soda blasting

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shanson30

shanson30

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I need a little advice, seems to be alot here for free. I've got a 71 demon project. I bought a black H code 4-speed a couple of years ago, then i bought 4 or 5 parts cars and I'm ready to get started. I want, I think, to buy a soda blaster and air compressor to start stripping old paint and then epoxy prime the car. I want to learn rust repair and panel replacement but i think i'll let a body shop do the rest. Any way compressor size / tank size etc. and soda blasting equipment from Eastwood or ? Big or little. I might want to offer this service to others, if i'm any good, lol, so it's not for one time use. what do you'll think? just in case, i'm near Houston, tx.
 
I would like to some up my experience with soda blasting. I started just like you. I bought the Eastwood sodablaster and bought soda from Harbor freight. The first problem was airflow. I wouldn't advise anything below a 100PSI diesel tow behind compressor. By the time I got the air/media mix correct, the hose between tank and nozzle ripped 3 times. Eastwood says you only need about 8 bags. I used 12 and only did a third of the car. I bought a good mask but the fine powder just flew up the bottom and made it hard to breath. I spent almost the cost of having a pro do the whole car with the idea of being able to do it more then once. I'm sure there are other FABO members with better experiences but I wanted to let you know about mine. I haven't given up on the blaster but have on soda. My 2 cents
 
I also have been considering soda blasting.Was actually just about to post aboutthe very same subject when I saw this thread. As stated a pressurized soda blaster will require a lot of air. This is dependant more on the size of the nozzle in the blaster. A 3/16 nozzle is about as small as you can go,but will still require 8 cfm at least. Portable soda blasters are really the same as sand blasters. Using a large pressurized blaster tank will help as the big tank will also act as an air reservoir and you should be able to get more blasting done before having to wait for the compressor to catch up. Soda wont hurt glass or chrome,is environmentally friendly and wont give you lung silicosis. Clean up is a pain.dont leave any in your car in any seam.It will suck up moisture.
Crushed glass is faster,cheaper and wont cause silicosis either,but still a pain to clean up. Whatever you blast with,theres a huge cleaning job.
 
My advice is to spend the $700.00 bucks and let a pro do it. I'm like you guys and I always like to "do it myself" but I decided that I couldn't justify buying good equipment to do one, two or even three cars.

Called in a local guy, he did a great job, I was happy and clean!



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don't forget. the alkaline film residue that is left on the metal must be washed off and out of every crevice. if the film is not neutralized and or removed, your epoxy will fail. Soda does not strip rust and does a poor job of removing bondo. The company i used strips the car with soda, washes, cleans and neutralizes, then a second step is done with crushed garnet to add texture for the epoxy to bit onto. this step also gives extra insurance that the soda has been removed before epoxy primer.

you must be very careful with soda and most paint companies advise against it because people don't prep properly before painting.

I am very happy with the company i used and they gave me a garranty in writing that the epoxy primer they sprayed would not lift...ever.

I have done scratch and scrapping tests one year out on some parts and the **** is stuck on good. I have no worries about their epoxy and blasting techniques. Goodluck on setting it up yourself. I'd would hate the clean up. The EPA here in Cali is killer about that stuff.

Dave
 
Kermit_T_Frog said:
I would like to some up my experience with soda blasting. I started just like you. I bought the Eastwood sodablaster and bought soda from Harbor freight. The first problem was airflow. I wouldn't advise anything below a 100PSI diesel tow behind compressor. By the time I got the air/media mix correct, the hose between tank and nozzle ripped 3 times. Eastwood says you only need about 8 bags. I used 12 and only did a third of the car. I bought a good mask but the fine powder just flew up the bottom and made it hard to breath. I spent almost the cost of having a pro do the whole car with the idea of being able to do it more then once. I'm sure there are other FABO members with better experiences but I wanted to let you know about mine. I haven't given up on the blaster but have on soda. My 2 cents
Click to expand...
Thanks Kermit Your right buying the cheap stuff can be a waste of $$ The good stuff is about 10,000 and up. if i could afford that i'd be driving my demon by now.
 
needsaresto said:
I also have been considering soda blasting.Was actually just about to post aboutthe very same subject when I saw this thread. As stated a pressurized soda blaster will require a lot of air. This is dependant more on the size of the nozzle in the blaster. A 3/16 nozzle is about as small as you can go,but will still require 8 cfm at least. Portable soda blasters are really the same as sand blasters. Using a large pressurized blaster tank will help as the big tank will also act as an air reservoir and you should be able to get more blasting done before having to wait for the compressor to catch up. Soda wont hurt glass or chrome,is environmentally friendly and wont give you lung silicosis. Clean up is a pain.dont leave any in your car in any seam.It will suck up moisture.
Crushed glass is faster,cheaper and wont cause silicosis either,but still a pain to clean up. Whatever you blast with,theres a huge cleaning job.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about a business doing my work and charging others. Maybe not such a good idea. Are you in the resto business?
 
daves66valiant said:
don't forget. the alkaline film residue that is left on the metal must be washed off and out of every crevice. if the film is not neutralized and or removed, your epoxy will fail. Soda does not strip rust and does a poor job of removing bondo. The company i used strips the car with soda, washes, cleans and neutralizes, then a second step is done with crushed garnet to add texture for the epoxy to bit onto. this step also gives extra insurance that the soda has been removed before epoxy prime

Could you explain how they washed off the alkaline film residue then nuetralized it? I've heard if not done correctly crushed garnet will warp the panels turning it into scrap metal. Must have been real fine stuff.

you must be very careful with soda and most paint companies advise against it because people don't prep properly before painting.

This is something they don't show on TV shows. They make it look so simple but I'm sure its not. Thanks for the warning.

I am very happy with the company i used and they gave me a garranty in writing that the epoxy primer they sprayed would not lift...ever.

Anyone one knows of a company that does this kind of work in the Las Vegas area?

I have done scratch and scrapping tests one year out on some parts and the **** is stuck on good. I have no worries about their epoxy and blasting techniques. Goodluck on setting it up yourself. I'd would hate the clean up. The EPA here in Cali is killer about that stuff.

Should I decide to do my own blasting anyone know what the laws are in Las Vegas?
Click to expand...
 
hawaiiandart said:
daves66valiant said:
don't forget. the alkaline film residue that is left on the metal must be washed off and out of every crevice. if the film is not neutralized and or removed, your epoxy will fail. Soda does not strip rust and does a poor job of removing bondo. The company i used strips the car with soda, washes, cleans and neutralizes, then a second step is done with crushed garnet to add texture for the epoxy to bit onto. this step also gives extra insurance that the soda has been removed before epoxy prime

Could you explain how they washed off the alkaline film residue then nuetralized it? I've heard if not done correctly crushed garnet will warp the panels turning it into scrap metal. Must have been real fine stuff.

you must be very careful with soda and most paint companies advise against it because people don't prep properly before painting.

This is something they don't show on TV shows. They make it look so simple but I'm sure its not. Thanks for the warning.

I am very happy with the company i used and they gave me a garranty in writing that the epoxy primer they sprayed would not lift...ever.

Anyone one knows of a company that does this kind of work in the Las Vegas area?

I have done scratch and scrapping tests one year out on some parts and the **** is stuck on good. I have no worries about their epoxy and blasting techniques. Goodluck on setting it up yourself. I'd would hate the clean up. The EPA here in Cali is killer about that stuff.

Should I decide to do my own blasting anyone know what the laws are in Las Vegas?
Click to expand...

Vinegar and water. The garnet is just like sand with different grades of coarseness. This was a light dusting if you will to add some micro texture. Not enough to cause any warping. Warping comes when you have too much pressure and heat and spend too much time in one area. I did not have this issue.
Click to expand...
 
Anyone try dry ice blasting on a car? We did the fire restoration work on East HS here in Denver after the weight lifting room caught fire. There was alot of brick work involved and we blasted it with dry ice. Worked great, no medium residue cause it all dissapeared. Only cleanup was the soot lying on the floor that we vacuumed up with a HEPA.
 
I just got a quote to blast my car. They will Media blast the sheet metal and sand blast the bottom of the car. Also, if the sheetmetal has rust they will blast off the rust. The quote was for $900.

they will also epoxy prime the car for $350.

I had a quote from somebody else and it ranged from $1500 to $2500 and that didn't include the primer.
 
shanson30 said:
I need a little advice, seems to be alot here for free. I've got a 71 demon project. I bought a black H code 4-speed a couple of years ago, then i bought 4 or 5 parts cars and I'm ready to get started. I want, I think, to buy a soda blaster and air compressor to start stripping old paint and then epoxy prime the car. I want to learn rust repair and panel replacement but i think i'll let a body shop do the rest. Any way compressor size / tank size etc. and soda blasting equipment from Eastwood or ? Big or little. I might want to offer this service to others, if i'm any good, lol, so it's not for one time use. what do you'll think? just in case, i'm near Houston, tx.
Click to expand...
Here's 2 more cents, I'm getting to the assy stage of a 1968 mustang coupe my daughter and I are building for her and if you want to doit yourself and invest time heres what I did. I sand blasted the inner door openings,inner
wheelwells, rear tail light panel, rockers, door edges and any panel that did not have a wide flat area that would warp easily with an offshore pressurized sand blaster. It takes the rust and everything, works great. I have a 3 cyl upright compressor and hooked my portable compressor together with a T connection. All of the flat panels I did with a 4 1/2" angle grinder and a disc they call a scud disc. Thats not the actual name but it escapes me right now. They're made by Norton and removes paint, rust and bondo but doesn't take any metal and is suprisingly fast. Ya we have a few hour into it but the money you spend to have it done($800-1200) you can invest in a compressor, blaster, grinder and I have all the equipment to do my 71 Duster this winter. I found it very satisfying doing it myself. Kev
 
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