Wanna rig your own gravity blaster??

[ken3983]

I have been wanting to sandblast my 1911 to do the parkerizing thing.So,I rigged up my own gravity fed sandblaster.Take a pail or bucket,cut a hole in the bottom slightly smaller than the funnel you will use.I cut around a 3.5"-4" hole.Take a funnel with a flat lip and glue,JB Weld,or whatever you like,to the bottom of the bucket covering the hole from the outside.I used the siphon-type sandblast gun had at Walmart for $13.The tube that comes with it is around 3/8" diameter so be sure it is going to fit your funnel's end.I then used playsand from Lowe's to do the blasting.You need to hold the blastgun upsidedown because the bucket will have sand in it and you need to hang it high so it will flow down the tube to the gun.Its not hard to blast with the gun inverted,just kinda got to get a feel for it.I blasted my 1911 GREAT!!Its hard to tell in the pic, but the gun is blasted to the metal and the old park is off.The gun has a nice fine coarse feel to it which should do well in the park solution.I will update later.
Ken

[Bill Z]

I won't comment much on the 'blast cabinet' as it seems to have worked fine, but if you would be so kind as to allow me to make a few suggestions for future work.

Tape up your rails next time then just degrease them before you park it, don't remove any more material from there. I also try to protect the inside of the slide and the diconnector rail on both peices. Also, get an old set of grip screws and put them in to protect the grip screw bushing threads. I know they are cheap and easy, but why waste them, especially if they are in there good.

Let us know how the parking came out and how difficult it was for an at home operation.

Bill