I got a sandblast cabinet last winter and have been blasting parts on my truke and polishing them.
So far I have been using sand only and I think it has been making polishing a little more of a chore.

Has anyone used glass beads at all and are they worth it or is there any other abrasive that you guys have had
good experiences with.

Sand leaves everything looking kind of alloyish.

What can I expect from glass bead blasting. Is it worth the extra bux ?

Anyone have any pics ?

 

I used to use glass, and it worked great, But I don't have a clue on what grit we were using. Have you tryed a finer grit of sand?

 

Spring for the glass beads. I use them, and they work great. They leave the surface nice and bright with a slight texture. Polishing after glass beading is a snap. The texture usually goes away after your first pass with the compound. A couple of things to remember are to keep the beads as clean as possible and keep your water traps in good working order. As far as keeping them clean, common sense factors heavily into this. Don't blast parts with a lot of dirt or rust on them without cleaning them first. I usually sand blast heavier parts first, then bead blast them. Delicate parts get cleaned in the parts washer or with soap and water before being glass beaded. Carbon is also bad because it can turn your nice shiny part a dull gray. Humidity will make a mess of the beads in a hurry, and you won't get an even finish on the surface. Clogged lines are also caused by too much water in the supply line/cabinet. I don't know if beads even have a grit rating, but we get ours from Car Quest. I think they only sell one type of beads, and they are very, very fine. They're almost like baking soda in consistency.

 

glass beads come in:
MIL SPEC#4 (30/40) LARGE
MIL SPEC#5 (40/50) LARGE
MIL SPEC#6 (50/70) MEDIUM
MIL SPEC#8 (70/100) MEDIUM
MIL SPEC#10 (100/170) FINE
MIL SPEC#12 (140/230) FINE

 

here's a thread i posted with a link to some pics Link