Soda Blasting

-
zhandfull

zhandfull

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Messages
2,987
Reaction score
102
Location
Rancho Cucamonga
Went to Harbor Freight today and bought a new soda blaster pot. They run about $150 plus a bag of soda is $35 for 50 pounds. I wanted it to clean internal engine parts. The soda doesn't chip away to clean the surface it kinda hits the surface and explodes blowing off grease, oil, carbon deposits, and paint in the process. Really good for protecting soft metals. Here is a couple pictures of the mess I made.

Overall very happy with the blaster but it doesn't take rust off very good. I would say that is the only down fall of soda blasting that I have found so far.
 

Attachments

  • 68 Dart 111.jpg
    58.3 KB · Views: 339
  • 68 Dart 110.jpg
    48.3 KB · Views: 367
  • 68 Dart 112.jpg
    54 KB · Views: 343
  • 68 Dart 113.jpg
    51.8 KB · Views: 333
  • 68 Dart 114.jpg
    56.4 KB · Views: 339
  • 68 Dart 115.jpg
    56.8 KB · Views: 353
Looks like you had a good time making a mess........have heard that soda blasting does not do very well against rust, but paint is a different story......just kind of wondering, how much cfm does your compressor put out???
 
Here is some of the specs on the soda media

Environmentally friendly baking soda blast media absorbs moisture before it can create flow problems.

■Ease of clean-up, washes off with water
■No harmful chemicals or dust, non-toxic
■Strips paint without damaging other surfaces
■Works with aluminum, steel, stainless steel, fiberglass and more
■Medium-sized crystals specially formulated for blasting use
 
inkjunkie said:
Looks like you had a good time making a mess........have heard that soda blasting does not do very well against rust, but paint is a different story......just kind of wondering, how much cfm does your compressor put out???
Click to expand...

I have a big 60 gallon stand up compressor says 10.2 scfm at 90 pounds on it. Its a Home Depot compressor and it ran a lot during blasting. I'm sure a smaller 20 gal tank compressor would work but not at 100% duty cycle of course.
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
What a mess..... I would hate to clean that up.
Click to expand...

Yes it was a mess the wife wasn't real happy. It did clean up pretty easy just sweep and then I washed down.

Here is a used 273 piston I cleaned up. You wouldn't want to do this with sand, glass, or other media. The soda seems to be perfect for this type of work .
 

Attachments

  • 68 Dart 100.jpg
    50.4 KB · Views: 333
  • 68 Dart 101.jpg
    28.4 KB · Views: 307
Yup thats soda for you! Wont warp panels either,but it's a huge pain on clean up as you know.

And no it wont touch rust.
 
It sure does a nice job. I have a customer that soda blasts commercially. You can strip paint off a door and not etch the glass. They use it to strip paint off Corvettes.
 
Bottom side of my car was soda blasted by a commercial company, body guy said it sure beats doing it by hand with all the angle changes/crevices etc. Been thinking about getting a sand blast cabinet, got lots of stuff to clean......thanks for the info....
 
toolmanmike said:
It sure does a nice job. I have a customer that soda blasts commercially. You can strip paint off a door and not etch the glass. They use it to strip paint off Corvettes.
Click to expand...

Yea they say chrome, glass and hard materials it won't hurt. I just like the fact it takes grease and oil off and cleans at same time. Little soap and water clean up and ready to paint or use.

Here is my hipo 273 pistons they cleaned up pretty good and let me tell you they had some nasty carbon build up on them.
 

Attachments

  • 68 Dart 106.jpg
    29 KB · Views: 292
  • 68 Dart 108.jpg
    30.1 KB · Views: 304
I'd love to have a couple acres(no neighbours) and use soda....
fyi, not sure if it works or not, but you can get Cow Brand in bulk..approx 5-10 pound bags not sure of the cost...$35 for 50lbs sounds pricey
 
4spdragtop said:
I'd love to have a couple acres(no neighbours) and use soda....
fyi, not sure if it works or not, but you can get Cow Brand in bulk..approx 5-10 pound bags not sure of the cost...$35 for 50lbs sounds pricey
Click to expand...

It is a little pricey but sure works good. The way the soda works I'm not sure it would even be reusable like in a typical cabinet blaster. All this baking soda around today I was trying to talk the wife in to making some cookies.
 
Parts look great. Can you reuse the soda if you screen the trash out?
 
Maybe you could build a "blast cabinet" or something similiar to keep the mess contained.
 
When I blast I always just throw down a few tarps. Also soda usually won't touch rust, you will need to go to a heavy media like silica.
 
old tired rebel said:
Parts look great. Can you reuse the soda if you screen the trash out?
Click to expand...

I read some place that the soda explodes when making contact with the part blasting it clean. The sand and other media seems to be more of a chipping type action. So im not sure about recycling the material.

krazykuda said:
Maybe you could build a "blast cabinet" or something similiar to keep the mess contained.
Click to expand...

They make them they are just out of most home shop budgets. The ones I have seen look to have two cabinets or chambers leading me to believe that one has fresh soda and the other is for parts cleaning and residue.

I have a cabinet at work for sand blasting. Guess I could empty it and just use this pressure pot to supply the soda inside the cabinet. Would be a lot cleaner for sure.
 
I used one of those Harbour Freight blasters to strip the cowl vent on my 70 Dart. Did the job but I am still cleaning baking soda from the cowl and vents.
 
Manufacturers say you need to use acid to clean the soda residue, but don't acid wash until you're ready to paint or prime, as the soda will prevent flash rust for a couple of weeks. Check out Eastwood's website.
 
zhandfull said:
They make them they are just out of most home shop budgets. The ones I have seen look to have two cabinets or chambers leading me to believe that one has fresh soda and the other is for parts cleaning and residue.

I have a cabinet at work for sand blasting. Guess I could empty it and just use this pressure pot to supply the soda inside the cabinet. Would be a lot cleaner for sure.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of something along the lines of this thread. The $16 blast cabinet. I also bumped it so others can read it.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=157530
 
How safe is soda blasting on a person's health?

The reason I ask is because I've used glass and aluminum oxide as a media and they've always had some scary health precautions provided by the manufacturer. Heck...if you see me bead blasting, I gear-up as if I was in some sort of radiation/hazmat suit and ready to walk in a plutonium plant.

Media (especially glass and aluminum oxide) will adhere to the lining of your lungs and, from what I understand, screw your health up pretty bad. Just wondering if soda blasting is just as harmful.
 
intergalactica said:
How safe is soda blasting on a person's health?

The reason I ask is because I've used glass and aluminum oxide as a media and they've always had some scary health precautions provided by the manufacturer. Heck...if you see me bead blasting, I gear-up as if I was in some sort of radiation/hazmat suit and ready to walk in a plutonium plant.

Media (especially glass and aluminum oxide) will adhere to the lining of your lungs and, from what I understand, screw your health up pretty bad. Just wondering if soda blasting is just as harmful.
Click to expand...

That is a good question, with the stuff blowing around pretty heavy yesterday. I'm happy to report I'm still breathing today. I thought about a mask but only used a full face shield for eye and face protection. Guess I will go read the directions.

Edit: OK first page personal safety. Dust mask, eye protection, ear protection, and gloves.

I don't think it is anything like silica, aluminum oxide or glass. The soda is food grade media and is water soluble. Of course breathing in anything in heavy quanitites is probably not a good ideal.
 
had my hood soda blasted,

MUST CLEAN CORRECTLY BEFORE PAINT

the idiot that was painting my car said yeah he prepped it, he didn't put the primer on and good thing he didn't paint the car because the hood had to be striped again to get the peeling primer off
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top