New Water Blaster Available in Metal Shop

Metal Shop
#1

The new water blaster has arrived, and it is ready for use. Instructions are posted on it.

This is NOT a parts washer. Use the parts washer in Automotive first, then water blast your part.

This machine has replaced the sand blaster. It produces NO DUST. It should be safe to use on machined parts. It will remove paint and corrosion, and leave a smooth, polished surface.

There is a video HERE, featuring Jay Leno.. Look around You Tube for other videos about the Vapor Hone machine.

Pictures below show the machine, and two parts, one in process of cleaning, and the other completely cleaned.

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DMS Media Blaster for Sale [sold]
#3

Thanks Zach!

Any one found to be not using the automotive parts washer properly won’t be able to use anything in automotive at all…

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#4

I updated the Tools list to include this.

Did we buy the 110V version or the 220V version? I need to include that in the list.

Also, I reorganized the Metal Shop part of the tools list into three sub-categories so it isn’t just one massively long (unsorted) list:

  • Sheet Metal and press
  • Hot metal (welding, plasma, forges, powder coat)
  • Metal prep and finishing (saws, hone, grinder)

If these categories aren’t suitable or if something needs to be moved between the categories, just let me know. PM is fine so we don’t derail this thread.

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#5

It is 110 volts. :blankspace:

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#6

What are the max dimensions for part sizes it will accommodate?

For example, I have a rusty, carbonized (not really what I would call greasy, and already run through a car wash water blaster with degreaser) grill grate or two that I would like to get back down to bare expanded metal.

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#7

Here is a picture of dimensions.

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#8

This link from the tools page says the interior dimensions are “33″W x 30″D x 28″H inside workspace”.

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#9

What pray tell is the purpose of the blaster holder? It seems to just make the machine harder to use?

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#10

Agreed. I was excited to hear about the machine, went to use it, but gave up after a few minutes…

#11

You can pull the quick pins & use it as a hand held.

#12

Lol goooood. I did that and i was like…uhm i hope its ok to do this but its almost useless otherwise…with it off the armature its a fantastic machine.

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#13

All the while looking over my shoulder to see if i was gonna get yelled at…

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#14

Here is my opinion of the new water blaster…for better or for worse!

The old sand blaster was very finicky! The hoses had to be kept perfectly straight for the media to feed. I created my own cockeyed way of making this happen. Once accomplished, the machine was very fast and efficient and left an excellent surface for paint adherence!

I used the new water blaster last night, and was anything but impressed!

First, someone please post the procedure for changing the water and cleaning the media! I assume that we are using DI/demineralized water? Last night when I went to use it, the water was a ugly mucky brown! Did someone not use the parts washer as instructed?

This new blaster is VERY ineffective at removing paint!!! It took me several hours to complete a simple task that would have taken 10-15 minutes to complete with the old machine!

I RECOMMEND CHEM STRIP AND THOUROUGH PARTS WASHING PRIOR TO USING THIS NEW BLASTER!!

Finally, the post-blasting cleaning to remove the brown muck and residual media residue was another chore unto itself!! No…the clean water hose for rinsing was ineffectual!!

#15

Weird. I used it a couple of days ago and had no issues. Its slightly slower than a dry blaster but were using a safe medium grit media. The old blaster had media of ALL types mixed in.

The water will always be brown from the first moment you remove rust with it. That’s kinda how it works.

We can try a more abrasive media when we decide to clean the machine out.

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#16

Hi friends! Brand new member here so you’ll have to forgive me if there’s a better place for this.

Went to use the vapor hone yesterday and ended up with more flash rust on the part coming out of the hone than going in. I suspect that might be a symptom of what kind of dissolved rust might be loose in the murky recovered water in the system right now–it looks pretty rough. My understanding is that it’s a closed system so things like rust, though mostly filtered in the recovery process, will still end up hanging around in the water to some degree. Apologies if I’m missing something about how this tool works! Open to other thoughts on what might be causing this.

Any chance someone would be willing to show me how to change the water in the system and refresh it? Or has thoughts on what might be the cause?

#17

The vapor Hone takes a little bit of practice. We have a wider nozzle for the pressure than many people are used to.

Most of the flash stuff wipes off, but it should be removing the bulk of the material.

@TBJK any idea last time the water was cycled?

#18

It’s probably time to change the media & water. We haven’t changed it just added water to it.

#19

Title made me think of this:

image

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#20

@hon1nbo and @TBJK thanks for taking a look at this. I’d be glad to help out if I can! Just let me know if there’s a time I can meet someone to work on it.

Out of new member curiosity, what’s the process for making a request for something like this to happen? Or is it just this easy?

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#21

The water and media has been changed out. It was a chore, and we need to pick a schedule to see how often we should cycle it out.

We continued to use glass bead (60/120 grit) and it performed far better as a fresh batch.

Cheers,
-Jim

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