i was just watching powerblock trucks and they were soda blasting a truck. they gave all kinds of reasons why its better than sandblasting. and i believe them all too. most importantly it doesnt warp the metal.

anyone ever use these? anyone have some input on them? since i figure a paint shop will charge me too much to strip my car, i might as well do it myself. the more work i do, the less money i spend. so basically my plan is to strip my car, then bondo whatever needs bondo, weld whatever needs welding, then send it to a shop for primer and paint. that way i do the body work myself. although ive never really done a whole lot of bondo work so the shop might have to fix what i didnt do right. but thats ok i just plan on stripping my car and doin work on it.

 

found it

im about to order it....

 

Just "wetsanded" our stang last week.

Straight sandblasting will create a lot of friction based heat and if done without a lot of caution will warp the metal. However you can still sandblast or "wetsand" as I like to call it. With a simple pressure washer, a media attachment and a garden hose you can blast the car with a water and sand safely and without the metal warping caused by standard sandblasting.

My father has a gas powered cold water 3200psi pressure washer thats about the size of a small lawnmower. Just hook it up to your outside garden hose. I bought an $80.00 media attachment that snaps to the end of the gun. This attachment only requires 1600psi if I remember correctly and runs to a bucket which you keep filled with sand.

We started late last Thursday and finished up Friday. Total time blasting was about 4 hours to remove 3 layers of paint and the original factory primer. I used 27 x 40kg bags of Silica Sand @ a cost of $8.49 a bag.. Total $230.00. Fenders were off and doors were on Thursday to get the outside but removed Friday to get the jam and door interior. I also got a bit of the interior but ran out of sand. Another 3 bags would have done it. Cleanup is a long day and you'll need a good compressor, heat guns, 3" wide paint brush to brush the sand as you dry with the heat guns and a shop vac. Sand WILL get everywhere! so spend a good day or two making sure you get into ALL the little nooks and crannies.

Few pics below. The black hose in the gun handle is water and the clear hose is sand. Ohh and the brown you see on the blasted areas is surface rust which hits within 10 minutes on bare metal this time of year. It sands off easily by hand and the entire car will be sanded before epoxy primer next week.

Me blasting the engine bay


My father doing some


Finished view of the bay


3200psi Pressure Washer


40 Kg Number 0 Silica Sand x 27 bags


Finished car .. yes its surface rust [:'(]

 

how much soda would i need? they come in 50lb bags and the bags are $39 each. i have a feeling itd cost a BUNCH then. cause the blaster is $250.


but i do have a 1200psi pressure washer and i can get a cheap abbrasive blaster at harbor frieght. like a 10gal tank one. i already stripped and painted my engine bay and under my fenders so that would be a lot less media right there. how many lbs is 40kgs?

i really dont want the mess or hazourdous dust from the sand though. thats why soda is great cause you can rinse it down the drain.

 

Personally I wouldn't use the soda as it'll not remove the tough stuff like undercoating, seam sealer and it costs a lot more. I also wanted to use the sand as it'll help find any areas with pinholes. Soda will not do this.

40 kg = 88.1849 lbs. I went through 27 bags @ 8.49 a bag. This did everything but some of the interior and I didn't to the under side of the car.

Your 1200psi pressure washer would not work. You'd need about 2000psi for sand to work and soda I'd guess would need 2500 to 3000. I had ours running at about 2500 to 3000 and it lightly etched the entire car as I went along which helped find a few areas with pinholes. I actually held the gun on 2 area of the lower fender for 5 full seconds and it didn't warp or bore through at all. Touching the area right away there was no heat and it was quite cold.

Might think about renting a stronger gas powered pressure washer for a day. Thats all you'd need it for and it shouldn't be too expensive.

Edit: As for the sand hazards.. ehh.. I doubt 3 or 4 hours is going to hurt you. Wear a mask. Definately wear face and eye protection. ear plugs also help.

 

mite be easier to just have it done.I did.guys that do it for a living most of the time (know how to do good work)and not warp anything i looked at his work on other cars before he did mine.the guy that did mine for $600 did everything top to bottom inside and out found things that i never knew were there and this cars been in the family since 1973 no mess just droped it off and picked it up but that was just my option time is money and you'll need a really good air compressor to blast it

 

it looks like the sand blasting would be too aggresive and dirty for my already painted engine bay/front end. i think i might just go buy a bigass grinder with a ton of sanding disks and have at it. the only reason i need ALL paint and **** off is cause the metal is contaminated and all the paint thats on the car is orange peeling and cracking. so i guess i might just use the sander and paint stripper.

 

ok so not to steal the thread but where did you find that attachment for the pressure washer adrenoline? I was wanting to get mine blasted but i have a hefty powerwasher and never thought of using it. does it not rust the metal all that bad?

 

do not blast with out a respirator!!!!!


as for the idea of using sand its not a great idea on the outside of the car it will warp the metal(gets to hot) soda is less destructive but doesnt get all the rust its more for just paint(best for the outside)


imho if your gonna do the outside i would do aircraft stripper(on the visible surfaces) then blast areas like the underneath, door jambs engine compartment etc

 

Vineman: I got it in the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Canada location of Princess Auto when it was on sale for 80.00. Regular price is 100.00. I cut an image (below) from their online catalog which can be found here. I'm sure these kits are available elsewhere as well. As for the rust.. no, its not bad. The car would have to be sanded regardless and comes off easily even by hand sanding.

There is a difference between 'sand blasting' and 'wet sand blasting':
First.. there is no harmful dust, or at least very little due to the water. I still suggest you wear a respirator! The dust from dry sand can cause respiratory health problems. rmodel65 is correct in his noticeable statement above thats hard to miss. I didn't use one at first however I did put one on about 1/2 way through the first day. The sand itself isn't harmful its the dry dust and by adding the water there is no dust (or again.. very little) to breath in.

Second.. there is NO heat to warp panels! Warping from sand blasting is generally caused by heat or holding the spray in 1 area too long. Wet sand blasting does not generate any heat as the cold water from your garden hose keeps it cool. Yes you could still warp the panel if you held the spray in any single area for too long but thats easy to avoid.. keep moving the spray.

I honestly prefer the idea of using sand as it is quicker than soda, it'll remove almost everything, it'll display all those tiny pinholes and its a lot cheaper! I agree soda is safer and more environmentally friendly then sand is. I recycle, don't liter, dispose of oils and old fluids properly, etc. However I was setup for wet sand blasting and it only cost me 230.00 bucks and a few hours to strip our car. Cheapest quote I got from 7 different companies was 1,200.00 and it would have held up the car for a week.

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