[KenCam]

OK, I built a sandblast cabinet, bought a powder coat gun, and found a working oven in the trash behind Lowe's (the installers leave the old ones out there).
I thought I would start with a rim. I blasted it with Black Diamond and it left black dust all over it. So i blew it off and then washed it down with plain water. I then put it in the oven (400 deg) to bake off the water. After about 20-30 mins I took it out and it was covered with surface rust.

Is this normal? How do I clean it for powder coat? I'm afraid that the black dust with contaminate it.

[F&J]

Water and fresh blasted metal don't mix. You should just blow it off with air & a brush. I don't think there is a way to get rid of that rust haze now without reblasting. Even if you got a derusting chemical, when you rinse it off with water it will rust again, even if you quickly blow dry it.

Is that stuff "black beauty" , the slag material? I've never had that stick to a part before.

[KenCam]

Yeah it's coal slag I think. It made a bunch of dust. It was hard to see even with the vacuum running. I'll just blow it off best I can.

[home brew]

I have found slag that has been magnetized. I'm not sure if you are having that problem though.

[Bee4Me]

Magnetized?
I believe your referring to static cling from the blasting process.
You don't wash the metal off with water.Really wish that was possible.LOL After blowing off what you can,use a grease & wax remover and wipe it down changing white rags till it wipes "clean".
If it's just a light coating of surface rust,Use a red scuff pad and remove the residue then use the g&wr to clean it with.

[KenCam]

I wanted to use glass beads in the blaster but at $38 for 50#s it's a bit expensive. Black Diamond is less than $7. Nobody has that StarBlast stuff around here.

[home brew]

Originally Posted by Bee4Me

Magnetized? I believe your referring to static cling from the blasting process.

No, I mean magnetized. There must be enough iron in the slag to allow it to be slightly magnetized. I should have added it had been magnetized somewhere along the way before the blasting process.

[KenCam]

I'm not having problems with magnetization. I blew the rim off and wiped it down with denatured alcohol. The powder coat process wasn't as easy as I had hoped. It took me a while to get the gun lined out and even then it didn't flow to the part as well as expected. The finished product is pretty ugly. However, I did expect that result my first time and I learned a lot in the process. Thanks for all the feedback. You guys rock!