picked mine up from HR a few years back. great investment. as far as media, bought some glass bead media from them and tried it. it works ok but for the money, i have since switched back to silica sand, occasionally blending some black beauty when I want to be more aggressive with the blasting. really didn't see a noticable difference in the results.
On a more important note: make sure you have a vac setup hooked up to that cabinet. it'll put silica dust out if you don't and you certainly don't want to be breathing that stuff in your shop. i'm using a small cheap sears 2hp wet/dry vac with a home-made water bong between the vac and the cabinet to pull out the dust. dust-free for 3 years and the vac is still kicking with the same vac filter.
btw: i've used silica on steel, cast steel, and cast aluminum with good results.
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