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I would like to share with you a bit of an unhappy moment I experianced
while in the garage working on my Mini today. I got through cleaning
the front suspension bits, and started picked up the rear drums for
sandblasting.
I used an iron brush to clean off as much dirt off the drums as possible, and then put them into the sanding cabinet. The visibility is not too good, so you can't see the details (!), but you can see were you are sanding. I started with the outer surface of the drum. It is the easiest place to clean as it is where the wheel touches the drum. There is least amount of rust there. I cleaned that up, and moved to the most annoying bit which is the inner edge as there is a groove that you have to clean out. Very difficult place. You have to manipulate the sandgun to get to all the sides and stuff. Took a very long time. After I got that done, I opened the cabinet to see how my work was progressing. And here is what I noticed! On the cleaned up outer surface of the drum, there was a long crack! The entire drum was cracked! ARGH! So here is my tip of the day: If you are cleaning your drums by sandblasting them, check for cracks first. It will save you a lot of work! Breaks can not be welded. You have to get new replacement parts. It doesn't probably pay out to buy used drums either. You will have to shell out a few pence for a new set. Marcin Dobrucki |