A New Tool - Badger Mini Sand Blaster

Back in 2012 I posted about a small sand blasting tool that I found at Super Cheap Auto. Here is the link.

That earlier sand blaster died a while back and I looked around for a suitable replacement and found the Badger Mini Sandblaster. Please note that this link was good at the time of  posting but may disappear of course.

This not a review as such, just a look at what it can do.

I was working today on the build of the last 13 signals of what grew to be 50 signals from February 2023, up from 12 on my order book. At the time I decided that I would stop the signal builds and it has taken this long to get near the end due to some real life circumstances, one of which was Christine dislocating her two year old hip replacement twice in six months and then the hip revision surgery in late July to correct it.

I use the sandblaster to give a matt surface on the brass signals and parts so that there is a very good 'key' for the white primer I use for the signal post colour. Here are some photos of the set up I use and the output of the sandblaster.

Overall set up outside - Note the rubber gloves, goggles and mask

View inside the container after finishing showing the amount of grit used.

Pressure gauge showing 60 p.s.i. setting and the very necessary water trap

View of the nice matt finish on the brass signal detail parts

And again on the signal posts

All the grit can be used again but it should be dried as the smallest amount of moisture can cause the sand blaster to block which then means that the sandblaster has to be cleaned out and dried, considerably slowing the process. A few hours in an oven at about 110 Deg. Centigrade will dry it well.

Do not do this inside unless you have a proper sandblasting enclosure. Super Cheap Auto sells one but it is way to expensive for hobby use. Super Cheap Auto do sell the grit which is handy.

Not much else to say apart from it works very well, better than the original one.