Bench Top Sandblasting Cabinet

I bought a sandblasting cabinet for my workbench.  Its the small one from Eastwood. It got good reviews and its probably the best priced cabinet when it goes on sale.  And from what I can tell, it goes on sale often.

The unit came shipped via Fedex and was not assembled.  It comes with a crap load of parts, and was more assembly than I thought I was going to have to do, but no worries I pulled it off.

I read the reviews, one of the biggest complaints is its not easy to seal.  After assembly you end up with a few air gaps that leak dust once it is powered up.  I made sure I used lots of the foam seal strips that come with the unit and then took the extra precaution of siliconing the corners were there were gaps.

I wanted to make sure that the vacuum was going to work well; I don't want a ton of silica dust floating around in my garage.  Since my Rigid vacuum has a different sized hose as the cabinet fixture, I picked up an adapter from Home Depot.

I paid a visit to the folks at Consolidated Compressor in Calgary and grabbed the best medium that would work with the unit.  They suggested Garnet which was reasonable at $14 for a 50 lb bag. The benefits of Garnet is that the silica levels are very low, it can be recycled, it creates less dust and it is gentle on the parts.  They also have a DIY yard where you can bring your own parts to blast.  I will be taking my larger pieces there to blast for sure.

My test piece is the brake cover from the inner fender.  Its a bit beat up, had some paint, rust and undercoater on it so I figured it was a good piece to test.

In it went and I started blasting.  I blew the fuse within 5 minutes of operating the thing.  So I ended up having to turn off all the lights in the shop.  Good thing the unit came with its own lamp.

I spent about 5 minutes on it, and it cleaned up fairly well.  The rust and paint came off no problem but the undercoater will need another treatment.

A few of the comments online suggested the attached vacuum pulled all of the sand out of the cabinet, rather than recycling the sand.  But I had no problem with that at all, in fact there was very little sand collected in the vacuum canister, mostly dust.

So there you have it, a great little unit.  And I will be sure to be blasting a bunch more Rover parts in the very near future.

Happy Birthday

Not quite sure how I missed this one, but the Land Rover had a birthday last week.  Read all about it at Road and Track.  68 years ago on April 30th, Land Rover unveiled the original Series one.

More Heavy Metal

Did I mention that there are one ton push bars on the back of the Rover as well?  They are hideous and have got to go.  The bars are made from two inch pipe with 1/4 inch thick wall and are reinforced with one inch square solid bar.  These things are intense.  Not sure what the purpose was for them but I can guarantee you anything hit by these things would have been no match for the Rover.

I used the same reciprocating saw I used on the front 'roo bars' to get the rear bars off.  I went through 3 blades but they cut through the steel no problem.  And if you are wondering about the giant bumper, yes it is coming off as well.

See, now doesn't that look better? I am going to take of the lights and the Land Rover plaque next and see if I can clean up the galvanized trim.  Not quite sure how to fix that hole left by the reinforcing bar.  I guess I will just add it to the list of aluminum work that needs to be done.

The empty engine stand is just sitting there, ready for that engine once I get it pulled out.  I have a few jobs to get done first before that happens!

Galvanized Trim

With all of the trim off the doors I could start to clean it up.  This included getting rid of all of the old paint of the aluminum bits, the galvanized trim and the steel hinges.  I used some paint remover to get the old paint off since I was worried what sanding would do to the finish.

It worked very well and now you can really see the nice pattern on the trim caused by the galvanizing. I put on the paint remover and let is sit for about a half hour, then using some steel wool and a razor blade the old paint just came right off.

I will have to put a second coat on to get all the rest of it but overall I am quite happy with how it worked and that I was able to preserve the coating.

Stripping the doors

The doors on the rover have considerable surface rust on the steel frame but on the whole are in decent shape.  There is no major dings in the aluminum and they are straight.  They have been completely painted, including all of the galvanized trim and aluminum bits.  The glass is original and complete.  I have read that the Canadian models of Rovers came in a couple extra choices for paint, one of them being Highway Yellow.  The other option that made them uniquely Canadian is the fact that the doors are one piece.  The intent was to keep the nasty Canadian winter on the outside of the Rover.

My plan is to strip the doors and then take them to a local blasting yard to soda blast them.  Not sure if the order of removal I took is the right one, but I certainly got the stripped down. I started by pulling the galvanized trim and hinges off.  They came off quite easily by removing the bolts on the inside of the door.  The door latch came off next. The original bolts had been replaced by some large metal screws.  I will need to straighten that part of the door before refitting the door latch, just add it to the long list of things 'to-do'.

Once the trim was off it was time to take out the glass. I wasn't quite sure how to do this, the Haynes manual for the Rover is lacking in this description. So I searched the web for some more information and found a really good description thanks to TeriAnne Wakeman and her blog. You can find it at Replacing Land Rover rear sliding glass. I am going to try and order the Rocky Mountain kit as TeriAnne suggests as it appears like a good replacement.

 

 

It was a real challenge getting all the window slide channels out, especially the bottom one.  Water tends to sit in there and promote rot.  And all the dirt and grime sets in there as well.  I used penetrating oil on the screws and let them sit for a couple days. All but one refused to release its grip, the last one was drilled out. Here is the glass once it was out of the door.  I used a putty knife around the parts of the glass that had been sealed with DumDum. I was sure I was going to break the glass, but nope, managed to get it out in one piece, cleaned up and on a shelf safely waiting for the rebuild.

Here is al the bits laid out, I will be removing the paint using paint stripper and some steel wool to preserve the tin coating.

One of the other benefits of removing the trim from the door is I can see the original Highway Yellow paint, unfazed by the sun.  I put it up against the test patch I sprayed on the front wing and the colour looks like a pretty good match.  I am going to go with it.

Alright, door stripped, now to clean up all the bits and put them away for the freshly painted door.  My plan is to take all of the body panels in at once to get soda blasted so it will be a while before I am ready to do that.

 

Outside article on the Series 11a

I found a great article written by a Land Rover owner about the relationship he has with his truck.  Its a great description of the reliability and simplicity of these vehicles.  Check it out at outsideonline.com.

"As a kid, Sean Gorman lusted after the 1961 Land Rover parked next to his grandparent’s house in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado. In fact, when he was 16, he told the owner he’d buy the truck if it ever went on sale. Four years later, it was his. “I took that thing all over Colorado,” he says. “It was my only car for years.” " - Grant Davis

A New Old Left Wing in Birmabright!

I was surfing the web looking for Land Rover parts and I came across the Alberta Land Rover Enthusiasts Club. They have a forum as well for projects, buying and selling parts, and events.  On there I got in contact with a guy who was interested in getting rid of some old body panels.  To make a very long story short, I picked up the used panel yesterday after work.

The condition of the fender is slightly better than mine and I think that between the two of them I should be able to make one decent wing.  Plus I wouldnt mind having some extra Birmabright available for patching and welding.

The story of Birmabright is an interesting one, there is a ton of information out there on the web.  I am going to attempt to weld it with my MIG, another reason for the spare panel.