I've been taking aluminum parts i've been making to my local anodizing guy, and saw some parts from another customer there. The surface looked great, kind of a smooth matt, and i was told that they used a bead blaster on the parts before being anodized.
I've been looking into blasting cabinets but know nothing about it, I have a big knowledge gap in this area. Is glass bead blasting what I want? Can someone give me some tips on what someone needs to get to do some glass bead blasting? I'm wondering what kind of equipment to get I've found some inexpensive tabletop blast cabinets with guns included at harborfreight, but do I also need some sort of hopper? How does the glass media get into the gun's airstream? Can you re-use the media?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
Stewart