Depends. If you plan to blast everything with ONE media I would recommend FINE sand. If you plan on blasting some "delicate" stuff I'd say use glass beads.
These are "my" opinions.
Very little stuff will need the aggressiveness of Black Diamond and its pricey.
Platic will cut nothing but paint. Period.
Its costly but not sure how much. A friend that uses it gave it to me.
Glass will work on most stuff but may be a little to "soft" for real rusty stuff...however, I do like it but it is also a little pricey to use all the time.
I think its about $30 now for a 25lb box.
Sand... I buy REAL blasting sand at the local concrete mixing place in 50lb bags. It come in Medium, Fine and Extra Fine and cost $3.50 a bag so its not real expensive and you can "dump" it often when it gets "dusty" or contaminated and won't cost you an arm and leg. This sand is also "sized" and will flow and blast good.
I think you'll find after some use you will do like I ended up doing. Under my cabinet is a bag of Medium for cruddy stuff along with a bag of glass and a 5 gal bucket of plastic. I hardly ever use the plastic but I do pull out the glass when doing pistons or rods ect... or delicate trim type pieces.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by Achipmunk; 03/01/2011 4:02 AM. Reason: spelling
