Sand Blasting Media for aluminum and steel?

[REZARF]

I have had a bench top sand blaster for several years and decided to try it out today as I am restoring an old Warn winch that I got from Roe. I know zero about sand blasting. I would like to add some new media to it but don't know where to begin, the sticker on the side of the box says 25-50 pounds of media is the right amount. I would like to blast a few different things that are aluminum and clean up some smaller sheet metal parts on the cruiser, heat shields and brackets for instance.

I am mostly trying to clean off old paint and corrosion to get a clean surface to paint.

Is there a general, good enough for most things media you would recommend. Can I buy it locally or do I need to order it?

Parts will be painted or powder coated once blasted.

 

[AirheadNut]

You should be able to get media locally, I haven't gotten any here but in Kalispell I would always go to the local masonry store, they had blasting media in all varieties and quantities.

Glass beads work really nicely on aluminum, as does walnut shell for a milder media. The carburetors, intake manifold and thermostat housing I did with glass beads:

For heavy corrosion and paint on steel I like copper slag, but it can be quite aggressive in terms of surface finish. I just finished blasting all the cast iron parts of a 100+ year old post drill using copper slag:

The powdercoaters that do all the weldments we make at work use either garnet or steel for blasting, these are also quite aggressive.

 

[REZARF]

Very helpful.

Need to get an in line drier on my compressor too. I’m going to try the glass stuff first.

 

[AirheadNut]

Glass beads would be a great starting point, especially for aluminum and thin steel. I just remembered that Harbor Freight stocks some blasting media, looks like they have aluminum oxide, glass bead, walnut shell and soda in stock locally.

 

[Bowser]

Last year a buddy ordered a pallet of walnut for a log home he has. Was too aggressive for that so I got it for the case of beer trade. I used it on steel and aluminum bits. Worked great unless it was pretty rusty steel. Just took a lot of passes to get desired results. But still worked.