I have been doing some horseshoe work with old shoes, I was useing a heavy wire wheel to clean, {Time consuming, and not all the crap would come off} I tryed moradic acid, {still time concuming cleaning up the crap that would not come off plus the fact it is acid}.
I was thinking about sandblasting with a portable cabinet from HF or Nothern tools. I also found some on Ebay for 135.00.
Are they or would they be worth it for this cleanup? I will be doing a lot of shoes for some personal projects and for sale down the road projects
Don: Is rust a problem? What's the "crap" you mention? My experience with sandblasting is that it is also time consuming, requires a huge amount of air, so you need a huge compressor to keep up. Plus it generates a lot of dust. Even with a cabinet. You'd be making a big $ comittment to sandblasting with no guarantee of success. Have you tried electrolitic de-rusting? Requires only a dc battery charger, a bucket, and washing soda. It has worked well for me on certain items. If rust is your problem, I'd try that first. Cheap and easy.
Cheap sandblasting equipment is an exercise in misery. To do blasting at all right, you need a giant air compressor (if it ain't on a trailer it probably is way too wimpy) and a cabinet/dust extractor system that costs at least $400.
You can get by on the cheap, but it won't be much better than wire brushing, only easier on your wrist ligaments.
A question on sandblasting was posted and to this I say: I built A sandblasting cabinet from 3/4" plywood with scrap sheetmetal lining the interior. I have used this cabinet for almost 30 years off and on in the restoration of motorcycle and auto parts and it works fine. I used the plans that were offered by the TIP company and I use A pressure type blaster with it. For dust control I use old wet vacs that I buy cheap at auction. Sand gets into the bearings and destroys the motor but they last 2 or 3 years and do an adequate job of keeping the cabinet clear of dust. A 5 HP compressor with A 30 gallon tank and a 100# converted LP tank supply air and this is the only compressor I have ever used (Craftsman brand) and I have just this summer wore out the compressor head after lots of hard use. I have replaced the head with A Dayton Speedaire (new)that I bought at an auction. Bottom line is your blasting small parts in an enclosed cabinet and not bridge beams 40 feet up on A scaffold so you don't need A 500 pound compressor to do this. Clean,dry air is the key to home sandblasting. I have stopped using silica sand for my cabinet and now use Black Beauty which is iron slag and dust is A minimal issue as compared to sand. Northern Tool sells A number of different kinds of blasting media but I only have experience with sand and Black Beauty as my local store only sells these types on site.
Good Luck! H.R.
"I Know that you belive that you understand what you think I said, But I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." Robert McCloskey State Department Spokesman.
I got tired of seeing our shop guys cleaning the wet/dry shop vac filter every couple of days, that we use on our cheap blast cabinet, so I got a part number 9586 from Harbor Freight and scrounged up some hose a year or so ago to see if it worked as well as it looked in the ad. Actually works pretty well - now they clean the filter every 3-4 weeks. It is a lid for a 5 gallon bucket (you supply the bucket) with two ports so the bucket forms a dust trap. Well worth the $7.99 :-). Shop vac is about
3 or 4 years old now and still going. We use 100 mesh glass beads and only change them when the dust gets real bad. The gun is from Eastwood and their ceramic nozzles seem to hold up pretty well, maybe 30-50 hours until the walls start looking pretty thin and the cutting action is dropping noticeably (did I mention we are cheap at work, can't just change a $10 nozzle, no, sigh :-)). We really need 90 psi for good blasting. Any less and it just doesn't cut rust and weld oxidation on stainless. We have a two cylinder single stage compressor that's probably 10-14 cfm and it really can't quite keep up. I think it's an honest 7.5 hp motor running on 208 volt three phase, and I have to take a 2-5 minute break every 10-15 minutes or so to let it catch back up. Keep the tank well drained - like Harley said dry air is key.
-- Regards, Carl Ijames carl dott ijames aat verizon dott net (remove nospm or make the obvious changes before replying)
You ask why don't I buy new shoes? These are FREE. I have two guys that do shoeing and they can not give them away. I will be making an arch way out of them for my horse shelter. Also a lot of people like to use the shoes that come off their horse to make halter holders or even crosses after the horse dies or have to be put down....
Don
Grant Erw> > I have been doing some horseshoe work with old shoes, I was useing a
I've got a 20Lb. pressure blaster that I use with a 12CFM compressor, works very well. The compressor drops to about 80 PSI but will run there all day long. I built a cabinet using a life raft conrainer, details here-
It probably doesn't matter with horse shoes, but most chemical/electrical rust removal methods induce hydrogen embrittlement, something to avoid where lives can be in danger, like automotive suspension parts.
One method could be to simply tumble them in an old electric concrete mixer. Toss in some horse shoes, gravel and sand or even add some soap and water, and let it run for 8 hours or so.
I thought of the mixer also. At this time I have a 8" wire wheel mounted on a swamp cooler motor. I thought of the sand blaster cabinet and the mixer, A cheep plasic mixer would runn 100.00 or so and so will the sand blaster.
I get all the old shoes from several farriers that come to our barn. The only truly rusted ones are those that were lost in a field or paddock. Ones that are changed regularly (4-6 week interval) are just scuffed and worn and may have some light surface rust.
Any manure packed in nail slots will come out after a good soaking, then its easy to pick or hand wire brush out. If you want a clean clean surface can always brush on some naval jelly to clear off any surface rust.
For those that do casting, ask the farrier for any aluminum shoes they replace.
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