Wow, I’ve never heard of dry ice blasting. Thanks for the tip. The reason I was looking into soda blasting is that I could do it myself. Is dry ice blasting expensive?
Depends. The equipment is $5-10k to get all setup and the ice runs something like $10-100 per pound (mostly depending on how it's made, on-site equipment tends to cost more electricity but off-site while more efficient comes with a convenience cost). Then you're paying for labor wrapped up in there too, so $55-80/hr shop rates wouldn't be abnormal. figure a couple hour per panel, and you're looking at $200 per panel pretty quick. Some shops might have better rates/costs though, so it would be worth inquiring a few places if you can even find it as a service. If you can find a place that rents the stuff out, or would rent a booth, you might save quite a bit over that too.
Soda blasting is like micro sand blasting from what I've seen. It's pretty gentle, but it's still abrasive and so you may wind up with more of a micro-texture on the surface than you'd like. If you plan to paint/dye over it, it may not matter too much though.
