Day 81

Well I haven't been up to as much as I'd like because I got a really bad cold last week and fought through the weekend.  Caroline actually had planned her days off around that time prior, so although we didn't do anything fun she was there to take care of me.  I appreciated that!

She was also my first (willing?) passenger on the bug pan.  She had fun and it was great sharing the moment.  She thought I was going too fast, but I didn't think so!

I did finish cleaning most of my rusty bolts.  I had about 50 or so bags of random odds and ends for the body.  Most turned out very nice.  Some that needed work or had undercoating I cleaned and then put back in the solution to soak some more.  I have 3 bags left of that group.

Today I spent about 7 hours assembling my very own blast cabinet.  It is a cheapy one, so I have already done a few mods and have a better media gun in the mail.  As you can see in these pictures, it does what it is supposed to.

The mods I did were to use silicone on EVERY seam.  That way it hopefully doesn't leak.  I also put a removable bottom shelf and wheels so I can easily roll it out of the garage or into another position as I have done with nearly all my tools.  Everything is on wheels, which is great.

I also added a vacuum port adapter on the left hand side and put a 150w outdoor upgraded light.

Vacuum port, square peg round hole!

I couldn't resist the new toy so I did test it out of a not very dirty license plate bracket made out of aluminum and it worked great!  I'm using glass beads as my media.  Aggressive enough for paint removal and minor rust.  May try another type later on down the road.

I also ordered and received 2 6600 lumen LED work lamps for my paint booth.  They are very bright and don't get hot!  The booth is my next step, because once that is complete I can blast my small parts and move right onto getting them in primer.  Don't want to blast my parts and then have them sit around.  :)