Glass Bead Media Testing on 5906 Frame

[Hill_Country]

Thanks to everyone for this very informative post.

Pardon a bit of thread drift, but has anyone tried blasting a slide or frame without a detail strip? Especially when not bead blasting the entire weapon, is it possible to remove the blasting media with a pressure washing? What about masking parts such as sights?

Seems like a detailed teardown and reassembly is considerably more work than the actual blasting and I wonder if there are any shortcuts.

 

[TTSH]

I'm very pleased with the results...

BMCM = Pure Genius. A magician with metal! And proven so many times that it makes my head spin.

I just wish my local gunsmiths were even half as good. And I'd be pleased as punch if I were even 5% as good.

 

[BMCM]

has anyone tried blasting a slide or frame without a detail strip? Especially when not bead blasting the entire weapon, is it possible to remove the blasting media with a pressure washing? What about masking parts such as sights?

Seems like a detailed teardown and reassembly is considerably more work than the actual blasting and I wonder if there are any shortcuts.

Nope and I wouldn't even try. You see, that fine blasting media migrates into everything. And I mean everthing! Even parts you've carefully masked off with heavy vinyl tape and are not directly blasted, you'll find grit under the masking when you peel it off. Imagine trying to clean grit out of areas like the firing pin channel, under the extractor or in the recesses under the rear sight without disassembling

Another consideration is fully degreasing the parts before you blast. If using a blast cabinet where you're recycling your media you don't want any grease or oil contamination in there. It'll cause clumping in the media and any parts that are destined for coating ie. Cerakoat, will also have surface oil contamination. No good for getting paint to stick.

The only way to do a proper & thorough job is detail strip the parts. A frame nearly falls apart, only the sear spring requires a bit of careful work. Slides are a bit more difficult. Getting the sights off can be troublesome and the extractor pin can be disagreeable at times

Even when stripped, getting all the grit out of all the nooks & crannies takes some work. I'll go over the parts with compressed air first then wash with detergent, rinse then back to compressed air. And after all that, occasionally I find a blotchy spot or a small area I missed entirely and have to start all over again

Back in the day I often told my lads "Do it right the first time or not at all" Any job done halfassed will eventually have to be redone. So in short...Blast some assembled pistol stuff and you'll eventually wind up detail stripping anyway to get all the grit outa there. Sorry, no there's shortcuts

Cheers
Bill

 

[skjos]

Great job Bill, do you know what ratio the McMaster Carr media was blended at? I'm curious if it is near the 1:10 ratio that I found was the sweet spot.

As far as stripping the frame and slide, I remove everything except the front sight (does not affect function), barrel bushing (non-removable part), and the sear spring (pin is destroyed during removal). I mask the heck out of these parts and clean them thoroughly after blasting (Rinse, 90psi air blast, rinse with tooth brush scrub and foam tipped swabs, 90psi air blast, and then a detailed final q-tip cleaning).

 

[BMCM]

Great job Bill, do you know what ratio the McMaster Carr media was blended at? I'm curious if it is near the 1:10 ratio that I found was the sweet spot.

Thanks...

No idea as to the ratio though. Out of curiosity I contacted McMaster-Carr and they didn't have that info either... go figure

Anyway it looks like this:

I stuck a mag catch nut in frame for a sense of scale. If I were to guess I'd say in the neighborhood of 60/40 or maybe 70/30 favoring glass on the high end

Cheers
Bill

 

[TrophyMatch]

I have two 3rd gen 4046 and 5906. I just bought a blast cabinet from harbor freight and a blasting kit. I bought media randomly and will try on some stainless steel pieces of metal I have lying around. Questions 1. I will not dissassemble the gund but will tape off well and then bathe them in paint thinner or naphta etc to rinse out any debris after blasting any thoughts ? Any tips ? Great post by the way.

 

[85V65Sabre]

I have two 3rd gen 4046 and 5906. I just bought a blast cabinet from harbor freight and a blasting kit. I bought media randomly and will try on some stainless steel pieces of metal I have lying around. Questions 1. I will not dissassemble the gund but will tape off well and then bathe them in paint thinner or naphta etc to rinse out any debris after blasting any thoughts ? Any tips ? Great post by the way.

See post 23 above.

 

[Sevens]

I think you rin the very genuine risk of WRECKING any gun that you blast without full assembly.

Imagine the interface between hammer and sear -- now imagine you pulling the trigger (or evem simply cocking the pistol) with that grit in there.

You certainly can't stop the grit from getting in there.

 

[flashbang155]

Old thread but very relevant.

The secret sauce is indeed #4 Econo blend from Mcmaster-Carr!

Blends perfectly.

70psi and 4 inches away in circular motions.

Then for blend pull back and sweep towards original finish.

I will say this.

I have bead blasted many items with mainly WAO open air, and it's a mess.

This glass bead mix is down right evil stuff to use.

Respirator and goggles are a minimum.

That glass finds its way into the skin.



Thank you all so much.



Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[rosewood]

Just picked up the benchtop blast cabinet from HF today. Ordered the McMaster media online, hopefully it will be here in a few days. I will post pictures of my results. I have several Gen 3s that need finish touchup. Thank you guys for blazing the trail so I don't have to trial and error.

That media is expensive though. $33 for 10 lbs, plus $9 shipping, dang.

I went ahead and bought a 25lb bag of 80 grit glass media for general use from HF also.

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

Has anyone treated the barrel hood (the part exposed from the slide) with blast media? Use the same as on the slide?

Thanks,

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

Use the 80grit glass beads at 80psi on a stainless 1911 frame that had scratches. Cleaned it right up. Do think I would like something with a little more shine afterwards. It is gray now.

Rosewood

 

[VonHoffmann]

I agree, a little too grey.

Looking forward to seeing your results from the McMaster media as I have a c couple of newly acquired gen 3s I want to look new again as well.

I already have the table top blast cabinet from HF. Did you use the media spray gun that came with it?

 

[rosewood]

I agree, a little too grey.

Looking forward to seeing your results from the McMaster media as I have a c couple of newly acquired gen 3s I want to look new again as well.

I already have the table top blast cabinet from HF. Did you use the media spray gun that came with it?

I did. Worked fine. I also used my shop vac to keep the dust down. No issues there. I also put duct tape over the grommets where I had heard reviewer say theirs had leaks from. Worked perfect. Put 2 of those HF LED light switches in the ceiling of the cabinet with magnets, seemed to be plenty of light for me.

The media came in Monday night, but it has been raining and didn't want to be using it with the high humidity just in case. Hopefully I will be able to give it a go either tomorrow or Friday evening.

I still have to clean out the HF media from the cabinet also before using the new media. I will post pics as soon as I get the first one done.

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

Here is what the 1911 looks like assembled. The frame is darker than I would like and a rough texture. Again, I used the 80 grit GB from HF. I would have thought it would have been similar to the #9GB you guys tested with, but it looks way darker to me. Do you guys think if I hit it with the #13GB, it would lighten it up?

I hope to try out the McMaster #4 this evening on a S&W slide.

Thanks,

Rosewood

 

[rosewood]

@BMCM
@skjos

 

[skjos]

I've been watching the progress and I'm looking forward to seeing the McMaster-Carr media on the slide.

I've also been watching BMCM's thread on fixing up a rough blast job on a 1006:

M1006 in for some spa treatment

Post #7 seems extremely relevant to your situation, and gives great advice on how to even up your frame's finish.

If you are after a brighter/shinier finish than the standard S&W finish, #13 glass bead media with lower pressure would be the way to go.

The lower 4006 in this picture was blasted with #13 (it might have been #9 - it was a long time ago), while it looks darker in the picture it is brighter/shinier in person.

 

[rosewood]

Thanks skjos��

 

[rosewood]

McMaster Carr #4 is indeed the secret sauce. @70psi

Left and center are before, right is after. The 3913 was somewhat shiny, not sure if it was wear or someone polished it.

 

[rosewood]

Looks new til I shoot...