Media Blasting

[Mach1 Driver 560]

I had an interesting discussion with a shop today. I've never restored a car so I watch the TV shows, YouTube and have many DVDs on the topic. The DVDs were done by Craig Hopkins who has a shop close to my location. I found out today that Craig has since retired but the business goes on. I called them, AMD Installation Center in Cleveland GA,  and asked if they could recommend painters and media blasting, since they don't do either. They bring in a rusted hulk, cut off the rusted panels, and send it out for sand blasting on the structure underneath that wasn't painted and the bottom. They don't blast the body panels. The media blaster applies epoxy primer. Then they use a DA on the body panels. If something has a rust hole they replace the panel with new metal, they don't patch.

This is different than any of the TV shows I've seen where they blast the body panels with soda, or walnut shells or do Dustless Blasting with ground glass. How about you guys- what methods have you used? Did you blast the body panels?

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

Sand blast ,but i never blast the outer panels . This is a 67 coupe  i am converting to a fast back . Everything that will be hidden by the new sheet metal is sand blasted ,then primerd before the new sheet metal 

[1969_Mach1 333]

Ridge, what the heck, do you live on one massive hobby shop?  Looks like civilization is nowhere in sight.

[latoracing 256]

Working on a '65 convertible a few years ago and went the Dust-less Blasting route.  The quarters and cowl were not done, and the floor was new. Being crushed glass, it is yard "friendly" as they used several hundred pounds of media. 

I wouldn't exactly call it "dustless", more like less-dust. The draw back to this is the wet media is still airborne, and sticks to EVERYTHING! I spun that body on the rotisserie for a couple of hours after it dried to get rid of the built-up media that was everywhere. They do use rust inhibitors, so at least it doesn't flash rust instantly. 

It does a great job, a little rough in my opinion, as it took a couple of coats of epoxy primer to cover the texture. The clean-up takes quite a while, and I still have media coming out of my rotisserie. It was convenient for them to come to the house, and it was reasonable for the service provided. 

It would probably be OK for this type of blasting to be done on body panels, as it is cool and doesn't build heat. The finish texture will take some work to get smooth though.

 

 

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

14 minutes ago, 1969_Mach1 said:

Ridge, what the heck, do you live on one massive hobby shop?  Looks like civilization is nowhere in sight.

YES !

[Midlife 814]

California is not known to be civilized in his part of the woods...be wary of the sounds of banjos...be very afraid!

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

No banjos to be found ...mariachie bands every where!!

[Mach1 Driver 560]

Thanks for the pictures Ridge and latoracing. That's what the shop is describing, but not what I see on TV.

Anybody blast the panels?

[RPM 1,190]

I had my entire car soda blasted back in the late 90's. I wiped it ALL (pita) down with some liquid that does something to the baking soda on the bare metal so primer and paint will stick. I had soda coming out of everywhere on the body after I thought I had blown and vacuumed it pretty well. I was happy with it. Any rust will laugh at the soda.

[RPM 1,190]

2 hours ago, 1969_Mach1 said:

Ridge, what the heck, do you live on one massive hobby shop?  Looks like civilization is nowhere in sight.

Yes. The answer is yes. And with a great view of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Pretty dang cool place indeed.

[Mach1 Driver 560]

10 hours ago, RPM said:

I had my entire car soda blasted back in the late 90's. I wiped it ALL (pita) down with some liquid that does something to the baking soda on the bare metal so primer and paint will stick. I had soda coming out of everywhere on the body after I thought I had blown and vacuumed it pretty well. I was happy with it. Any rust will laugh at the soda.

Huh, interesting- so the baking soda will remove the paint but it isn't aggressive enough to remove rust? And if you don't remove the rust you haven't eliminated the problem, and probably can't see where it has or will create holes.

I saw soda blasting done on Graveyard cars: after the blast they used a vinegar and water solution in a hand pump pressure sprayer to neutralize the soda. Then they steam cleaned it, then blow dried prior to epoxy primer. 

[Bruno 11]

I had my ‘69 media blasted completely. No warping and epoxy was applied. I originally was going to have it acid dipped but had issues transporting it to Oregon. 

[Ridge Runner 1,112]

Acid dipping is a mistake ,it gets in the overlaps and runs out everytime it is washed or gets rained on . The paint will peel and stain around all the overlaped panels 

[Bruno 11]

I think it has its place and has many pros but it can get messed up. That goes with any form of stripping whether it’s media, acid, soda or just plain old DA sanding.   I think problems arise when people look for the cheapest place available. I was going to take my car from California to a place in Oregon that appears to do some very high quality builds. Anything can get screwed up by the lowest bidder. 

[Mach1 Driver 560]

5 hours ago, Bruno said:

I had my ‘69 media blasted completely. No warping and epoxy was applied. I originally was going to have it acid dipped but had issues transporting it to Oregon. 

 

nice, so what media did they use?

[Midlife 814]

Media blasting is becoming quite popular lately, particularly in the mid-Atlantic area.  It's often referred to as "fake news".

[Mach1 Driver 560]

as in blasting the media because of...

boy that's a stretch Mid

[Bruno 11]

1 hour ago, Mach1 Driver said:

nice, so what media did they use?

I went to a place in Sacramento. They used a plastic media and it did a great job. No warping and they use different stages to blast the metal then clean/etch before epoxy. Looked like some high end cars (shelby mustangs, corvettes, etc) we’re in there too. 

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

I generally don't media blast surface panels, but I have several times, especially the underside.  it takes me what seems like FOREVER, simply due to being conservative by holding the gun pretty far back.  it takes forever, because the beam isn't focused when holding it that far back, and getting that rust pit clean comes down to probability of hitting it with the media.  but it doesn't warp.  on easy to access places, I just work the rust pits with acid and a wire brush or really sharp piece of tungsten.