Cleaning a "Bead Blasted" action

Pete Wass

Pete Wass

Well-known member
I have what I think is a Bead Blasted aluminum action that, after 4 years of service, is starting to look " Long in the Tooth". It has what appears to be dirt in it's pores and some other staning. I suspect some of this is oxydation but don't know for sure. I have tried alcohol and other solvents on it trying to get the dirt out to no avail.

Question: Is there a perscribed method for "Sprucing Up" these things?

Thanks, Pete
 
Find a blast cabinet with fine silicon base abrasive.

Set the pressure to somewhere between 40-60 psi and giver hell.

Wash with HOT SOAPY water and a soft bristle brush.

Blow dry.

It'll look brand new again. Better yet. Send it out for anodizing afterwards. If you have a local shop and they can promise a less than 24 hour turn around it negates the whole FFL nausea.

Cheers,

C
 
I really like to wire brush blasted finishes with a soft stainless wheel at about 600-800 RPM.

Then spray with a gun oil (I use G96 gun treatment) and wipe them off... it takes away some of the roughness...
 
I can appreciate what Pete is asking. A Panda normally comes with a blasted finish of sorts. It is a porous surface and it collects everything. Fingerprints, smudges, what have you. They start to look gringy after a while, and cleaning them is a problem, especially if it is glued into a stock. Hell, they take special attention just handling them while fitting them into a stock, so you don't get smudges on them before they ever get shot!

So, I'm interested too! Perhaps James or Greg at Kelbly's could chime in? Surely they deal with them on a daily basis.
 
It is mostly oxidation form the acid in the user's skin. Some have more than others. I use a fine mesh glass bead with the bottom and face taped off.
 
Don't send out a Stolle action for anodizing - the steel inserts will corrode during the process.

After bead-blasting we use CRC brand 3-36 corrosion inhibitor on the action after it is washed with Dawn detergent and water. This helps keep the fingerprint grime and dirt from accumulating. I use this corrosion inhibitor periodically on my bead blasted receivers to keep them looking new. Silicone spray also works, keeping in mind that once silicone is applied to a surface it’s almost impossible to remove.

Very old and grimy receivers can be rubbed with “Never Dull”; which will remove the rough texture left by the abrasive beads and restore the original brushed aluminum finish as it was before bead-blasting.
 
Is it possible

Greg Walley said:
Don't send out a Stolle action for anodizing - the steel inserts will corrode during the process.

After bead-blasting we use CRC brand 3-36 corrosion inhibitor on the action after it is washed with Dawn detergent and water. This helps keep the fingerprint grime and dirt from accumulating. I use this corrosion inhibitor periodically on my bead blasted receivers to keep them looking new. Silicone spray also works, keeping in mind that once silicone is applied to a surface it’s almost impossible to remove.

Very old and grimy receivers can be rubbed with “Never Dull”; which will remove the rough texture left by the abrasive beads and restore the original brushed aluminum finish as it was before bead-blasting.
Click to expand...

to have the surface polished by Kelbly after it has been in service for this long? Guess at this point I would prefer to have it polished if I could.
 
To clean them

The best way I have found to clean them (not polish them - just clean the grime off) is an old tooth brush and Crest toothpaste that contains baking soda. It really does the job and it is easy.
 
I've cleaned a few using spray on alum. wheel cleaner. The stuff for non-polished wheels is pretty mild and doesn't really do much. The type I used was for natural alum. wheels...worked great. -Al
 
If you have a media blast cabinet, try ground corn cob, the fine grit. It will clean without or almost no additional abrasion of the surface, using the minimum psi your cabinet will operate with. I use this on teflon coated or similar treated items. Make sure cabinet is clean so as not to contaminate the new media.
 
Before refinishing, I like to glass bead, then lightly rub down with 0000 steel wool. This leaves a smoother finish that stays clean, and it doesn't show finger prints as much.

- Innovative
 
How about a light bead blast to clean it up, and then use Duracoat clear. It will darken it some, but provide a clear, mar-proof finish that basically seals off the pores and prevents future grime from sticking.
 
An old friend use to say

Charles E said:
Will it shoot any better if it's purdy? Lord, if that's an accuracy principle, I might as well quit.
Click to expand...

I have a friend who use to fly in the back seat of fighters in the Navy. He said often" It's better to die than to look bad"; their motto I guess but it sort of fits here I think.

For those of us who kaint shoot, we llike to have our equipment look like it can. ;) :D
 
My Ultrasonic Cleaner would hold an action and that's a great way to restore stuff to like brand new. Find someone with a big one and give that a shot.
 
You might want to try a citrus based hand cleaner. I find that it makes a blasted reciever look like it just came out of the blast cabinet.
Andy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top