Media blasting is a beautiful symphony of abrasive media, compressed air and rust and old paint. The high velocity of the media hitting the surface of the item you’re stripping causes the existing paint, rust, and debris to be knocked off in hurry. If you could hold the part under a microscope while blasting you’d see it would look like millions of tiny explosions as it hits the surface and obliterates the old coatings. But the reaction of those tiny explosions of old paint and rust is the debris that ricochets off the surface. You need to protect yourself when media blasting so the media rebounding doesn’t harm you as much as the metal! We put together top list of Media Blasting safety accessories you should consider before starting your first or next blasting job!
- Coveralls- There’s no secret to it but blasting media much like the sand at the beach gets EVERYWHERE! That means wearing short sleeves, shorts, or other open pieces of clothing will result in you shaking media out of yourself for weeks. For safety and cleanliness sake we suggest getting a set of Gen-Nex Coveralls. Not only will they block the media from hitting your skin they will also keep 99% of the media out of you clothes, shoes, etc. The best part is that they’re reusable and most home hobbyists can reuse them many times over.
- Abrasive Blasting Hood- If you’re blasting for more than a few minutes you really need get yourself a dedicated media blasting hood. These hoods are extra long so they overlap and drape over your shoulders to keep any media from getting down your shirt, neck, etc. The face shield on these masks also gives the ultimate safety for any media getting in your eyes or face. We really suggest this be used for any type of large blasting job you do.
- Thick Rubber Gloves- The best thing to use to protect your hands is a set of gloves made of rubber or at least coated in rubber. The rubber will repel media that bounces back at it and keep it from hurting your hands or wearing out the gloves slowly. We suggest a set of long Harsh Environment Rubber Gloves that are chemical resistant and will cover up your forearms to keep media out of your clothes. These gloves mimic the gloves in a blast cabinet and will give you the confidence to get right in there with the blast nozzle and blast tight crevices where media might bounce back and hurt your hands or go through thin cloth gloves.
You can find all of our Abrasive Blasting Equipment and more accessories HERE.