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> Can someone perform this experiment?, How does soda blasting work on headlight bezels?
smontanaro
post Jan 19 2010, 11:12 AM
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Can someone with a soda blaster and some trashed headlight bezel(s) see if soda will take off stains and paint without damaging the plastic? I'm curious. I have neither a soda blaster nor a sacrificial headlight bezel. I do, however, have a car with headlight bezels which were painted black at one point in its lifetime. I'd like to know if there is any hope for them being restored to their original whiteness or if I should start looking for a new set.

Thanks,

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underthetire
post Jan 19 2010, 11:47 AM
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You can make your own soda blaster with some tubing and a blow nozzel. Baking soda comes from the market.

http://crazymotion.net/15-diy-soda-blaster...nl6l-OYjAy.html
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ConeDodger
post Jan 19 2010, 12:04 PM
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I have a set hanging in my garage that were similarly treated to a coat of flat black at some time. They are now pristine shiny chrome. I just took 10 minutes of my time with some steel wool and then polished with chrome polish...
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VaccaRabite
post Jan 19 2010, 12:52 PM
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I think the OP is talking about the plastic surrounds, not the chrome retaining ring.

Zach
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Katmanken
post Jan 19 2010, 12:58 PM
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Wow!!!!!!

That was a bug infested site.....

Popup appeared and tried to start downloading programs on my computer.....

nailed the open Task Manager and KILLED IT!!!!!!

Wonder if it is part of the Chinese robot army ready to infect more computer slaves and dominate the world.....

Bumped the crap out of my internet privacy settings and turned the popup blocker to maximum and the d*** site still managed to open a popup.....
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ConeDodger
post Jan 19 2010, 01:00 PM
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QUOTE(Vacca Rabite @ Jan 19 2010, 10:52 AM) *

I think the OP is talking about the plastic surrounds, not the chrome retaining ring.

Zach


Oh... OOops! That should work just fine. Low pressure and start on the surface that does not show. Unless it is a really soft plastic and I don't recall that to be the case it should work just fine.
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Mark Henry
post Jan 19 2010, 01:16 PM
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Is there anywhere that sells soda in bulk?
Has anyone tried it on heads?

I have a set of 3.0 heads that need cleaning but the valvejob, seats and guides look real good and I don't want to mess with them too much.

My blast cabinet takes 2- 80lbs bags of glass bead just to work right, that would be a lot of little boxes of Arm&Hammer and "baking" soda is pretty fine.
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McMark
post Jan 19 2010, 01:21 PM
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Soda Blasting Media
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VaccaRabite
post Jan 19 2010, 01:23 PM
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QUOTE(Mark Henry @ Jan 19 2010, 02:16 PM) *

Is there anywhere that sells soda in bulk?

My blast cabinet takes 2- 80lbs bags of glass bead just to work right, that would be a lot of little boxes of Arm&Hammer and "baking" soda is pretty fine.


Look up Natruim. I think that was the trade name of the soda sold to blasting companies. it is a larger crystal size (and more uniformly sized) then baking soda, and is supposed to be much more efficient. I was going to buy a 50lb bag from a shop in MD, but ran out of time and realized it was overkill for what I was doing - I used less then 2lbs of arm and hammer on my carb bodies.

If I was going to run it in a blasting cabinet, I'd get the good stuff, though.

http://www.natrium.com/ There, I found it for you. I am not affiliated, or have ever even used their product. I am interested in hearing how it works for others.

Zach
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underthetire
post Jan 19 2010, 01:52 PM
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRDX6BPzpj0


Shows using it on a glass vette.

Sorry bout the other one, I use Mozzilla No script and didn't have a problem. It was just a hose attached to a blow gun. Looks like it works well for small stuff.
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Rav914
post Jan 19 2010, 03:21 PM
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I used a very homemade soda blaster on a windshield washer container. The container is black plastic and had some overspray in sliver. Took the paint off with zero effect to the plastic. Not the same thing, but I'll bet you'd be safe with the headlight surrounds.
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Gint
post Jan 19 2010, 10:54 PM
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Didn't see this until now. I still have some baking soda in the cabinet. And I'm pretty sure I've got one or two headlight surrounds laying around... somewhere. If I remember to try it tomorrow...

Based on my experience with soda, I don't think it will be a problem at all.
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snakemain
post Jan 20 2010, 08:44 AM
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Bought a dedicated 10lb soda blaster at Harbor Freight a couple weeks ago on sale for $60. Hooks up to my air compressor. 50lb bags of soda blasting material were around $30.

Took a while to do the whole inside firewall of my car, but took the paint off and the metal underneath looked great. I don't think you'd have any problem using it on the plastic headlight bezels. If one were careful, it's almost controllable enough to take off a single layer of paint and leave the one underneath.

Recommend using a blasting cabinet or outside for small parts because this stuff gets EVERYWHERE.
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Eric_Shea
post Jan 20 2010, 10:34 AM
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Industrial soda works but it can leave them a tad "fuzzy". Perfect surface if you're going to prime then paint. The household soda may work well.
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914Sixer
post Jan 20 2010, 12:57 PM
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Harbor Freight has blasting soda if you have one close by.
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Katmanken
post Jan 20 2010, 01:04 PM
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I think you need a dry ice blaster.

Those suckers can take paint off a layer at a time.

Which is why the airlines and military use them for repainting planes.

On the other hand, hitting plastic with cold dry ice pellets may cause it to become brittle and fracture.

We need a sucker, er I mean guniea pig, er... I mean volunteer...
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Gint
post Jan 20 2010, 05:28 PM
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Found some white headlight surrounds. And they're badly discolored. Should make for a good test.

Give me 30 minutes or so. It's not exactly warm out there though...

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Gint
post Jan 20 2010, 05:55 PM
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This actually took 5 minutes or so. Plain old Costco baking soda. I had to turn the pressure up to 60 psi as my soda has absorbed a little moisture and didn't really want to come up the tube. Food grade baking soda is actually a little too light for this application I think. Although it removed the discoloration, there are a couple of little marks that you can see it didn't remove. The blasted area is really very smooth, although I can feel a little... tooth. Not much though. Like 600 grit sandpaper tooth. Give or take.



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Gint
post Jan 20 2010, 06:00 PM
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Better pic?



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Katmanken
post Jan 21 2010, 12:13 PM
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Usually when you abrade flexible plastic, it gets "fuzzy"

That is , the ends of the long chain molecules in the plastic become broken and loose.
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