blasting
Hello, I've had experience with sand blasting, soda blasting, and stripping a car with chemicals. I've done them all on various cars, so here is what I can tell you from first hand experience:
Sand blasting is great for removing rust, great for thick metal, something that can take some heat without warping. Frames, axles, suspension pieces, etc. Try to avoid sand blasting the unsupported areas of fenders, doors, body panels. I use a sand blaster to blast the bottom edges of rusty doors, fender lips, inner fenders, places where the the the metal is supported.
If you just sand blast the middle of your hood it will warp, even if you can't see it with the naked eye, the minute you prime it and start blocking it you'll see it waving back at you!
What I'm saying is....sand blast the edges where they rust.
Soda blasting is great at removing paint, not rust. It is not as harmful to metal because it doesn't heat up as much. It leaves a nice finish to start body work and paint prep. I've heard of probems of paint Adhesion after Soda blasting, never seen it myself. All the places that soda blast around here clean and prime the metal when they are done. It is more expensive than sand blasting, at least around here.
Chemical strippers work at removing paint. They are messy and can be toxic. The problem with chemical strippers is that is gets into everything and can eat plastic and rubber. And stripping the part must be cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned again....You don't want any residue finding it's way into your new paint job.
As far as compressors go if you plan on doing this at home.....Go as big as you can afford. I have a Ingersol Rand 80 gallon unit and it keeps up just fine. The small 30 gallon compressors will not keep up. Volume of air is huge with home blasting units. I bought a 100 gallon sand blaster similar to what Eastwood sells and it works great for blasting edges like I mentioned. It can also be converted to Soda.
Hope this helps, if you have any questions PM me.
Hello, I've had experience with sand blasting, soda blasting, and stripping a car with chemicals. I've done them all on various cars, so here is what I can tell you from first hand experience:
Sand blasting is great for removing rust, great for thick metal, something that can take some heat without warping. Frames, axles, suspension pieces, etc. Try to avoid sand blasting the unsupported areas of fenders, doors, body panels. I use a sand blaster to blast the bottom edges of rusty doors, fender lips, inner fenders, places where the the the metal is supported.
If you just sand blast the middle of your hood it will warp, even if you can't see it with the naked eye, the minute you prime it and start blocking it you'll see it waving back at you!
What I'm saying is....sand blast the edges where they rust.
Soda blasting is great at removing paint, not rust. It is not as harmful to metal because it doesn't heat up as much. It leaves a nice finish to start body work and paint prep. I've heard of probems of paint Adhesion after Soda blasting, never seen it myself. All the places that soda blast around here clean and prime the metal when they are done. It is more expensive than sand blasting, at least around here.
Chemical strippers work at removing paint. They are messy and can be toxic. The problem with chemical strippers is that is gets into everything and can eat plastic and rubber. And stripping the part must be cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned again....You don't want any residue finding it's way into your new paint job.
As far as compressors go if you plan on doing this at home.....Go as big as you can afford. I have a Ingersol Rand 80 gallon unit and it keeps up just fine. The small 30 gallon compressors will not keep up. Volume of air is huge with home blasting units. I bought a 100 gallon sand blaster similar to what Eastwood sells and it works great for blasting edges like I mentioned. It can also be converted to Soda.
Hope this helps, if you have any questions PM me.
