Brake drum cleaning

[Martin Benade]

I have been wondering if there is a good way to clean up B drums. I don’t care for the glass beaded look. I am speaking of the exterior.

[David Jones]

Have you tried soda blasting?

[Martin Benade]

I’d have to find someone to do that. It leaves a nice finish?

[Joris Koning]

Vapor blasting is the way to go. Check my registry article from.some years back

[Mike Wilson]

I cleaned mine up on a wire wheel. The process is also a good workout for your arms!

Mike

[Walter Pennington]

Martin, try Bar Keepers Friend, it contains oxalic acid. Mix up a slurry with a stiff brush and a toothbrush work it into surface and rinse. May take a couple applications, but it worked on my B, the stuff has a lot of uses.

[Daryl Bruhl]

I switch between stock wheels and 5 spoke mags. With the mags quite a bit of drum show so its nice to have them looking good. Try the DYI type cleaners you have around the house already. Simple green, carb cleaner, oven cleaner, brake cleaner or dry laundry soap to name a few. My drums are not pitted or bleached white from using any of these products. Could rinse with baking soda solution if you feel some are high in acid. Wise to use PPE and not mix product. enjoy 63 super 90 sunny SoCal

[John Brooks]

Vapor blasting is the best way. I made a vapor cabinet from a HF sand blaster. Using a sump pump and large plastic tub. Uses 40 micron glass spheres and water. . A drum takes about 20 minutes. Looks like new, order new seals before you start. Entire unit cost under 300.00. Workes on heads also


cabinet Build link below . PM me or call for details After the oven 2-3 pages into the tools page

https://forum.abcgt.com/forum/main-foru ... ions/page2

https://forum.abcgt.com/forum/main-foru ... ions/page3

[Martin Benade]

Is that a smaller glass bead than commonly used at an automotive machine shop? I couldn’t find the link to the cabinet.

[John Brooks]

40 micron spheres are much smaller that what is normally used. They are used in the composite industry to set the space for adhesives between two sheets of laminates. These are silicon balls and make baby power look huge. There is about 3 cups in 3 gallons of water. A plastic tub for each size media. The sump pump has a T fitting to recirculate the water in the tub, keeping the spheres in solution and the other goes up to the gun.

To change the media, you put the pump in clean water and rinse the inside and then change out the tub with new media, drop in the pump and you are off. You siphon off the water and let the beads dry out for storage and reuse later.

The links to ABCGT forum is in the " restoration projects,- tools " is at the bottom of the first link page, and there are two or three more pages of the cabinet build. It's chronological so as you go back it time you can see several projects , engine jack, 356 test stand etc.

Spheres here https://www.cospheric.com/1000micron_si ... ds_powders.

The photos below are a little confusing, there are two separate systems, the dry hose is separate from the wet one, although they look joined in this photo. The brass T and red flapper door with the braided hose is removed for wet blasting. This T is for dry sand blasting to adjust the media flow to the gun. The brass tube is threaded and the bolt moves in and out, basically adjust the vacuum in the bottom of the hopper. It also allow the system to run with just a couple cups of media not the 40 lbs required by the HF suction tube. You can change from dry to wet in about 5 minutes. Remove the door and change the feed hoses.

[Harlan Halsey]

Bar Keepers Friend, !!!

With a name like that I have to have some! It congers up images of the long banned, here in California, effective cleaners we used to buy at the drug store, the hardware store, the auto parts store, or Orchard Supply. 26 oz. for $3.69 at Target.

Vapor blasting was a new one for me. I was familiar with the vapor degreasers we used to have in aerospace machine shops, but there was no blasting involved, simply condensation and runoff. Boy did they ever work! The name is an oxymoron: vapor molecules don't have the mass to do much. I turns out that "vapor blasting" is really air driven water containing light media. Apparently, while it is slower than dry media blasting, it leaves a less changed surface, and doesn't generate the cloud of airborne broken media.

Thank you John for suggesting a way to do it at home.

[Andy Stephenson]

Hey John, Late comer here but still very interested in this procedure, love the results. Thanks for the intro and link to your more detailed explanation. My question revolves around others rightful avoidance of media blasting engine parts where grit will get into internal areas only to be retrieved by the oil circulation. What confidence do you have that this media won't get in the same places. I have used standard glass beads and been informed that the glass eventually breaks down to grit, I wonder if this process reduces or eliminates that process. Thanks for anything else you may add.........................Andy

[John Brooks]

Andy

The parts need to thourly rinsed. After cleaning with these super small balls, the parts feels slimy. But a good rinse with clean water seems to remove any residue. I will also chemical wash the heads before assembly. This is not like dry blasting with all the dust.

The media I use is 40 micron silicon spheres , it makes baby powder look huge. It's used in aerospace composites to set the distance between two surfaces for equal glue bonding. They are smooth solid glass balls, not sharp random shapes like sand.

I don't think I will have any future problems with post cleaning contamination. The best part of this system is I can change the media size in 5 minutes, and go from dry to wet and back in the same cabinet. And adjust the amount of dry media flowing from a pencil lead stream to a full hose. Super versatile and not too expensive. Look at the link, there are several dozen pages of tools and processes you may have to scroll through a bunch.