Home sand blasting

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Gearjammer

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I need an opinion.My engine bay needs freshing up and i was wondering if any of you have used one of the units Harbor freight sells.I am going to weld up some screw holes and close off some areas in the firewall.(heater a/c) I could use stripper but i don't like the chemical mess.Any info is a help,thanks.
 
I have one of those portable home blasters. Unless you have a huge air compressor you will not be able to work for very long before the air pressure drops to the point it's not effective. Also, I have found that I need to use a very aggressive grit (I use black beauty) to be effective. You will also use A LOT OF GRIT doing the engine bay, I could see you going through 3 or 4 bags (at $25 each).

IMHO, this type of blaster is really only good for doing small parts.
 
If you think stripper is a mess, you have never sandblasted. It gets everywhere and falls out of the car after that. I blasted the underside, interior and engine bay of my Demon about 1 1/2 years ago. It is still falling out of the body and that is after blowing it out with compressed air for and entire afternoon.
That being said, would I do it again? You bet, you know what you have after that.
I'm not sure what Harbour Freight sells, but don't get a siphon feed blaster. They use way to much air and you can't keep the air pressure up if you are using a 25 gallon or less compressor.
Be carefull how long you hold the blasting sand in one spot. It can warp the metal.

Hope this helps

Jack
 
If the paint is good and solid I would not sand blast it off. Just take some scotchbrite and an abrasive cleaner like comet and scrub it good. The paint will adhere just fine. If you have some loose paint use pressure washer and remove the loose stuff first.


Chuck
 
For what it is worth, I bought and used a pressure washer to remove most of the gunk then followed it by a rag soaked in a solvent to remove the thin layer of oil/grease the pressure washer left behind. I did this approach as opposed to buying a sand blaster 'cause I can use the pressure washer for so many other projects/jobs. I even squirt the kids from time to time. They love it! Try doing that with a sand blaster!
 
I just did mine with Captain Lee paint stripper, wire wheels, steel wool. I still have a little detail work to do but it didn't take that much more time then blasting and no sand to clean up. I do plan to use my blaster sparingly in the crevises, its an old siphon feed and works OK..my next one will be a pressure rig, but I've had this one for about 20 years and it works OK on smaller stuff, I wouldn't try to blast a whole car with it you could be there a while.
 
I have the 40 lbs sand blaster from harbor freight and it has worked awesome on small parts and even my axle housing. I would use it onthe engine bay but only after using a wire wheel or some other method that is not so messy. My painter is just going to pressure wash mine and scothbrite it and shoot it. He said he would wire wheel and spots that needed it.

I agree smaller parts it works great. The pressure drop is a real deal too. just gotta get used to it and work with it. I have a 33 gal compressor and it works good. As far as media I just strained some sand from the beach
 
My paint was in good shape so I washed it, Scoffed it with scotch brite and feathered out a few bad spots. Then I cleaned it with a wax and grease remover before spraying it with a high build primer.

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I find that for irregulary shaped parts sandblasting has not substitute. While stripping off the rust from the grille of my old tractor I was able to get down to bare metal in 15 minutes when doing it by hand would have take me all week. Of course I only work outdoors and it takes me 30 min worth of bathing to get all the crud off and out of me. It is almost easier to burn your clothes, though than to clean them. DO NOT let that stuff get into the works of your washer or dryer (Please don't ask me how I know this....). My 2'nd hand blaster and 4 bags of xxfine black beauty once did a job that was quoted at over $400. In its place it is magic.

My $0.02 -LY
 
Check you phone book under "abrasive blasting" or Metal stripping" Also, harbor freight and some auto paint supply stores have it. Last resort would be ordering from eastwood.
 
flyboy01 said:
Check you phone book under "abrasive blasting" or Metal stripping" Also, harbor freight and some auto paint supply stores have it. Last resort would be ordering from eastwood.
Click to expand...

I guess we're not that "advanced" around here. I'll keep looking. I can do Harbor Freight although I'm still waiting on a refund for some stuff they shipped and I never received.
 
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