Vapor Blasting

[Ron H]

Curious to know how many have had their parts vapor blasted or have setup equipment to do this themselves? Amazing how many I've talked to that don't seem to know much about it. This is a wet process using a slurry such as baking soda and other media with water to gently clean soft alloys, trim, and plastics. There are places out there that do this; but seem to be rather sparse from what I've found despite a lot of info on the web on it. Thanks.

 

[flypaper]

The Equipment for it is expensive
Is why it's not around much..

 

[68Moparmaniac]

You can use baking soda in a media blaster and get pretty good results...

 

[Richard Cranium]

Vapor blasting, isn't that just a fancy way of saying you farted?

 

[dadsbee]

I can't get past the part about using of water to blast, when the entire idea is to get rid of rust and keep it away. Shop I used uses crushed glass to blast and has a complete air drying system on their giant compressor so when done everything is clean metal and dry. After that the car was locked in epoxy primer within 24 hours of being blasted.

 

[flypaper]

I can't get past the part about using of water to blast

me either!
I'm old school
solvent only on bare metal, never ever water
water causes flash no matter how quickly you dry or treat it.
I'm sure there is someone out there that will tell me I 'm wrong
but they haven't changed my mind yet.

 

[Ron H]

This type of process I gather is for soft alloys...aluminum, brass, and plastics, not for metal intended to be a way to preserve the surfaces from harsher abrasives - not recommended for rust prone parts...

 

[slimt]

I can't get past the part about using of water to blast, when the entire idea is to get rid of rust and keep it away. Shop I used uses crushed glass to blast and has a complete air drying system on their giant compressor so when done everything is clean metal and dry. After that the car was locked in epoxy primer within 24 hours of being blasted.

Its not as messy but still messy. We did a 60 Ventura that way. Never again

 

[themechanic]

This type of process I gather is for soft alloys...aluminum, brass, and plastics, not for metal intended to be a way to preserve the surfaces from harsher abrasives - not recommended for rust prone parts...

 

[mopar 3 B]

Not quite the same but a pressure washer will peel paint from plastic with the right head and pressure.

 

[themechanic]

Not quite the same but a pressure washer will peel paint from plastic with the right head and pressure.

And skin. My Dad came home from a car wash in the 70s with a flesh wound.

 

[barbee6043]

Makes me wonder about "dustless blasting" we see advertised on some of the tv car shows.

 

[gkent]

This was the craze a few years back but that seems to have died down. It gained some popularity with the car enthusiast because the water kept the heat down (which is what warps panels). I imagine its very popular for blasting buildings, etc where you want to minimize dust. Look past the potential of cars rusting after blasting - this is probably a very small segment of the blasting market. In fact, most blasters don't want anything to do with cars - they want jobs that keep them busy for more than an hour or two.

 

[69L48Z27]

The water based blasting uses additives that prevent rust for several days if not weeks.

 

[Budnicks]

thanks to @themechanic 'good video'
informative

the name is deceiving
it's not 'a vapor' being used either
(just another form of media blasting)

1st I though of was them stupid *** 'nicotine devises'
when I saw the title

how much different is this from all the water/soda/media blasting stuff ?
you see on every morning show on Motor Trend Network now,
being used or their constant commercials

other than being used in a contained space/blasting cabinet
vs outdoors, in the driveway or on the lawn etc. or in a shop

is it just a different type of media ?
or is it, just less aggressive
or that it can be used to polish too
or remove stuff more gently on stuff other than metal or soft metal ?
that's what I got out of it

 

[themechanic]

They have a video on using it to polish metal.

 

[slimt]

Back in the day we used plastic beads for tail booms from the 212s ,214s as well as the mbs that most air ambulances are , it worked well very little for moisture build up. But it never worked well for rust. Not until the walnut shells came into play. We do here now oil field equipment. And thats a coarse sand . Not good for sheet metal. Poke holes every where with that.

Acid dipping was a in thing at one time. But it removed way more than everything else also a saftey hazzard .

 

[Ron H]

Seems an interesting alternative especially for all of the aluminum parts on cars and bikes and maybe some metal pieces where you would treat it for coating before rusting occurs. My brother is restoing an old motorcycle put me on to this finding scarce places that do this work. Was thinking about investing in a system; but then it's not something either of us would do a whole lot. Intrigued by its possible use with delicate parts interior/exterior trim parts. Can't tell ya how many hours of elbow grease I put into this restoing my car where this could have been handy; but you all know about this..

 

[Lefty71]

1st I though of was them stupid *** 'nicotine devises'
when I saw the title

Lol, SHOTGUN!

 

[khryslerkid]

Lol, SHOTGUN!

That's what we used to call it