I had purchased this item some years ago at a hobby shop half price. Anyway, I’ve got an application with about 40 small items with shiny engineering plastic. I sanded the first one by hand and painted on Krylon Fusion for plastic (two coats) and it works great.
So I pulled out the Air Eraser based on recommendations from others and tried some baking soda, also as recommended. I’ve got the pressure set at 40 psi, but it really doesn’t seem to do much. I can feel the air pressure and see dust from the baking soda, but it’s really whimpy. There’s no way that’s going to etch the plastic.
I saw a guy use what appears to be the same tool with baking soda on You Tube to remove some paint off a Hot Wheels car, and he said he enlarged some “pin holes” to .030" to keep the baking soda from clogging. But there is no such part on my eraser or the exploded drawing that I can tell.
What am I doing wrong? I really would like to get on with this project and get everything painted.
Much like you, Victor, my Paasche air eraser is still in the box. I’m waiting to get the time to do some paint distressing and weathering techniques done on some locomotives.
I do not believe you are doing anything wrong and I wouldn’t modify anything on the Paasche yet.
I have done a bit of “media blasting” in my time using everything from walnut husks to silicon carbide. One thing that stood out was the fact that many rubber and soft plastic materials were unaffected (or minimally so) since the blasting media just bounced off without affecting the surface. I remember doing some engine mounts from my old car and I could literally remove steel but the rubber part of the mount was unfazed.
I think what you need to do is experiment with different media and find something a little more aggressive than the soda for your Hump Yard levers.
You may have to hold the nozzle very close to the part to be effective, too. These little air erasers are not very aggressive and the velocity of the media might be spent before it reaches the part.
Just some ideas, YMMV
[edit] After browsing for more information on soda blasting I came across some information from Arm & Hammer:
The above is a good point…I have done some 1:1 car/truck and even boat trailer frames, some models and personally in my opinion, they are more trouble than they are worth and messy, especially when You get into the big stuff.
Thanks, I held the nozzle very close to the item. Yes, I have the zinc provided with the kit, but some have told me that it is too agressive for what I’m using it for. I used baking soda from the grocery store.
I use my Paasche air-eraser to etch my brass steam locos before I paint them, so I use a much more aggressive medium (silica) at about 30 psi.
A thought I had was humidity. I have an in-line Paasche moisture trap close to the air-eraser unit and another moisture trap built into the pressure regulator. If the air is too wet, you will get clogging of the medium. My guess is this is worse with a “water-loving” medium such as baking soda.
I would not mess with the air-eraser until you test if it is a moisture problem.
Try a test using more PSI, like 45 TO 50…I would even go higher…if it worked. I use a tank compressor, so I can go as high as I want, with air pressure. I have used my Paasche H Model brush like a pressure washer with Denatured Alcohol on R/C 1/8 cars and trucks…does a fine job.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
BTW: I should mention that I only do the frames and suspension on the R/C stuff, not any painted sufaces, it will take paint off.
I use baking soda with my Pasche air blaster for everything from completely removing paint and etching brass engines, to weathering. I usually run the tank between 90 and 100 psi with excellent results.
Folks, I finally gave up on the Paashe Air Eraser. Even with uping the presure to 90 psi it didn’t work very well. There may be a reason it was marked half off in addition to that it wouldn’t sell. Someone may have brought it back. I took it all apart and put it back together and there were no missing parts and it wasn’t clogged either. Perhaps someone ruined it. I bought it some years ago, so there was no recourse.
I took up a suggestion from someone at another list to buy a blaster from Harbor Freight on sale for about $20 and it worked great with the baking soda–So well, that I have baking soda all over my driveway… LOL Yeah, I know, I should use a box or something to catch it for resuse. It has a bigger nozzle than the Air Eraser and I like that too.
I have their dual action airbrush, (awesome!), and a compressor for it, along with their multimeter and a digital caliper. (And, I got all of these for about the price of a Iwata airbrush… By itself, on sale.)
They work just fine for what I do. No complaints on those. Their mini drill bit set however…
Just to clarify: I used regular baking soda from the grocery store, though in most applications at least a medium industrial grade soda is used to remove paint, etc. However, I found the household product did work for me to get the shine off the plastic and roughen it up a little for painting. (I found the minimum purchase for the industrial grade is about $40.) I would be interested in finding out if anyone else has used the household product successfully also.
I have used both the Pasche Air Eraser and Badger Abrasive Gun. The Pasche is very sensitive to moisture in the air supply. I found it to be an exercise in frustration due to constant clogging. The Badger works like it should.
I use regular household baking soda - buy it at the bulk food store. Works great for stripping paint off brass engines and doesn’t beat up the surface like harsher grits would.