Hand-held blast cleaning machine

A hand-held blast cleaning machine (10) having a motor (30) which serves as a handle. The machine includes a blast assembly (12) for propelling abrasive material against a surface (16) and a hopper (14) for supplying abrasive material to the blast assembly (12). The blast assembly has a blast corridor (20), a rebound corridor (24), a blast opening (22), a blast wheel (26) and a motor (30). The motor (30) drives the rotation of the blast wheel and serves as a handle. The hopper (14) has a return corridor (52), a collection area (38), a feed area (36) and a vacuum conduit (56). The vacuum conduit is connected to a vacuum source (58) to collect dust and debris from the blast cleaning operation. In one embodiment, an side-blast hopper (14A), a down-blast hopper (14B), an up-blast hopper (14C) and a side-feed hopper (14D) are all interchangeably attachable to the same blast assembly (12). A shut-off handle (80) is attached to the blast assembly to provide automatic shut-off abrasive material to the blast wheel (26) and to function as a second handle. In another embodiment, the motor (30E) serves as the only handle. A linear actuator connected to a feed valve in the hopper provides automatic shut-off of abrasive material to the blast wheel.