[dsraven]

I have an el cheapo deluxe blast cabinet that I use for misc cleaning of parts in the shop. mostly brake mounting hardware as I do mechanical repairs as a sideline to firefighting. I use the regular sil sand for that. if I am doing something of importance or that will be finer I can change to glass beads. I have tried the glass beads but found they turn to powder quickly so for the rough work of regular shop cleaning and rust removal on brakes etc they seemed like a waste. I also have a small pressure pot but haven't used it yet due to weather outside right now and the mess it would make inside my shop if I came inside with it. I was wondering about how to set up the pot but that will become evident when I start blasting I suppose, trial and error.
when doing some industrial style blasting of bodywork over the years, at a do it yourself place, I have found that keeping a good distance, like a couple of feet, moving around a lot and blasting at an angle will remove paint and rust etc but not warp the panels. even on some newer vehicles with thin metal this worked on doors and roofs. thinner metal = further away with the nozzle and move around quicker. on large flat panels this is particularly important. heat can build up fast plus the action of "pushing" with the product. on things like wheels it isn't so important. heat can dissipate quicker into the thicker metal.