my findings on home sandblasting

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WONTGETDUSTED

CRACKED-OUT MOPAR TECH JUNKY
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Ok, Sunday I Got Out The Habor Freight Siphon Feed Sandblaster And The 3 Types Of Media I Planed To Try And Used The 70 New Yorker In The Back Yard As A Test Subject....here Is What I Found Out

Yes You Can Use Soda In These Blasters

Soda Cuts In Pretty Quick And Leaves The Metal Smooth To The Touch And Wont Beat The **** Out Of You,however Where A Vent Mask....saw No Signs Of Metal Wrapage...the Easest Of The Three To Work With ,wont Do **** To Rust Other That Just Barely Not The Lose Stuff Off

Play Sand- Cuts In A Little Quicker Than Soda ,leaves The Metal With A Slightly Rough Texture,and Will Beat The **** Out Of You , Wear Something That Covers Your Entire Body.....saw No Signs Of Metal Warpage,takes Off Rust

Walnut Shell- Junk. Would Probly Work Well With A Professional Blaster And A Indust. Compressor At 175 Psi Or More. Took A Good Ill Longer To Cut In(night And Day Difference) However Left Metal Smooth (once It Finally Got Going Taking Paint Off). Took The Largest Amount By Far To Do The Least Amount Work. Has No Effect On Rust

I Have Now Decided To Play Around Making My On Mix Of These Three And Will Let Ya'll Know What Works Best...right Now I'm Kinda Undecided On Which I'm Going To Do The Duster With. The Soda Makes Metal Look Good And Smooth ,but I Think Paint Would Stick Better To Surface Sand Leaves.....
 
Tell me how you got soda to work. I have a 100 lb pressure blaster and tried soda in it and it went thru so fast that I blew away 25 pounds before I had dome more than about a square foot.

Larry
 
Be careful of the walnut shells - they supposedly contain oil (like the nut inside the shell) and will cause your paint job to fail / peel.

Did you try plastic media?
 
I'm wondering about soda too. What kind of soda...baking soda? Washing soda? Where do you buy it?

I need to do some aluminum wheels, sand seems a little too aggressive. I'm thinking soda might work well.

Thanks.
 
I used the smallest nozzle that came with the unit I bought which I think is a 6mm tip. As far as plastic media not only have I not found a local source but the fact of me doing this in my backyard kinda rules out plastic media..dogs...birds..grass...etc. But if I could find some i would try it a little just to see how it compares..As far as where to buy and what to get..i simply went to the local feed store(local since i live in Alabama) and asked for sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) so then $15 later i put the bag in the car and shagged *** back to the house
 
Good info. Been thinking about this very thing. I have one of those HF grey blast cabinets. I've been thinking of taking the gun portion out and hooking it up to some sort of bucket with media in it and using it outside on the car to take off at least 4 layers of Macco/Earl Scheib paint work put on by the previous owner. Soda is interesting. I'll have to check around and see what is available around here. I was thinking of trying plastic media as it is supposed to be really good for taking off paint etc. without damaging the panels. Not found any as yet, but not honestly looked yet as doing mechanical things to the car first. I considered building a tent type deal out of plastic sheet and some light lumber. Have the car sitting on plastic as well. That way I could use a shop vac to pick up the crap that came off.

Anyway, anyone tried the conversion of one of the box type blasters to do this? Apart from a feed store is there another source that might have large quantities of the soda cheaply? How about plastic media?

Thanks for the great post.
Cheers
 
I saw a TV show once about this plastic media being the absolute worst polluter of the oceans! There is so much of it in the ocean it will never biodegrade and fish and birds eat it thinking it's food, then they die because they can't digest it.

If you care about the environment, use soda. :)

Just my little green tip for the day!
 
Another product that is environmentally friendly and is being used by some large companies for blasing is Potassium Sulphate. It is sold as a general purpose unregulated fertilizer. I spoke to someone locally who sells it at around $45 / 50lbs (seems pricey) but apparently it can cut 2 -3 times faster than soda. PromaxUSA sells it under the name "Super K". Anybody try this yet?

http://www.problastusa.com/superk.htm
 
I'd Call Around To Some Feed And Hardware Stores And See What I Can Get That Stuff For And Try It Soon. The Only Thing I Worry About Is The Stuff Killing My Grass But Considering We Are Going Though The Worst Drought In Over 100 Years..my Back Yard Is Mostly Weeds And Dust Anyways..so I'll Give It A Shot
 
ON SECOND THOUGHT, AFTER READING THIS I DONT THINK I'LL TRY THIS ON ANY TYPE OF METAL , I THINK IT'S USED TO STRIP WOOD OR PLASTIC

Potassium sulfate (K2SO4) (in British English potassium sulphate or archaically known as potash of sulfur) is a non-flammable white crystalline salt which is soluble in water. The chemical is commonly used in fertilizers, providing both potassium and sulfur.

SALT? I THINK ANY TYPE OF SALT HAVING THAT MUCH CONTACT WITH MY CAR'S 35 YEAR OLD SHEET METAL IS A GOOD IDEA!!!
 
We have a soda blaster in town. He charges $800-1000 to do the entire car. That alone is worth it in man hours at a shop. That's the way I will go next time. Nice thing about sand is you can easily recover it, strain it and reuse it. Not so good for panels though.
 
try green nickel slag. fairly aggressive. about $7 for 100 lbs. great for rust
 
i will call around and try to find it...any ideas on where to start?
 
The green nickel slag comes from a worked out nickel mine by Roseburg, Oregon. They might produce in other parts of the country. Anyway it's sold at masonary supply store in Springfield, Oregon so that might be a good place to look where you are.
 
i'll give it a shot. plus here in the next couple of days i'll post pics of the results of the media used so far....
 
I'd recommend the soda be kept sealed up until you need it, or just buy enough for what you need at the time. It will wick moisture and clog up the gun, or just not siphon correctly. The Walnut shell I think are intended for aluminum or softer metals that wouldn't have rust anyway. If you pick up an Eastwood catalog, they list the different medias and tell what they are best suited for. Always wear a respirator also, you never want to breath in the dust from anything.
 
I've Heard That About Soda Before And I Also Went A Bought A Air/water Seperator For My Compressor So As Far That Goes I Shold Be Ok, Not To Mention My Storge Area Stays Dry.but For Now I'm Just Using One Bag At A Time ....
 
BUT YES I KNOW BUT ITS ALKLINE PROPERTIES DIFFER FROM THE OTHER STUFF SUGGESTED HERE. AND BESIDES MIXED WITH THE RIGHT STUFF SODA CAN HELP FINACE ANYBODY CAR PROJECT!

It is used as a fabric softener in laundry.
It is used to test garden soil for acidity. If it bubbles, the soil is too acidic.
Sodium bicarbonate has been used as a performance enhancer for sprinters, by countering build up of lactate through induced metabolic alkalosis.[citation needed]
If mixed with super glue, it makes a suitable filling for cracks in walls.
Baking soda can be used as a low-cost alternative to raise pH in swimming pools.[3]
Combined with cocaine to make crack cocaine. :toothy10:
As a desiccant, sprinkle on wet pages of books and then put them out to dry under the sun.
Sodium bicarbonate is used in BC Dry Chemical fire extinguishers as an alternative to the corrosive ammonium phosphate in ABC extinguishers. The alkali nature of Sodium Bicarbonate makes it the only dry powder, excluding Purple-K, agent allowed for use on commercial deep fat fryers, the agent forms a crust over the surface similar to the effects of a wet chemical.
Sodium bicarbonate is often used in the pharmaceutical industry as an additive to cell culture media. It acts as a weak buffer.
 
ok soda is slow going if the car has been painted more that twice!!!!!!!! I STARTED BLASTING MY REPLACMENT PASS DOOR TODAY AND FOUND OUT IT HAS BEEN PAINTED A LEAST THREE TIMES! BLASTING WITH JUST SODA SLOWED DOWN TO A CREEP. SO I BUSTED OUT THE SODA&SAND MIX AND IT WORKS A GOOD ILL BETTER TAKES OFF RUST AND DOESN'T LEAVE A ROUGH A SURFACE AS SAND ALONE!!!!!!!
 
my car had about 7-8 layers of paint on the engine bay and the whole car, i blasted the whole engine bay probably took about4-5 hours if i didnt have to keep stoping to let the compressor cool off, but turned out to be about 2 days. i used slica sand in 30lbs bags took about 10-13 or so bags and at lil over 5 a bag it added up quick. it sucks cause the price of the bags of sand went up which hurt alot
 
Anyone know a good source to buy the sand in large ammounts? Are some sands better or worse than others?
 
ok, started playing around mixing up different combos of play sand,soda and walnut shell

and the winner is 60% sand and 40% soda!

cuts in quick, takes off rust and leaves metal with a great surface to wipe down and prime plus its resisent to rust!
 
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