vaporblasting

I have been looking for something like this in the CHicago land area as well but to no avail as of yet. I prefer not to ship. I work in the shipping industry and don't trust any of them!
 
Jaydela180 said:
Anyone use this service? http://www.vaporblasting.biz/index.html
Or any vaporblasting service?
Seems big in the UK, but only a few places (that i could find) do it in the US. shipping back and forth is a huge buzz kill, but parts look awesome. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I used that exact place and it turned out great
I had him do my entire top end including jugs
Shipping wasn't bad at all- maybe $18 using FedEx
 
2poler, there's a huge vapor blasting manufacturer in Milwaukee that I've contacted to see if they can connect with one of their customers locally. I read in on a few other forums about some body shops that have vapor blasters. They just don't really advertise to the public. Hopefully, something will turn up. I'm in process of rebuild and was going to vht top end, but after seeing some before and afters, keeping it naked.
 
Sbaugz, any pics? Would love to see results on our engine. As for the shipping, maybe reasonable to get it there, but return is a $50 plus insurance fee. At least thats how I thought it was described.
 
Jaydela180 said:
Sbaugz, any pics? Would love to see results on our engine. As for the shipping, maybe reasonable to get it there, but return is a $50 plus insurance fee. At least thats how I thought it was described.
Click to expand...

I'll work on getting some pics
Return shipping is actual charges. Not sure where you got the $50 from. For me, I have a FedEx account and simply per-printed a return label and sent it along. Cost me $18 to ship entire top end.
 
If you get in touch with them let me know. I am looking at getting my heads done. The rest is getting powder coated. I am not sure what I am going to do with the case as I am not splitting it?
 
Those are the first 'real world' pics I've seen of their work - awesome stuff. Wish it was more economical to send heavy parts down from Canada - I would have had them do both my XS engines in a heartbeat.

The best IMHO alternative to vapor blasting is baking soda, which I had done on one of my engines. The other one I had glass bead blasted, which I only did because it was done by the best machine shop in the city that does tons of motorcycle work (all the vintage racers use him) so I knew I could trust my engine cases to him.

Up in Canada appropriately enough we have dry ice blasting, but I haven't found anyone who does small jobs yet. They use it for graffiti removal, large machinery cleaning / degreasing etc.
 
I watched a special on the History channel about the Dry ice blasting and just started looking for it locally today. It looks promising.
 
My lower cases and rocker cover are on the way back from Rice Relics. That's the place Hugh uses. I'll get some photo's up once they arrive Wednesday evening.

Robby
 
After reading about the process, it sounds like the water and soap are degreasing while the glass beads are cleaning the surface. I do believe you can accomplish the same by using usual degreasing procedures and then soda blasting. And soda blasting is not nearly as abrasive as a glass bead. And it's way easier to clean up. Anytime you introduce a solid blasting medium into parts you must be very thorough on clean up. Beads or sand really like to find places to hide. FYI, I am no expert but I do use various blasting media on a regular basis and I am always looking for a better way.
2poler mentioned dry ice blasting. I did spend my last 15 working years in the dry ice business and can say it's a great blasting media, but the cost of the ice and the equipment is very expensive. It is used in industrial applications when no residue is acceptable. As an example, cleaning presses or fire damage. But it is a great process.
 
Here are the pictures I promised last week. Rice Relics in NC did these for me. Recommended by Hugh and I'll second that recommendation. I just sent the upper and lower cases and the rocker box cover. I already had the head rebuilt and really didn't want it blasted. I'm very happy with the work he did. $75.00 + shipping on these parts. These are 1982 cases so they had the black paint on them. Not a speck left now. In the photo with the head you can see the difference in it and the rocker box cover. The head was bead blasted when I got my motorcycle in a box...

Robby
 

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Rice Relics does a great job - they do all of our cases now. I don't easily recommend other companies or services unless I have 100% faith in them. Those head covers come back almost shiny! Glass bead alone won't even get them that nice.
 
Sub'd. Those look great. I have a bead blaster at work and an ultrasonic cleaning tank that I was going to use but I'm a little hesitant to throw glass beads at my engine and not be able to get every piece out, even when submerged in the ultrasonic tank. I think I'll send parts out to these guys. Thanks for the review.
 

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