On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 00:54:42 +0000, Andy Dingley wrote:

It was somewhere outside Barstow when "mark b"
wrote:

Is there such a thing as a smallish grit blaster that could be used indoors?

The small gritblaster that works is a "pressure pot". Forget the
cheap guns from Machine Mart - they work fine, but in such a tiny spot
it's unusably slow. I use a pot welded up from a small propane
cylinder, or you can buy them from the back of Practical Classics.

You'll also need a cabinet. Look at Machine Mart or Northern Tools for
ideas, then make your own. I use an old '50s fridge, the sort with a
"Michael Jackson" door lock handle to trap small children inside.

On the whole though, I wouldn't bother. Find someone local who does
grit blasting and take them over. It's a horrible job as a one-off.

I agree that the lightweight "Machine Mart" style blasters are slow - I
tried one on a Landrover chassis. Died of boredom and used a wire brush in
an angle grinder.

However, here, it might be suitable. What might be well worth considering
is making a sand-blasting cabinet around the work area - use some light
timber or broomsticks and duct tape, some clear plastic and lots of
masking tape to seal the fireplace into the sheeted enclosure. Have a
couple of holes in the plastic so you can work from outside.

One big advantage is that you will be able to recover and reuse much of
the grit

Just an idea.

Tim