Hello All,

Trying to get prepared to finish all of the reinforcement work on the body and decided that it would be a good idea to do a little sand blasting to clean things up a bit. I've seen units from $199 - $3000. And visually can't see any difference in them. I've seen blast media from sand to walnut shells to soda. Can somebody that has used these on a car tell me what is the best buy for a poor homeowner that wants to have a unit to use more than once but doesn't want to spend the motherlode. and the best overall media.
Any help would be appreciated. Off to ball practicefor my kids. Be back to look at this in a bit.
Thanks.

Sandblasting parts is OK, however, if you're thinking about blasting the chassis, i recommend you read the thread in my signature.

It contains some info on why i would never, ever sandblast a chassis again. Ever.
Andy

+1... I didn't have to with my 914, but I know guys in the muscle car world who are still finding sand in their cars 3+ years later

Sand removes metal. Glass bead removes rust only and not metal. I don't really know about the others.

And it gets everywhere (all of them) ... even places you can't see or clean.

Also investigate soda blasting. Eastwood has a soda blasting kit or attachment.

If you are going to sandblast things for many years to come, invest in a pressurized system, NOT a syphon feed.

If you are only planning to do one car, RENT the equipment. You can rent a very large system that would cost thousands...and use it for the weekend.

One other option is to hire it out.
There are many places that will sandblast your car for you...again, its a one shot deal.

Rich

I'm not so sure about soda blasting. I used diet coke on mine and it just made a mess...

Eric

Soda blasting benefits.
Its water soluable....so afterwards, just hose off the driveway or wait for the next rain storm and its gone.

Its softer than sand so it wont heat up the larger panels and risk warping them.

it is great stuff

soda blast is great,,,had my car done,,,doest hurt wireing trim etc, and promotes a protection to the metal against flash rust. The big but is you need to acid wash the car after so the paint will stick!!!! Metal prep, or a vingar mix something.. My guy gave me a wash for the car.. The other but is that it will not get rid of rust,,,just paint...

I have tried lots of low end blasting and nothing seems to actually work well. The big problem (other than the ones already mentioned) is moisture. If you live in a humid environment and you do not have an air drier and a good compressed then you will only get frustraited. As much as I would like for it to be otherwise blasting is more complicated than it seems.

Has anyone used the Dry Ice method?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_9nITRz--0

You probably used too many Mentos.

True... I use a short whip hose connected to a last chance water trap (with another water trap attached to my pressure tank where the main hose comes out), and I still can only sandblast for a while in this humid east coast weather. I don't own a sandblaster; I borrowed a siphon blaster. Never used the pressure blaster but all sources indicate that it is a much better tool than a siphon blaster.

Lots of good info here. I read Sir Andys thread and looking at the photos sandblasting is OUT! I do live in Alabama so mosture will be a problem with soda. I will have to get a good system for drying the air to go that method. I will be able to sand the car for the most part. It is mostley rust free with exception to some small areas. The hell hole even looks great. The main thing I was thing about was getting the shoots off the under side and the excess blobs of seam sealer so I can clean this area up also. I bought Armondo Serono's rotisserie and want to do it right. Paid a hell of a lot of money for it but if the two cars that I am going to do turn out really nice it will be worth it.

OK.... Let me redirect.. What is the best method for cleaning off the shoots and seam sealer?

Professional soda blasting is the way to go. Doesn't hurt glass or trim and leaves the base metal clean and free of paint.

Good to hear from you Perry. Finally going to get started getting the flares on and want to start with a clean undercarage. The car has no wheels so moving it will not be easy. I would like to do it here if possible.What do you think is the best one out there that is in a poor boy buget.

If you like we can fog up the pole barn like a flour mill

I have cheap siphon and pressure blasters. Siphon tend to clog up more, which
is the big pain about blasting. You need to sift the media well so no big chunks
get in there and cause a clog. It is a hassle stopping and taking everything
apart to clear it out. With a pressure pot blaster I always turn off the flow
of media before shuttng the blast nozzle, otherwise it causes a clog. I ran a
10 foot line from my compressor to a $50 water separator, then a 50 foot
line to my blaster. The air coming out of your compressor is too hot for the
water separator to work well unless you run an extra line to let it cool. My
pressure pot blaster has a second water separator right before the tank.

Right before the blaster I use a disposable water remover
cartridge that turns red as it absorbs water. This is enough to make things
work ok in FL, so it ought to work other places. Using a clear tube from your
siphon blaster to your media helps to see when a clog is forming.

When everything is working well blasting is fun for about 5 minutes, then you
realized how slow a process it is. It is like cleaning your parts with a toothbrush
size area that you have to move slowly to get everything off. Doing a whole car
with a cheezy set up would be a real nightmare. I think it is best for small parts
with complex shapes or parts of your car that are impossible to reach with a wire
wheel or grinder.

John

Soda blasting... Have it professionally done. Seam sealer must be picked and scrapped out. Rust will have to be spot blasted with sand or cut out and patched.

Jimmy, shop around and see if anyone in B'ham does soda blasting. They'll bring their rig and be done in hours, and you'd be on to the next thing.

I've used two cheap Sam's Club furniture dollies for moving a bare chassis. If you've still got suspension on the chassis though, you'll need hevier duty dollies.

Perry, Just returned from a shop close by that will do it for 600.00 or so and prime for an additional 300.00 for a 900.00 total for the undercarage. How does that sound for a price?

Conedodger, I believe you are right ole boy.

For just the underside? Hmmm.


Double that and you can get the complete chassis acid dipped and put in primer ...
Andy

I paid $1000 to have the entire car soda blasted , and the also some surfaces sand blasted (rust areas, inner fenders etc.) this was 3 years ago and at a automotive restoration shop in Chicago-land, so YMMV. $600 seem reasonable if they are asnd blasting the rust areas too!

These guys seem to do high end work by the look of things around there shop. I don't want to get skined up but I don't want some knot head doing either. Maybe with a little friendlyness I can get them to do a little extra. I just went through the phone book here and as it seems my options are pretty limited.

Lots of good info in this thread, but the myth about media blasting warping panels via heat is a pet peeve of mine. You can absolutely deform thin material via media blasting, but it’s not the heat that does it (very little heat is generated in fact), but rather the density of your media, the pressure you are using and your technique.

For example if you used something like coal slag (cheap substitute for silica sand) or aluminum oxide, crank up the pressure beyond 100psi and use a stream perpendicular (90 deg) to the panel, you are doing your best to deform the panel (not to mention eat it away). Think of it as thousands of tiny hammers hitting the panel per second. But lower the pressure and use a shallower angle and you will be just fine. Also Soda is about one half to two thirds as dense as coal slag or aluminum oxide, so that also helps a great deal.

Conversely, I am a sure that Soda with high pressure and bad technique can also do damage. Media selection is important, but you also have to know what you are doing. I have zero fear in using coal slag, etc. on metal panels.

Soda is by far the best method I've found:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113...mp;l=d147b32ef5

I'm not keen on blasting.

Why?? Rust forms a conical pit in the metal which means the sand grain pentrates the rust cell to a depth where the sand grain gets stopped by the conical walls of the good metal and leaves a conical rust pocket deep in the metal.

If you use an electrical derusting process that some dippers use, the conical shape of the clean rust pits can be seen.

In Cinci, American Metal Refinishing has the tanks and electrical dip processes to do a trunk lid or fender for about $60 or a whole car for about $1k.

Ditto on the clogs with sandblasting but nobody mentioned the pure unadulturated fun of flying sand that lodges in yer ears, hair, eyes, clothes, mouth, etc