Sand Blasters? The good,the bad,the useless

[Lowhound]

I have the Bee on a rotiserie & its fully stripped as of now.So far Iv removed all the undercoating.I have already installed a full front floor pan & intend on installing a new trunk pan later.But I would like to media blast the rest of the underbody.I was wanting your opinions on a decent affordable blasting setup.

 

[YY1]

I've used 3 or 4 different "blasters" including a pressure pot with a deadman nozzle from harbor freight, a gravity hopper bought at a yard sale, used with guns from sears, tractor supply and others, as well as a clarke and a hf blast cabinet.

The actual blaster doesn't seem to matter, as long as the tip is good and there are no restrictions.

The big issue is the compressor. A 5 CFM probably isn't going to cut it, and even the larger lowes 10 CFM is probably gonna leave you hanging on a job that big.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Lowhound,
I have a "pot" style blaster from "TIP" out of Ohio.
It holds 100 lbs sand.
I have a 60 Gallon 2 Stage compressor from Quincy.
I have done lots of blasting, including a 67 GTO body and frame / suspension.
If you are going to purchase equipment it "can" get pricey.
Biggest cost is compressor. Other factors to consider is a quality respirator and protective hood. Silca sand causes a form of Lung Cancer (Silicosis).
Once your equipment is purchased, you can do "jobs" for yourself and your "buds". Also consider it can "pay for itself"
Lastly, I go to a local business that does professional powdercoating. They also media blast. They do a car body for $200! Now that might be your option. Look locally for someone that performs SODA and Sand blasting.
SODA blast is less abrasive than sand, it's like Soda Bicarbonate. But for hard encrusted rust / crud, the sand is a better performer.
Good luck!
mark

 

[Donny]

Go read my thread entitled Media Blasting for the low-down. As for getting a whole body done for 200 bucks; every hear of Fantasy Island?

 

[Lowhound]

I have a 2 stage 80 gallon compressor,respirator,& just purchased a blasting helmet.I had a cheap siphon type Harbor Freight blasting trigger.I came out pretty good so far. I took a 5 gallon bucket,put a whole in the bottom,inserted a 1/2 nipple into it,then ran me an approx 3ft hose to my cheap blaster. Filled it with media(Coal I believe) & it worked great.It worked til the bucket was empty.The helmet set me back $35 but the rest of the stuff I already had. But theres no way I would ever do this crap for anyone else. Anyone that does blasting for an income EARNS it.But they probably invested in some better tooling than I have.

 

[YY1]

I'll just add two more things.

1- read Donny's thread!

2- CFM, CFM, CFM!

 

[super-bee_ski]

For Donny,
Yup, this is So Cal. Competition is fierce. You bring the body, totally stripped, doors off, fenders off. Not a roller.
They rotate it. Cost $200. Its done in 45 minutes to 1 hour. 5+ per week.
"Kind of puts things into perspective" HUH?
Big shop, Big equipment, 20 + workers. Ten buildings or so.
Primary business: Powdercoating.

 

[super-bee_ski]

lowhound:
It took me numerous days to do a GTO frame.
A BIG shop could do it rapidly.
I have amateur equipment and I am an amateur.
Just do a little bit at a time. I used silca sand 60 and 30 grit.
I found that oil, grease and crud reduced the performance of my equipment. Ask "Donny" for his advice, check out his thread:
"media blasting for the low-down"
Send us pics!
Signed:
Living on fantasy island...Super-bee_ski :hello2:

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Go read my thread entitled Media Blasting for the low-down. As for getting a whole body done for 200 bucks; every hear of Fantasy Island?

Rofl....


When are you going to franchise out here to Cal! dam it I need my cars paint stripped.

Guy up in sac says he will do it for 800 but I have to bring it to him and he does it at his work, truck yard lol Not sure I want to drive an hour with bare metal car and no glass :sign18:

 

[Donny]

45 mins to one hour for a whole body, sounds scary, but, if it works for you, best of luck that nothing is warped when their done. To cover a B body in that little time, the psi will need to be 200 or so, and to be economical they are likely using sand, wow, scary!

 

[b-body-bob]

Guy up in sac says he will do it for 800 but I have to bring it to him and he does it at his work, truck yard lol Not sure I want to drive an hour with bare metal car and no glass :sign18:

Driving it? You don't want to start with blasting a car unless it's completely apart. I bought a gTx that was blasted and not cleaned out and the thing would blast us with sand/media out of the vents at highway speed. I ended up having to take it all back apart again to get it straightened out.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Driving it? You don't want to start with blasting a car unless it's completely apart. I bought a gTx that was blasted and not cleaned out and the thing would blast us with sand/media out of the vents at highway speed. I ended up having to take it all back apart again to get it straightened out.

Soda, 800 to soda blast the whole car in 3-4 hours trim on.

 

[Donny]

That's expensive, and, not effective. You should ask yourself why would you want to media blast your car with trim on it?

 

[mattsmopars]

One main reason to have a car blasted is to get everything to a clean surface or staring point. How could that be done if you leave the trim on?
Just does not make sense to do it that way. My 2 cents.
Matt

 

[YY1]

I made the mistake of blasting a 2 foot +- square area of the floor, with only the carpet and driver's seat removed.
I'm still dealing with sand falling out from on top of all the stuff that's under the dash.
Really sucks when you're working on the brake pedal and m/c!

 

[Donny]

Just look at the cars I've done, all of them are completely stripped to the shell, if it bolted on, screwed on, snapped on, it's off for blasting.

 

[super-bee_ski]

Donny,
I'm a want to be blaster. I hope to eventually pick up a truck mounted "BIG POT" for soda blast and sand blast. Tow along a Ingersol Rand compressor etc. Dreams dreams dreams...no time to fufill.
But, that is not realistic right now...
My question is w/ my QUINCY 2 stage and TIP sandblast pot, what media should I be using? I purchase 100 lb bags of silca 60 and silca 30 sand from ACE hardware. Is this correct for blasting ?
(I have a Skat Blast 960 blast cabinet that I rotate aluminum oxide, walnut shells etc for sensitive items)

 

[Donny]

Interesting question, lots of variables to consider. What, Where, are you blasting. Are you able to recover any spent media to re-utilize? If you're using Sand, a positive pressure helmet routing fresh cold and filtered air in is a must, a must for ANY blasting operation. They make sand blasting sand whereas it's all the same size stuff, but, it's horribly dusty -- as are walnut shells.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

One main reason to have a car blasted is to get everything to a clean surface or staring point. How could that be done if you leave the trim on?
Just does not make sense to do it that way. My 2 cents.
Matt

Well the only reason that comes to mind is to maintain my project as driveable.

In my case the original paint was covered by a cheap paint job in another color, which they did not do the door sils or the trunk luckily I was able to re do the engine bay during a motor swap. They did not have anything taken off when they re painted it so stripping it off with the trim on should be just as easy.

In my case I have to be $$$ conscious so getting the paint that's on it off for a good price is key and since there is no one around me here that can store it it has to be driveable.

I do not intend to do a complete tear down so I can have a original looking car, most everything is there it just needs what they did stripped off.

Once off I will take off the trim, bumpers etc to get down to a body shop for repairs and prep.

 

[Donny]

When you move a refrigerator, doing it just once is, or should be your goal. Stripping the paint off with the trim on is a situation where you my save a few bucks right now, but you're going to pay later for it. My mantra is do it right the first time, it always saves you money in the end, and the product is far superior. My Satellite is a perfect example of how not to do it, but, after applying hard-learned lessons, that car is now being done right, and some embarrassing work I've done is fixxin' to be layed bare for you all to see on my thread here of that car, truly very horrible work-work that I did to cut corners in time and money, and also void of skills which was borne out of time and money constraints.