Problem- blast cabinate media for aluminum?

[mc-motorsports]

So I have my Harley ripped down to the frame, I need it back up and running, nice weather is ALMOST HERE! (Ohio :shoot me)

I have a blast cabinate, but the crap glass bead I have is taking FOREVER just to clean up some aluminum parts... I.E. primary cover, cam cover, forward controlls, ect....

I'm going to paste a list of media available from McMaster Carr, which is my supplier of choice, yes they are expensive, but I will have it next day...

Glass Bead— Spherical beads remove carbon and surface residue. This media is inert and leaves no residue.
Ground Glass— An alternative to sand and grit; leaves a rough surface.
Glass/Aluminum Oxide Grit— Mixture of glass bead and aluminum oxide removes tough corrosion in applications where 100% aluminum oxide is too aggressive. Contains less than 1% of free silica.
Aluminum Oxide Grit— Sharp, hard, and durable, it prepares surfaces for recoating. Use to frost glass, letter stone, and remove contaminants.
Black Beauty Grit— The best alternative to silica sand, it's also known as black diamond and black blast. Contains less than 0.1% free silica. Grit is inert and moisture free.
Silicon Carbide Grit— Quickly cleans granite, ceramics, silicon, quartz, cemented carbides, and other tough materials.
Steel Grit— Leaves a textured surface to enhance the bonding ability of paint and other coatings.
Steel Shot— Generates a high impact force to clean and peen heavy forgings and remove heat-treated scale. For steel and other cast metals.
Cast Stainless Steel Shot— Outlasts aluminum oxide, glass beads, and black beauty grit by a ratio of 1000 to 1. Use to descale nonferrous metals.
Garnet Grit— More aggressive than other blasting media and cuts faster while producing less dust.
Plastic Grit— Easily removes coatings and build-up without marring and warping base material. Must be used with pressure feed blasting equipment; use with 3268K on page 2676.
Walnut Shells— These soft-grit shells clean, polish, and deburr soft metals, fiberglass, plastic, wood, and stone.
Corn Cob— Cleans metal, wood, fiberglass, plastic, masonry, and electric insulators. Won't frost glass, pit aluminum, or damage surfaces.
Baking Soda— Scour almost any material. It can be used "wet" with water for removing grease. Baking soda is environmentally friendly.



I'm leaning towards glass/aluminum oxide. I've honestly only used the blast cabinate for small jobs before, nothing major, or even as big of a job as blasting up all of the covers and misc parts for a bike. It's always done the trick in the past, I'm wondering if I started off with a light grit media, and it's just dull at this point??? I'm just looking to clean up some oxidized aluminum parts and I'll hit them with a buffer and compound when done, just having a hell of a time getting all the oxidation/road grime off.

And what grit would you guys reccomend? I honestly don't remember what I bought last time, but I do remember thinking is wasn't enough, should have bought something a little grittier...

Again, I mostly use it to clean up aluminum, some steel, never rusty or painted crap, I have that stuff stripped first.

TIA

MC

[ImanCarrot]

I use Honit High Performance Blast Media from Guyson international for ally (grade 16). I blast every day from Copper to Ally, Stainless, Glass etc. This give a nice uniform grey surface. We blast wet, but I think this stuff is meant for dry applications.

Give them a phone and they'll let you know what to use.

Their US contact details are as follows:

The Guyson Corporation of USA
W J Grande Industrial Park,
Saratoga Srings NY 12866-9006
Tel: (800) 633-6677, (518) 587-7894
Fax: (518) 587-7840

I have no affiliations with this company other than being a satisfied customer.
Hope this helps!

[Edit]Oh! to get engine crap and road crap off your harley you could do worse than "Gunk"- it removed all the crap from my Kawasaki Z1100 amazingly quickly
http://www.gunk.eu.com/html/products/engine.html
[/Edit]

[levelzero]

I've always used glass beads and never had a problem unless the part is powder coated. You need a good beefy compressor though. I originally had one of the little 1.5 hp compressors and could barely get anything down. when I switched to a 60 gallon 5 hp compressor it was night and day.

[Kevin Taylor]

MC for Al with epoxi or powder coat I found the best trick is to freez the part in the deepfreez and then blast for awhile the temp shock does wonder's to break lose the hard coating's a large part may need to be refrozen a couple of times to get the job done Good Luck Kevin