Cheap media blaster or pay a local shop to media blast wheels

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CTxK20

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I will be dropping my wheels off at the powder coater tomorrow afternoon.
 

RanchWelder

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Often wanted to build a tumbler with a washing machine tub. Basically the tub is mounted to a 4 legged base with springs. Then the motor is connected to the tub with a spring slightly off center. I looked for the video but couldn't find it. The highest cost was the media to put in it.

Google it....post if you find it it.
My old radiator shop repair guy made a sonic tub, with media for power plant turbine blades...
His was frequency tune-able... the blades were 7K a piece. He was going to make a fortune, when he got called to contract in Iraq and I never heard from him again...
His media was proprietary...
Darn shame I did not have a chance to copy his design... Loyalty can cost you a good living, I guess.

It was 4' tall, 5' wide, x 16" W and shook the crap outa the room when it was fire up.
I bet you could make one with an old concrete vibrator, from a pawn shop and fill it with corn or walnut husks, or the Black sand these guys mentioned... might take a few days...
Old set of springs might work, under the tank, so you don't wake the dog...
 

MrMarty51

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Thanks, Martin, I'll remember that, in future. With the price of fuel, it pays to be as efficient as possible, living in a state this big. I was out playing some music at a funeral in Circle a couple years ago. That's a long way form Dillon.

Aaron
My brother used to play music all over the nation, a lot in the western portions.
Mainly bar room honkytonk dancin music.
On youtube or rumble, look up Ken Draper.
He now does a one man band thing.
 

RanchWelder

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Check your email...
 

John Joseph

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I have used a mixture of Citric Acid and water about a 3% to 5% solution for rust removing from steel wheels. I have had great success without the mess or expense of blasting. I have also used Bead Sealer (same as a Tire shop would) on rims that are pitted (steel or alloy) and it has worked great also.
 

Ricko1966

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@John Joseph I'm glad you brought it up,we were all so focused on abrasive rust removal we all forgot about other methods. I also have had great results with citric acid,better results with phosphoric acid,and even better luck with electrolysis rust removal. To do electrolysis you'll have to make a dunk tank,get some washing soda,some sacrificial rods and a battery charger. It's amazing I hate to tell anyone this just because so many people are going to tell me what I should have done why I'm stupid,whatever. Cam went flat on my mazda truck,needed the truck that weekend,no time to wait for a cam. Pulled an old cam out of my scrap metal pile which is outside,cleaned the rust off with electrolysis,put it in my truck as a stop gap until I could get a cam,it's still in my truck.
Here's a link,the title says for stripping paint but works for rust awesome.
 
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Ricko1966

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Here's another link for cleaning Rusty gas tanks. When I first learned this process on another forumn,someone asked if this worked on aluminum? Someone replied with,do you have a bunch of rusty aluminum?
 

Scribbles

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Wire wheel doesn’t seem to touch rust beyond the loose flakes, just starts polishing once you get down to that point. flap discs seem to clog up quickly and quit cutting unless you use super coarse grit. The paint and rust stripper discs seem to make short work of paint but I haven’t tried them on heavy rust yet.

I agree with @Doppleganger take them to a powder coater and have them blasted and coated in one stop.

I’ve gone through 700 pounds of blasting media this year using a cheapo harbor freight pressure pot blaster. Each time we blast we waste a bag of media before the blaster gets tuned and running right, makes a huge mess, and has about worn out the big compressor at the shop.

When I worked at a tire shop as a kid the local dirt track guys would bring me their bent, gouged, and rusty bead rims once they couldn’t get them to hold a bead.

A little clean up with a 3M roloc disc, and some light banging with a hammer followed by a heavy doucheing of Coppercoat head gasket sealer between the bead and wheel lip usually did the trick. They were a real MF to deal with the next time though.
I forgot about Coppercoat!
 

CTxK20

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I just got the wheels back from the powder coaters today. They look much better than they used to.
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