but it costs $5 a bag vs $35 a bag for soda. It would be good to build a collection system to re-use the soda. I prefer soda for aluminum parts and mostly use sugar sand on steel.
If you have urethane paint to remove, soda is SLOW. In that case I prefer chemical stripper and then final clean up with soda.

[flyguy]

Re: getter done

Seems we lucked out and because the neighbor in the adjacent hangar has an old blast cabinet that we just moved into my hanger so I can use it. It is an el cheapo HF unit but I am sure it will be fine for this simple small job. I just ordered new gloves for it so we can't use it for a while longer. Maybe they will come in by the end of this week. At least annual is done now so we just have to make the baffles solid and pretty and put things back together and I can go flying again. Been about 6 weeks of down time, and I miss the flying, particularly with the strange nice weather we have had this winter.

I feel for the folks back East but we are paying for our nice warm weather here; worst drought in a (zilllion?) years. Loosing all the winter crops and it is going to be pretty bad when summer comes if it doesn't rain more by then.

Thanks for the info Mark; I'll check it out. I think I am through building hot rods and with any luck I'll never have to do a tube frame for an airplane, but you never know what one is going to get involved in someday.

Darn site dumped my reply again--man I really wish someone would fix the TIMEOUT that should not exist on replies. Luckily I copied it before I hit reply, but is sure is aggravating.

[N96337]

Re: getter done

An automatic dishwasher will do wonders as well. Just don't let the better half catch you until you've had time to run a couple empty cycles to clear it out!
John