Speaking of media blasting...

[bigmanjbmopar]

Thinking of buying an Eastwood soda blaster and just doing sections of my car at a time. Anyone ever done a strip and body prep like this? or is it just easier to pay some one for a whole car strip and then just start the body work? Small blaster $285.99
100-lb.-capacity Soda/Abrasive Blaster

 

[snakeyes]

speaking of media blasting

when I had my shop years ago I would farm the blasting out to a friend who did it as a business,then alot of the parts ,sheetmetal,would be farmed out to another friend that was in the stripping business he would dip it for me,I would drop all the parts on one saturday then pick up the following saturday then e coat everything and do any metal work needed .

 

[PST]

I have the soda blaster that you are talking about it does work very well for small areas and small panels. The big thing to keep in mind is will your compressor be able to up with it? Also a soda blasters are meant for removing paint. They will not remove rust effectively. If you are going to you use it for a panel here or there I would get it I use mine alot (on brackets, pulley and manifolds). But if your intenions are to do the whole car. It would be money well spent to have it media blasted or chemically stripped and call it a day.

 

[snakeyes]

media blasting

When I would take my parts for the shop to be dipped they would come back with no rust no bondo no under coating they would look like a brand new part with maybe repaires needed.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Well the idea behind it would be to do just sections at a time like rear qtr. or roof etc. By doing small sections at a time any body work that might need to be done on that seam or rust spot can be contracted out for minimal amount, in other words piece work. Having the whole car blasted means I have 6 weeks to get all the body work done and get some primer and sealer on it vs small sections, saving me $$ in the long run..well at least that's the idea just wondering if anyone else is taking this route and if so is it working? Keeping in mind starting budget is about the cost of the blaster so trying to get estimates for body work is pointless right now.

I also like that the media blast can switch between soda and sand for rust that is cool. But reading some reviews it looks like there are adapters that are difficult to get on?

 

[jessipup]

I got a small soda blaster from harbor frieght. IUt took some time to get used to running it right. And I only do small parts because after running it for a while now. I could not even begin to think what it would take to do something like a fender, just that would take all day and probably more.
It makes a hell of a mess, but it does a great job. It does not attack glass or rubber, so I would have real questions on how well it would work on body filler.
Bottom line is...Yep I love it! But it does have it's place.
As far as saving money from a business stand point I find that the more you do the less it costs, when you look at the big picture. Set up time, materials tear down and all that.
If I were to do a car a panel at a time I'd probably drop it off and let someone who has a bunch of parts to do all at once have at it.
Or go the old fashion way and do it by hand with a sander , stripper or chemicals.
Best of luck to ya
All that and $3.50 will get ya a cup of joe at starbucks

 

[snakeyes]

media blasting

A few months back I called to see what it would cost to do another rr that I was looking at redoing it needed to be dipped the complete body shell, hood, doors, deck lid, frt filler panel,hinges $2000.00.

 

[Donny]

All day for a fender? That's about right with your set up, so, the question is, what's your time worth? I do our Mopar B Body fender in about 50 minutes, all of it, inside and out.

 

[jessipup]

That's exactly what I meen, Donny with the big pro rig and the hood and all.
Yeah I'd go to a pro any day or have to invest some big bucks on a real good pro rig. I guess the question is how many is one guy going to do? VS How much does it cost to get set up right?
My little fire extinguisher size rig strips about an area as big as a good size magic marker and I'd hate to do a big piece by peeling off a 3/8 strip at a time.
I could go to a pro like you and on the right day drop it off before work and pick it up at the end of the day.
There is a time and a place for pros, and I find they charge a fair price once we consider all of the money they have to invest to do the job. Not just tools, but labor, lights, heat, water, insurance, and we allways have our governeer there whit his hand out waiting for his cut.
Good work takes time, money and skill and it is worth it.
There is also much to be said about building something for your self, and a great deal of pride, Justifiably so.
I can only present the arguments last call goes to only the one who is doing it.

 

[moperformance]

All day for a fender? That's about right with your set up, so, the question is, what's your time worth? I do our Mopar B Body fender in about 50 minutes, all of it, inside and out.

What do you get for a fender?
Just a no rust average 50 minute job?

 

[Donny]

You are SO right about the satisfaction of the DIY job! I'm there with you on that one! $125.00 for a fender.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

I think you guys may be misunderstanding me, I have a driveable project car in a resto mod set up. The idea is to always be able to drive it while doing the resto. With that said doing spot body work a little at a time like around the rear window etc.. seems to me to be pretty good idea, at least blasting off the old paint and having a pro do the body work and primer. I will not be disassembling the car to blast parts at a time it will be done while everything is on it except like trim and glass.

I guess I am feeling out anyone who may be on this track or has attempted this etc.. just see how it goes or is going...I can not afford to farm anything out just yet so I am always looking for the most cost effective way to do it right.

I got an estimate from a guy 70 miles away and I had to take the car to him to soda blast it for $800 3-4 hours. A body shop gave me an estimate to strip it by hand $1500. Just too much for me, for $300 Eastwood unit includes soda, I can use my compressor and at my luxury take down little sections at a time over a year + again the idea being to strip parts do any body work that needs to be done in that area and primer. I am not a body / paint guy so I have no idea of the steps it takes to prep or make ready for paint so I all know is I can take paint off...

Yes one of my questions is the Eastwood blaster worth it? Yes I have a compressor capable of 90 + psi, I have a normal garage and can put up plastic walls to contain the mess but does the unit work? I don't care if it takes me all day to do 2 ft of area I have all the time in the world

 

[Donny]

Media blasting isn't so much PSI, its CFM. the more CFM the better, the PSI becomes a factor only in how fast you want to go, and/or how much you want to conserve your blasting media; all trade offs! If your compressor is putting out 90 psi, its likely to be around 5-9 CFM, which is about what you need to fill up an inner tube -- not continuous blasting operations, but, it's all about fun and then experience, all driven by finances. Post pics when you can, I'd be interested in seeing your progress!

 

[BuckNeccid]

Many many years ago, I thought about the same thing. That was the days before soda blasting, sand was the only game in town. After buying like 4 bags of sand, having it EVERYWHERE, running the compressor all day long but only being able to blast about 10 minutes out of 30, I finally realized that stripping a whole panel like that wasn't the way to go. I limited the blasting to areas I KNEW had rust after that, and it helped a great deal, but if you're planning on stripping, think chemicals or sanding before you think blasting. No matter what set up you buy, even with one like Donny's, the paint and rust do not just magically just blow off when you pass the nozzle across it like a magic wand. You'll find that some areas of really thick paint that you will want to concentrate on will just turn gummy with continued blasting in the same area without giving the paint time to cool, if you go too big and too aggressive, you're gonna warp panels, and I think you're gonna find that one bag of soda provided by HF will clean about 1 1/2-2 sq ft, and you're gonna be going back for more and more soda. Small areas, fine, full panels, leave them for Donny and his bros., you'll be way ahead in the end.

BTW, Donny is giving you the straight skinny on CFM vs PSI. It takes volumes of air to move the media more than pressure. Just as a test, hook up a blow gun to your compressor now, and watch your pressure guage while you hold the gun open. See how long it blows before you're down around 60 psi instead of the 90 psi it's advertised as, and watch how it keeps dropping, even while the compressor is running. Your blasing setup will use more air than that.

Other than blasting stuff for my hobby, I spent about 2 years in hell blasting rail road cars... 4 guys on ground level, me and another guy shoulder to shoulder on the top level with the cars moving at all times while we tried to get on, blast to bare metal and get off. Dragging about 75 ft of 3in hose, 90 psi maintained with a 1" diameter nozzle , industrial pots with an auger reclaim system and using stainless steel shot as media. I'm STILL paying for that escapade physically and will be the rest of my life.

 

[YY1]

Donny's exactly right. I used his advice and bought a 32 CFM compressor.
Not easy to find for under 1K, but even at that rate, it can barely keep up with me and my gravity feed blast pot if I'm trying to do a whole panel. Last job was windshield channel on 73 Charger, and part of roof.
For smaller parts like wheels and brackets, suspension parts etc, my setup is "the bomb".
I can do a wheel in about 45 min to an hour, including rust etcher, and reblasting the flash rust, but I have several hours in that windshield channel and roof, and I'm not done yet.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

Ok, great advice from everyone. Seems it will be better in the long run to have some one blast clean the whole car. I will just have to plan appropriately when getting ready.

Thanks for the info guys very great help in the decision making process. I believe I will have up to 6 weeks to do any body work or repair work to the car after the soda blasting. And only harder media like sand or glass will take off rust? A good body /prep guy can handle rust spots?

So the guy wanting $800 for his mobile blaster who still wants me to come to him, is this a good deal? Doing some research all over the country seems the average is around $400-$500? Is this guy asking too much?

 

[jessipup]

you're right on that for small areas soda is great, a hell of a mess but an easy task to master for little stuff. One of the best things for you is that the soda will not hurt glass,rubber or chrome. So on the size of your touch ups it may be a good way to go and you can get started for less than $200 soda included. I have been told that soda leaves a coating on your parts that prevents the flash rust, unlike acids or sanding. So be sure to go back and clean the parts before paint... Maybe a pro can expand on this issue. You'll be surprised on how many things you will find to use it on.A big but is that it wont do anything for rust.

 

[Donny]

I'm not really a fan of the argument that Soda blasting will not harm the chrome trim or glass? Well, why even blast anyways if you're not going to get in and under those water-prone, and rust-prone areas anyways? So, why even care if it protects the chrome? Take it all the way apart, send it to me (or another in your area) and you'll be glad you did. This Media Blasting isn't easy, in fact, I do as little as I need to do; meaning, put the car on the rotisserie and balance it, this way when I'm in under the hood, I can reach up and yank the car down or push it back -- I can completely understand Buckneccid in his stories about slinging a hose, etc. The hose weighs a **** load, but, when it's under pressure it can weight a lot more, or can be almost negative weight -- use the force to your advantage to lighten the load, I do this all the time, if you fight against anything in the blasting process the quality of your work suffers!

I'm doing a 93 Dodge Ram D250 now, the bed is off, I'm putting that puppy on my rotisserie right now, I could just lay it on it's side, but, I'd rather do the hard and time consuming stuff up front to make the blasting and metal repair and then priming easier on the other end! It's all about balance and trade offs in this blasting business. One thing is for sure that a handful of folks think of a price they think is fair and proper, but, there is much more than that, as always, trade offs, you make your decision...but, inevitably you're going to put it in paint, and spend good money there and then, so, at that time would you want to look back and think "I should have done that better"? I certainly hope you won't.

Even at 200 CFM (what my compressor puts out) I still notice a slight drop when I load it up and operate at full tilt, not much, I can even cycle my compressor when its under a load, and I don't have an air tank, the air 'tank' is the vessel and the lines, it's ALL about cfm.

 

[66plysat]

Media Blast Question for Donny

I'm wondering how people get their cars to you for blasting. If the car is stripped and ready for blasting, how do they transport the car without the wheels. Are they put on a flatbed tow. Is there a mobile platform. What is the easiest and most economical way to move the unibody car from the home garage to the media shop? I have a convertible that will need to go to a blaster when it's ready. Will the convertible body need to be reinforced for transport?

Thanks

 

[Donny]

Good question. I have all but one time gone to pick up the cars I media blast, I have a trailer and a truck for this task. I have a 2 post automotive lift whereas I lift the car body off the 18ft car hauler trailer, then put it on my rotisserie, then wheel it to the blast bay, do the deed, and do it all in reverse and deliver to the customer.