Well, I haven't posted much on this as it is supposed to be winter and we have been on a few snowmobiling trips to the UP (the only place with snow
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I continued to wire wheel the frame and I bought 12 bags of medium blasting media. I have a pressurized media blaster but this medium media was way coarser than what it usually is and I had nothing but issues with it clogging and it was just a mess.
I spent a day screwing around with that and nice days in January are hard to come buy. I returned what I had left for the fine grit and waited for another good day. I spent the good part of a Saturday and Sunday blasting but I noticed my compressor wasn't keeping up like it used too. The dang thing is 30+ years old and I have rebuilt the head twice already (they use reed valves that snap off after many hours).
Anyway, I bought a new compressor to replace it 10 years ago when I thought it was going to die then. I also got it for $110. I used to work as a buyer for the hardware department of a retail chain here in Ohio. We had this automated clearance system that used to keep reducing the price of a clearance item by 50% every month unti said items were gone. I noticed this V twin 6hp 60 gallon compressor on the list and kept watching it until it got so low I had to go see if it was really there (the store that showed it in inventory was 3 hours away). Sure enough they did and I bought her.
Back to the other day, I thought I could go grab that new compressor from the barn (1/4 mile back on my property) and quickly make an extention cord and hose to backfeed air into my shop (my shop is plumbed with metal air lines). So I grab it with my tractor and strap it down and make my way to the shop. On the way I hit a bump and the compressor fell back onto the loader arm and snapped the big flywheel/pully off. Long story short I found a replacement pully and received it the other day and I have been back at blasting.
It is ridiculous how long it takes to blast a frame even with decent equipment. The two compressors together kept 95 psi and it still is taking forever to get everything blasted.
Here is the aftermath of me dropping the compressor. I did try to weld it just to get me through the day but that sent a pully flying across the shop....
New pully installed...
I still have a small section on the side of the frame to do and then I have to flip it over and do the top side, which hopefully won't take long but it just keeps raining here.....
Side note my boss has a brand new really large V twin compressor that puts out 50% more CFM of air that he bought to get our shop by when a screw compressor went out that he said I could have. It has only a few weeks of time on it. When I pick that up I'll have 3 large compressors..... and my current 30+ year old one still runs like a champ but the big blaster just uses so much air. I really don't even need to replace it right now.... Decisions, decisions...
