For general clean-up without changing the surface finish, I think Soda Blasting would be better and less expensive. Anything more aggressive like glass beads, crushed glass, or aluminum oxide will give a frosted look.Interesting.
So, Bennafit: less abrassive and damaging than media blasting Sacrafice: Does not remove tough material as aggressivly as media blasting. Am I right?
<SNIP>also i wonder how the extreme cold will now effect those parts?
Dry ice blasting is pretty nifty. I've seen it used to remove mold from wood, like in a home's attic. It's blasted and hits the surface as a solid, but turns to gas upon impact, so the only thing to clean up afterwards is whatever stuff is removed from the surface of the target. So it's not a gas, so no comparison to jsut using air, really. And also, it's time in contact with the surface is so minimal before sublimating that it really won't make anything cool. In fact, most media blasting has a tendency to heat up a surface, as some of the kinetic energy of the particle is converted into heat upon impact. This is why dry ice sublimates at impact. I'd imagine it may be fairly temperature neutral to the surface.why dry ice though? wouldn't it be the same thing if it was just simple air? Maybe the gasses from the dry ice are heavier/denser... that's the only reason i can think of