Which abrasive for body stripping?

[StephenC 10]

Ive been looking into getting a nice blaster to take the mustang down to bare metal. Ive been hearing people saying that soda blasting is better than normal abrasive blasters? Whats you opinion on the two or what type of abrasive is best to use with a regular blaster? Not really a Tech question sorry.

[jholmes217 65]

There is a guy near me that restores cars for a living. He sends all his bodies down to a place in Portland Oregon to be acid dipped and swears by that method. Strips it down and there is no residual abrasive in all the nooks and crannies.

 

I know others that blast, chemical strip, or sand. I think it depends on what you are working on and your work area. For example, if the body is in good shape and you just need to strip the paint, then a chemical stripper may be best. If you have a lot of rust and bondo to remove, you will need something more drastic.

 

Give us some more specifics on what condition the car is in, and what kind of work area you have. If you are doing it in your garage and your furnace is in there, you can mess up your furnace with all the abrasive dust.

[StephenC 10]

There is a guy near me that restores cars for a living. He sends all his bodies down to a place in Portland Oregon to be acid dipped and swears by that method. Strips it down and there is no residual abrasive in all the nooks and crannies.

 

I know others that blast, chemical strip, or sand. I think it depends on what you are working on and your work area. For example, if the body is in good shape and you just need to strip the paint, then a chemical stripper may be best. If you have a lot of rust and bondo to remove, you will need something more drastic.

 

Give us some more specifics on what condition the car is in, and what kind of work area you have. If you are doing it in your garage and your furnace is in there, you can mess up your furnace with all the abrasive dust.

 

Yeah I heard acid dipping got some bad reviews from some people who I know just because it takes off paint in places were it cant be reapplied like inside the frame for example. But the body is in good condition little rust on the quarters and on the doors and drip rail other than that its straight I dont know if theres any bondo on it as of yes I wont know till I get it stripped.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i've never used a soda blaster, but i do have and use a regular pressure blaster. it works great at getting rust out (not sure soda can do that). i do use it a lot on parts because it cleans them so much faster than a siphon style (cabinet).

 

i really don't like to use it on surface panels unless there is some rust. to prevent warping, you have to hold the gun pretty far back, so it disperses the media. it takes an order of magnitude longer to blast that way just to prevent warping and to get the rust out.

 

the abrasive blaster doesn't work well on soft material (i.e. sound deadener).

[crstang 10]

What about the Hood Scoop since it is fiberglass? We have a blasting cabinet at work, and use glass beads for blasting. Will this pit the fiberglass? Is this also a long distance blast to prevent pitting, or is sanding recommended?

[StephenC 10]

What about the Hood Scoop since it is fiberglass? We have a blasting cabinet at work, and use glass beads for blasting. Will this pit the fiberglass? Is this also a long distance blast to prevent pitting, or is sanding recommended?

Well with soda blasting it doesn't hurt fiberglass, glass windows, or any stainless steel or chrome a glass bead might be alittle to aggresive though I think it could be sand though.

[Fordrevhead 29]

chem dip: no paint inside the frame anyway... but there is a flash coat of rust on even the nicest old unibody. Remove this and the process starts all over. Not a big fan of the chem dip. For a part sure, not for a chassis.

 

fiberglass: soda will work. But why not use a sander which removes and smooths at the same time?

 

The soda sprayer I have seen uses water. I am not a big fan of spraying water on my bare metal chassis either.

 

Ground walnuts also work on both fiberglass and body panels as the friction is reduced and less heat build up (panel warping).

 

Personally I use Black Beauty or Black Magic. You can adjust your air pressure, the venturi mix, the distance from the panel and the speed at which you move the gun to reduce panel warpage. IMO if I am going to that level on a resto and there's pits on any body panel I cut that spot out anyway so I dont worry about warpage. If you are just cutting off paint and surface rust you wont hurt the panel unless you go crazy. Plan on working an area twice to get it clean, allowing cool time between.... do a large area once over then start again. Practice on a small panel and put one hand on the backside. This will give you a feel for how quick it gets warm and how long you can stay put before moving on.

 

There are other more expensive and exotic abrasives as well.

[428scj 10]

Ive got a sand blaster for all my rusty parts and spots.Never use a sand blaster at high pressure on a hood or any other large panel.The heat it produces due to friction will distort the sheet metal "oil can."

If Im just removing paint I use my soda blaster.The only time they use water with soda is if it is being done where dust is an issue,like a fence between two houses and you have a bad neighbor.It will not hurt chrome glass or fiberglass.I did original 69 shelby fenders with it and they looked great.

Chemical dip is what a lot of shops use but they will all tell you the same thing.Its great as long as the acid is nutralized.It gets into all the seams and slowly wicks its way out.Ive heard of paint going bad after a year from acid under it.They have told me if I ever get it done to pay the guy doing the pressure washing after a little extra to really get into the tight spots.As mentioned earlier it does remove the seam sealer betwwen panels and you cant put it back in.

Ive used strippers and sanders to do many cars.It takes alot longer but you can tell were the works been done over the years as its removed layer by layer.

[StephenC 10]

So I'm hearing allot of good reviews about the soda blasters which is what I originally wanted to do. So any recommendations for a good soda blaster? I was looking at this one from harbor freight http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-portable-soda-blaster-67625.html

 

Obviously its not the best on the market but I dont want to spend $400 on just an Eastwood name or something if one for half the cost is just as good.

Edited October 29, 2010 by StephenC

[428scj 10]

The smaller ones strip very slow.But if its in the budget go for it.I purchased the industrial size from Eastwood.If i remember right it was around $1200 but works great.

[Fordrevhead 29]

check into Badboy Blasters. That's what I have. Same quality for less money because they are a small independant company. Good customer service though. I havent used soda in mine and my unit doesnt have the water option but it will run soda or media. I forget the volume but it will hold an entire bag of media and I have used 6-8 in a day so dont get one of those little 20lb propane cylinder sized ones for doing an entire chassis or you will be sorry. You want a Pressurized tank (non gravity feed venturi only junk) and with a conical top (automatic funnel). I use a good thick tarp, a child size plastic snow shovel (lol) and one of these (for recycling media):

 

oh, and read the required cfm, you need a good compressor to run on of these all day. I have an 80 gallon, 5 hp, 170psi max two stage and it works itself pretty good but keeps up no problem.

Edited October 29, 2010 by Fordrevhead

[StephenC 10]

check into Badboy Blasters. That's what I have. Same quality for less money because they are a small independant company. Good customer service though. I havent used soda in mine and my unit doesnt have the water option but it will run soda or media. I forget the volume but it will hold an entire bag of media and I have used 6-8 in a day so dont get one of those little 20lb propane cylinder sized ones for doing an entire chassis or you will be sorry. You want a Pressurized tank (non gravity feed venturi only junk) and with a conical top (automatic funnel). I use a good thick tarp, a child size plastic snow shovel (lol) and one of these (for recycling media):

 

oh, and read the required cfm, you need a good compressor to run on of these all day. I have an 80 gallon, 5 hp, 170psi max two stage and it works itself pretty good but keeps up no problem.

Did you get the badboys blaster for $300?

[d.reese 13]

In our area you can reant the sand blasting eq and purchase play sand. Clean up and getting the material (sand out of all the tight places will ware you out. Also check around, we have a local guy who will come to our location and do the soda blasting / clean up for 1000 to 1500. Nice option if your only restoring one car. Side note, chemical dip and sand blasting requires fast metal prep / primer to stop surface rust. Soda blasting does not!

[428scj 10]

You have a few days only after blasting with soda.I would still act as fast as you can to get a primer on the bare steel.If your in a humid area it will flash rust quicker.

[StephenC 10]

Thanks everyone for the input. But I bought the soda blaster from badboyblasters.com and then FordRev for the referral to badboys.

[Fordrevhead 29]

Mine is the $399 BB300D, but I got it when they had a special for like $75 off through ebay last year. I had been checking companies out for 6 months or so prior to that and I liked that unit for the price and the company had a great reputation.

[StephenC 10]

Mine is the $399 BB300D, but I got it when they had a special for like $75 off through ebay last year. I had been checking companies out for 6 months or so prior to that and I liked that unit for the price and the company had a great reputation.

Oh ok I ordered BB250S-16 hope it works well