i recently picked up a cheap sandblaster kit at Wally-World and was wondering if anyone could give me some insight and tips on how to use it. what type of sand, what psi to operate it at, how close to hold the gun to metal, what not to blast, stuffl like that. Also, i want to take the car all the way down to bare metal, then have it painted, this is a good idea right?

 

I have been looking into this with a few guys I work with - they do classics and 1 guy got best in show for a national car show with his 55' chevy, and they told me not to sandblast - something about the sand damaging the metal and getting caught in the perforations. They recommended "walnut shells" or "media blasting". I think media blasting is pretty expensive but the walnut shell method is cheaper - he had his 55 chevy taken down to the metal for $350 (I got a quote for sandblasting from the body shop across the street from our business and they mentioned $400 to sandblast my 66.

I am at the "take it down to the metal stage" myself and just finished the engine compartment - two $9.99 stripping wheels at autozone got the job done in about 4 hours

 

The blaster i picked up is one of those cheap 20 dollar siphon feed blasters. I picked up a bag of play sand, could someone reccomend some other types of media i could use. has neone ever heard of using walnut shells??

 

I had never heard of it until I spoke with guys I work with. Lots of stuff on media blasting on the net

 

u need blasting sand,u really dont want to blast the sheet metal! it will warp it and make it wavy. now u can soda blast it. if u havent ever blasted before its super aggravating!!! very slow and time consuming process and messy if ur doing it at the house snad the car with a da and 80 grit paper is a lot better paln or using a chemical paint stripper!!!! and blasting small parts and piecesis more effiecent like door jambs etc! and u dont have to worry about warping the jambs! weve got a giant blaster at school and it took hours upon hours in the sun to do anyting! not to metion sand in ur ears mouth pockets shoes and we were wearing a mask also!

 

a combination of both might work - I used the stripper wheels to do most of the engine compartment and used the media blaster to get close to the edges where the wheel wouldn't get in - I could have probably used a wire wheel to get that but what a ****. I agree with the rmodel65, it is an absolute mess and takes forever. We used a sandblaster to do some fenders years ago and it took forever, the nice thing is that once you are down to metal, you are done - whereas with the stripper, you better make sure to neutralize the chemical or you will revisit later[:'(]

 

Its not an indoor project, if you do it in your garage you will have sand EVERYWHERE in there, even above the rafters. You need a good amount of room to do it, no cars parked next to you and a way to clean up the sand after you are done. I have a concrete driveway that is 50'x50' and when I am done its covered in sand. The vehicles parked 20 ft from the edge also have sand on them. When you sweep up the sand you can reuse it if you sift it through wire mesh from a screen door.

It takes a good deal of air to run a blaster, a cheap wally werld pull around compressor wont do it for long. You need one that can provide enough CFM at the PSI the blaster needs. Even a small siphon type uses an incredible amount of air. Ihave a 7hp 110cfm @ 150psi compressor and it runs constantly while blasting with a small set up like you have. Go out and see what a 22v compressor like that costs. Its cheaper to sand by hand or use a chem stripper.

It does take forever to do large areas, but they work great on jambs, around the suspension, and places you cant get a sander into. It will be even slower with that tiny one you have.

Before you use it on the jambs, you need to pull the entire interior out of the car, unless you want to feel like you are at the beach while you drive.

 

blasting is one job you should pay to have done by pros! do not blast outside body panels,it will warp!floors,trunk,eng compt,undercarrage,ok.chem strip old paint,weeks of final prep the way to go.put into epoxy primer as soon as possible!

 

Be careful with "sand" when blasting. It can cause health problems. Silica is cancer causing! Media blasting material for hidden, uncritical parts is the way to go. Aluminum Oxide is the most durable and reusable. I am chemical stripping wheere I can, wheel grinding the rest. I may blast the undercarriage or door jambs. Some I may encapsulate with like POR15 or equal. A 50 pound can of media is about 30 bucks a Tractor Supply. Good luck, have fun, and be safe! WEAR A MASK!!!

 

I would def go with chemical paint stripper and a wire wheel. It may seem to take a while, but it will be worth it in the long run. Use the stripper to remove all of the paint from the car and than you can see what needs to be ground away from there. I have quite a bit of bondo on my 66 and just know it'll be easier to strip the paint and slowly cut back the layers of bondo. Plus, you can see where things are better. just take your time with it and GL.