Rick I thought about soda blasting but I have some concerns.
First; dishing out the greenbacks just to find out it won't remove the paint.
Second; i think you have to do the work outside, with no cabinet. I like the quick and easyness of the sand cabinet. I have seen some block work with a soda blaster on JOM's and looks like it gives a very nice finish, but I question the paint removal effectiveness.

My next door neighbor reloads his brass shells. He has a vibrating machine to polish all his brass using Walnut shells and red rouge. I thought I'd try it on all the crank bolts on Alan's motor. All I did was stain the bolts red and make a mess. There's not enough brass to invest in something like that. After all the work I did trying to figure out a short cut, it only took me 15 minutes to hit all the nuts and bolts with the wheel.
I personally enjoy cleaning small parts on the wire wheel, instant gratification.
If you don't like removing 60 year old congealed grease, sand, dirt, and paint, your are in the wrong business.

Yes, the brass wire wheel is my friend. I was thinking of building a vibratory tumbler** for parts like those. I've looked at the ones in 'The Good Enough Store' (...Harbor Freight), but they seem pretty flimsy and not really big enough for most of what I want to do.

**Here's one of those things I do: I have a task, so my first inclination is to figure out how many other things I can build to accomplish it.

RickG wrote:

MercuryMarc wrote: I use medium glass beads.

Ahh... Real beads are hard to find. Most of what's sold around here as 'glass bead' is actually crushed glass. Some of those parts on your build for Alan look pristine, particularly the mag and carb bodies. Looks like you polished them.

I've struggled with removing paint from Merc cowls. Aircraft stripper and bead blasting were both not particularly effective.

I do too. I used a more aggressive sand on Alan's, and came off very easy. But it was a little dangerous as far as too aggressive. I might try it again but will need to have a better plan if I do.

As far as the mag and crabs.. wire wheel.

MercuryMarc wrote: I use medium glass beads.

Ahh... Real beads are hard to find. Most of what's sold around here as 'glass bead' is actually crushed glass. Some of those parts on your build for Alan look pristine, particularly the mag and carb bodies. Looks like you polished them.

I've struggled with removing paint from Merc cowls. Aircraft stripper and bead blasting were both not particularly effective.

I enjoy the engine work but hate the strip and paint part, I just repainted the 35 Evinrude I used to run on the Flyer, it took me forever and the weather got me before I managed to do the cowl.

RickG wrote: Looking good. Hey... what are you using for blast media? I'm impressed with the look of your parts. Most look too good to have just come from the blast cabinet.

Hi Rick,
I use medium glass beads.

The medium glass beads are great for detail work "i.e" piston tops, blocks, and bare metal. The beads leave a very nice finish. For removing 60 year old paint these beads are very slow and sometimes won't cut.

I soaked all the parts in 12 gallons of paint stripper
first, " don't think I'll do this again"

then power washed, then cleaned and dried then the parts went into the blast tank. This was a lot of messy work. I am still working on my technique to improve my efficiency on removing paint.you can bet I will succeed.

The top in the original post with the fairing compound was sanded In some spots with 220 leaving some shiny spots in the picture.

Marc has it together. He is on the right track.
Snooze and you looze.

Locomotion wrote: Yeah, no way any 2 cylinder can be expected to keep up with those high performance 4 & 6 cylinder jobs.

Note to self; see above....

Looking good. Hey... what are you using for blast media? I'm impressed with the look of your parts. Most look too good to have just come from the blast cabinet.