Stan Kroeker said: <<perhaps you could start by sharing some more scholarly evidence of the dangers of the glass bead 'dust'?>> My concern with glass beading actions is not with the health hazards to the blaster, although there is a lot of material on the dangers of breathing silica dust. -Check your abrasive supplier, - look it up on the internet, ask OSHA. My only concern is with the hard particulate dust left in the centers. I do have a microscope, and I have looked at glass bead dust, albeit years ago. <<Personally, I am picturing them as microscopic bowling balls as opposed to jagged microscopic rocks (sand).>> True, unless broken, which they are supposed to do to blast more effectively. <<As to your concern about damaging action centers...well, there is simply no direct line of spray against any of the centers so it is hard to imagine how these microscopic spheres are going to take a 90 degree turn and enter the bushing to cause such imaginary havoc.>> The hydrological equivalent of this statement is that as long as you do not squirt water sideways into the center, there is no way they can get wet if you generally spray the action. I cannot see any way that abrasive dust (not the spheres) can avoid being driven into the centers by air pressure or momentum. Since I do not bead blast, I cannot pull pins on an action that I did some time ago and check for wear. It is for those who bead blast to prove this does not happen. Logic forces the conclusion that it is harmful. Why risk it? Bill Simon Phoenix
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC