DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Hello
I have some old steel wheels (not porsche) that I'd like to shot/media/sand blast. I could just take them to some local bloke, but what I'd really like to do is have a crack myself. I was therefore wondering if anyone around the SW London sort of area had a home set-up that they'd let me have a play with in return for beer/food/cash/etc?
Many thanks
Will

Will, my bit of advice is .... don't.

You need a massive compressor to do something the size of wheels, many people use a diesel one.

My big commercial Ingersoll Rand three phase keeps up with my little DIY cabinet, but even then anything that's bigger than a melon just takes ages and ages. Luckily the melons around here don't rust much.

They are brilliant for a bit of cleaning up of something already pretty good though, and are excellent for small bits and pieces that you wouldn't want to give a blaster. The convenience then is most useful.

Frosts show someone apparently blasting a whole classic car with one of their set-ups, what they don't point out is that the car was brand new when he started ....

I got fed up scratching away at my motorcycle restoration parts,brake drums and engine cases etc.
I use a small electric 240 v compressor and a range of media.
It worked really well, but took ages.
Biggest problem I had was moisture in the compressed air going into the media gun and cabinet.

Good results but I used a small unit from Machine Mart. Add to that cost the media and all the time and compressor running and it adds up.

For all the messing about, gather all the bits and give them to a pro shop for best results.
Get them painted ASAP!

I tried the Frost simple kit and it was an utter waste of time. The claims made are not true in my experience.

Barry wrote:Frosts show someone apparently blasting a whole classic car with one of their set-ups, what they don't point out is that the car was brand new when he started ....

I'd second barry - I thought about this for my car as I've stripped a lot of stuff, but it just wasn't worth it.. I think I got to the point where I considered a "pot" type blaster which tends to be more efficient on the air side of things, but I was no where near having enough capacity with my compressor, or pretty much anything else I found that could run off a single phase supply!

I get you're looking to borrow someone else's kit, but its probably better to just let them do it - its a noisy, dusty-ass job!

No where near you, but I did find the following companies really useful to know near me if anyone is looking for this type of service..

Chantrells - based on flash farm just south of Leicester (narborough). they blast HUGE agricultural things but are also pretty good at the smaller/thicker stuff like subframes, etc. Not sure I'd take them a set of wheels to do, but fine for the heavy stuff. Usually in the range of 20-50 quid for a boot full of stuff

Sodablasting East - somewhere between Leic and NHampton - brilliant at stripping stuff off delicate things but not particularly cheap. Think I paid 25 quid a wheel for a set of 2 piece split rims to be done BUT there was no damage to the polished surface underneath the laquer which saved me a TON of time refurbishing

Clean Surface / Dioxice - based on troon ind est Leicester - AMAZING place! I used their dry ice blasting "cabinet" (its about 5x5x3 meter room) for £50 p/h all-in to clean-up all my engine and transmission parts. I also brought £30 of dry ice off them to strip ALL the underseal and sound deadening tar off my car (took me about 3hrs )

I used the local skip manufacturers as they blast the skips before paint and have the capacity for large stuff. Last time I went I was charged £30 for all the large suspensions parts (A arms, cross member, spring plates, etc) and a pair of IB bumpers and a bucket of random odds and sods. Took a couple of days but they're local to work. Just find somewhere local and pay them cash. It ain't worth your time and effort.

I got the tip off by the local powder coaters, who then powder coated all said blasted stuff for £75.

Don't mention what car it's off either as they'll think you're loaded and will double the price.

I take it you're an Orange Juice fan?

Hello to you.
Thanks chaps. I hear you, loud and clear. Great tip on the skip place, will see what I can find.
You see, being a massive tight arse, I'm not paying some bloke 25 quid to strip a wheel that cost about the same. I've also probably used up my 9 lives with my angle grinder and stripping pads (which themselves are not cheap for what they are and don't last long).

Nige - yes absolutely. I'm also a huge fan of the little musical joke that edwyn slips in at the end of that verse in R-I-U ...the two note gtr solo from the buzzcocks "boredom". You don't get enough songs referencing other songs in my opinion.

Great to read suggestions for this as they all happen to be local!

I love a bit of DIY, but blasting stuff is not fun, rewarding or worth the effort in any shape or form - find a local guy (a dog-on-a-string sort of chap) and get them to do it for cash.