Restoring the batteries' basket - part #2, sandblasting

On previous post Restoring the batteries' basket - part #1, cleaning! it got very clear that preparing the metal to get new painting was not going to be easy. Scratching, brushing with a metal brush and sandpaper (manual or with a machine) are not that effective in this type of part, specially with a lot bends and corners and small flat surfaces. Luckily, I managed to have free access to a sandblasting machine again (the first was here) !!

The sandblasting chamber does not have a huge volume, just enough to put the batteries' basket inside:

Once inside it was time to turn the machine On and give it a go!! 

As I went on with it, I could barely believe the results and how fast it went! In just 2 hours I had the job done :]

Here's the final result :

I got ALL rust out down to bare shiny metal!! 

There was some black paint from original thermal coating that remained stuck to the metal, but this one was not getting of by any means! In this case we leave it, as it will not peel off in the future. At the same time I went over this black paint with the sandblast jet, resulting in a proper surface for optimal primer adherence. 

Has for gray paint (from one badly done repainting) that we could see in some photos: no sign of it! This was blown away easily. 

Next step is to primer this and get it painted!