Bead Blasting-Go from shiny to matte or from too course back to matte

[haris1]

Hello fellow smithophiles.
After paying a gunsmith 60 bucks to bead blast my 625 to remove scratches and a overly shiny finish, I decided to try it myself since the cost is quite low if you have a few guns that need help. The blast cabinet costs around$100 and most everyone has a shop vac and a compressor which is necessary. glass beads will run you 70 cents to a buck a pound.
First is an overly shiney 625 4 inch and Second is a overly coursely 627 six inch. You MUST disassemble the entire gun, blast it, then degrease and re oil lightly before disassmbly lest you will have very gritty pistol.As usual,suggestions,
comments, criticisms and questions are always welcomed


625 before




625 after






627 before-see how coarse and dark?





Complete Disassembly




627 after-looks new!!


Front of cylinder looks unfired!!




624 that someone flitzed to death and it looks like
a nickel gun-I like nickel on a carbon steel pistol, not on
a stainless gun thats made for using. Thats my next project to make it look like the day it left the factory



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I am challenged as far as doing the slightest gunsmithing. I can assemble and disassemble smith revolvers and 1911's
and thats about it!
Bead blasting is something simple enough that I can do it and its rewarding!! But a high quality mask, a fine particle filtration bag in youra shop vac is so important as the beads turn to dust which is horribly toxic if one breathes it in.There is a hole in the blast cabinet for your shop vac to attach to
and you must make sure its connected well with no leaks

My Bead Blast Cabinet



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Regards,

Haris1

 

[oldbrownhat]

Tagged for interest as I have a 625-8 that I might want to put a black finish on eek: donning flame suit in 30 secs.) which will require a gentle blasting. Didn't know you could use a Shop Vac. I have a Makita dual-cylinder compressor that I was thinking of using to charge a larger-capacity tank for light blasting.

 

[turnejm]

Bead Blast Beauty!

Haris,

Dang, that 625 looks GOOD! What media did you use in your cabinet?

I noticed that the front sight blade on the 624 is not pinned. What thoughts do you have about protecting it while blasting the barrel? I have a Model 64 that I want to get blasted to matte finish.
Inspired, Thanks

 

[haris1]

Tagged for interest as I have a 625-8 that I might want to put a black finish on eek: donning flame suit in 30 secs.) which will require a gentle blasting. Didn't know you could use a Shop Vac. I have a Makita dual-cylinder compressor that I was thinking of using to charge a larger-capacity tank for light blasting.

the shop vac connects to a hole near the top of the cabinet
since the beads turn to a baby powder consistency and they are no longer useful. For health reasons the vac sucks them out of the air in the cabinet. As far as front sights go, if its not pinned, then mask it off with duct tape. You can direct the flow and easily not hit the taped sight. I held the sideplate screws in my gloved hand and blasted each one in 5 seconds.
I didnt get the beads from brownells but look in their catalog
and only get the finer number. I think the finer are higher in number. In Brownells the finer beads are 270+

Very important: Allen-frame advised me to plug the barrel in the front and back as well as each chamber since you dont want to cause any abrasion in the barrel or the chambers.
Its easier to put the sideplate on and gently finger tighten the screws and blast the screws and sideplate all at once onstead of holding the screws individually

 

[Warren Sear]

Haris,

Dang, that 625 looks GOOD! What media did you use in your cabinet?

I noticed that the front sight blade on the 624 is not pinned. What thoughts do you have about protecting it while blasting the barrel? I have a Model 64 that I want to get blasted to matte finish.
Inspired, Thanks

You can use duct tape to carefully mask off any parts you do not want blasted. Blast media will not remove the tape.

 

[cal50]

Bead blasting gives a nice uniform matte finish. The top 2 guns are bead blasted stainless steel and wiped down with break free. The bottom model 27 was blasted and coated with moly resin.

 

[oldbrownhat]

...The bottom model 27 was blasted and coated with moly resin.

That Model 27 has the sort of finish I was thinking of for my 625. There seem to be a number of good finishes out there that can be applied by the home gunsmith. I see you have the SDM gold bead sight on that, too. That's another thing I've been wanting to do.

 

[dfariswheel]

One caution on bead blasting:
Never bead blast a stainless or aluminum part in a blaster that's been used to do carbon steel.

If you do, tiny particles of carbon steel will be embedded into the stainless or aluminum and will rust, ruining the surface.
If you need to do stainless or aluminum after carbon steel, clean out the blaster and re-fill with all new media.

I once had a customer who bead blasted an aluminum frame in a garage blaster that was used to do car parts.
He was shocked when his aluminum gun started to rust.

When blasting any gun I strongly suggest plugging both ends of the barrel and all chambers to keep the blast spray out, and stay away from critical surfaces.
Wooden or semi-soft plastic plugs work well.
Put the side plate on the gun with the screws to prevent rounding the edges of the plate.

 

[haris1]

One caution on bead blasting:
Never bead blast a stainless or aluminum part in a blaster that's been used to do carbon steel.

If you do, tiny particles of carbon steel will be embedded into the stainless or aluminum and will rust, ruining the surface.
If you need to do stainless or aluminum after carbon steel, clean out the blaster and re-fill with all new media.

I once had a customer who bead blasted an aluminum frame in a garage blaster that was used to do car parts.
He was shocked when his aluminum gun started to rust.

When blasting any gun I strongly suggest plugging both ends of the barrel and all chambers to keep the blast spray out, and stay away from critical surfaces.
Wooden or semi-soft plastic plugs work well.
Put the side plate on the gun with the screws to prevent rounding the edges of the plate.

That is great input for us "grasshoppers"

That would have never dawned on me

 

[haris1]

3 pistols beadblasted

really nice work, cal50 !!can you take a shiny blued gun or reblued gun thats a crummy reblue and make it look like your 27? If so, great!! thanks for sharing

 

[oldbrownhat]

That is great input for us "grasshoppers"

That would have never dawned on me

Duly noted. Another Grateful Grasshopper here.

 

[03Fatboy]

Yep, I'm a bit like you and I like to bead blast as well because I like it on my stainless models.

 

[terrancemc]

Beadblasting

Haris, I have been doing beadblasting for over 10 years now. Started with a unit like you have and have worked up to a large one with a professional compressor. The 270 beads from Brownells are the ones to use to get a factory finish on S&Ws. The beads don't actually breakup on impact unless you are using cheap ones. The vacuum is supposed to take the dust away so the debris does not mix with the beads. The before shots look like either sand or real coarse grit of beads was used. I have found the best way to start out is to totally dissassemble the gun and clean it in a ultrasonic cleaner, that will get all the crud out of the hidden areas and the tiny beads won't get stuck in there. I blow the pieces off after blasting and then rinse with brake cleaner then blow them dry. I then run a pipe cleaner thru all the small holes and then start putting it back together. I don't plug the barrel or cylinder, never had a problem with that. Just don't force the beads down either area and you will be ok. The small beads really won't do any damage to the bore or cylinder, if it would then you would be changing the exterior dimensions and that doesn't happen. I have seen a couple of revolvers that were blasted with sand and only had the bore and cyl plugged off, what a disaster that was. There was damage to the internals from trying to "shoot out" the beads that got into the gun. Took a lot of work to get them right again but I enjoy a challenge. I have also done 2 tone finishes for my dealer where I will polish the flats of a semi auto and blast the rest of it and polish the cyl flutes on a revolver along with the screw heads, looks real nice. If you want to learn more check out TIP Tools website. They are in Canfield, Ohio and that is where I have bought my equipment from. Great people to deal with. Their website is: TP Tools & Equipment. Get a catalog and see what they have. Terry

 

[rwsmith]

I love the results

The finished products are outstanding.


The second one reminds me of a machine shop I used that did fine work but sort of overdid everything with the bead blasting. Besides good work the owner was a bit of a genius which really helped when working on research projects.

 

[haris1]

my latest fix on a cylinder with mirror-like flutes

I have a 629-4 with mirror chrome cylinder flutes that only B A
Barackas (Mr T) would love!! in 3 minutes, the cylinder looks new and no turn line.This pistol only brought $700 on auction due to its ugliness!!!
Only the cylinder was blasted-see how well it matches to the rest of the firearm.

This is a before picture

Another before pic


Two pics after blasting ,very respectable 629-4!!


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[cal50]

That Model 27 has the sort of finish I was thinking of for my 625. There seem to be a number of good finishes out there that can be applied by the home gunsmith. I see you have the SDM gold bead sight on that, too. That's another thing I've been wanting to do.

SDM Fabrication can do some amazing work and makes top notch accessories for s&w.
I have a biased opinion because Scott (SDM) is my best friend as well.

 

[cal50]

For aspriying blasters out there harbor freight has a decent cabinet they run on sale for around $200 and with a 20% off coupon it's even better. Replace the junk gun with one from TP tools / skat blast and it works great. I would suggest using RTV silicone and seal the cabinet as you put it together. I also use a shop vac & cyclonic dust collector while blasting.

Guns-
(Also on Ebay)

Trigger Operated Power Gun - TP Tools & Equipment

Cabinet-

40 Lb. Capacity Floor Blast Cabinet

Also suggested a good dust catcher to save your shop vac-

http://tinyurl.com/mzvpmkm

 

[03Fatboy]

Great info Cal50!

 

[haris1]

624 finally gets blasted!!!

This 624 would blind you in the sunlight!! I like nickeled guns but loath the polished stainless pieces

here is the before




Below are two pics after beadblasting June7th






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[terrancemc]

624

Looks good Haris, I think you have got the hang of it. If you have any questions in the future don't hesitate to ask. Terry