Anyone have access to a sand blasting cabinet in the Durham/Chapel HIll area that they wouldn't mind my using?
It cannot be a bead blaster. Every one I know has a bead blaster, but with what I am doing it says specifically not to bead blast.

I can blast stuff in the Concord area.  It's not my sand blaster, but I have access to it when I want.

You'remixing up terminology.  Bead blasting and sand blasting are one in the same.  Media blasting is another term as well.

Sand blasting is VERY VERY dangerous.  It is highly recommended NOT to use silica based sand to do any media blasting.  Beads (glass) are the preferred media as is aluminum oxide, as well as some organic media options.  Silica is very dangerous when smashed into tiny little pieces.  Those pieces end up in your lungs and will cause major health issues later down the road.  A blasting cabinet isn't enough to use sand as the media.  You need a full respirator setup, and you need to properly dispose of the sand.

Do some research into this if you don't believe me.

The instructions say to use aluminum oxide as the media.

OK...then your friend's media blasters are perfect for the job.  You just have to change out the media.  Does it say which grit to use?  70 grit is cheap and common.  220 grit gets more expensive and usually has to be ordered online and shipped in 50lb incirments.

You can get 220 grit in 2 lb incriments at Harbor Freight, but they want $10 each...and it's marketed for glass etching (white aluminum oxide) which likely adds a premium.