Bead-blasters are cool!

Vlado Lenoch, P-51 Mustang owner/pilot, air show performer, and all-around
good guy, was nice enough to donate some P-51 parts for our new "Mustang
Suite." (See it at http://alexisparkinn.com/the_mustang_suite.htm ) I'm
making a wall-mounted display plaque for them that will lend some true
authenticity to this already cool theme suite.

A couple of landing gear hydraulic actuators, a "circuit destroyer," a fuel
shut-off valve, and a landing gear hand-pump handle all arrived one day,
packed in a big box. The one thing they all had in common was that they
were a greasy mess. And underneath the grease, some parts were rusted, and
paint was chipped and scarred. Not at all surprising, given that these
were non-airworthy parts, most of them 60+ years old.

So what to do? You can't just stick 'em in a shadow box in that condition.

As always, the answer was to be found at my A&P's shop. After an hour in his
parts cleaner, working at them with a stiff brush, they were thoroughly
de-greased. Then, after drying them off with high-pressure air, it was time
to work the bead blaster.

For those who have never seen one, they look just like the sterile operating
station in the movie, "Andromeda Strain". You put your hands inside thick,
heavy rubber gloves, and peer at your work through a hazy plexiglass window,
your work piece safely contained inside a steel box. The beads are blasted
out of a hose that is controlled with a trigger actuator, and you simply
direct the stream of high-speed glass beads at your target. Magically,
years of paint, rust, corrosion, and even small scratches simply disappear!

Strangely (luckily!), the beads simply bounce off of "soft" things, like
rubber gloves and hoses. Thus, you don't have to worry about cutting your
fingers off with a supersonic blast of little glass balls! :-)

End result: After an hour the parts Vlado sent me look like they could be
reinstalled on his Mustang tomorrow. What a cool tool!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"