Soda blasting

[laserjock]

What's your take? I have a pressurized blaster. Conversion kits are available relatively cheap. Is it worth it to do a complete strip?

Thoughts on per-paint prep?

 

[franklin2]

You can still overheat and warp thin body panels with soda. I would be careful with it.

 

[icanfixall]

Look into dry ice blasting. Nothing but what you blasted off to clean up when your done..

 

[junk]

I was thinking soda blasting could leave a residue that needs to be cleaned off before painting. Overall though I'm a big fan of soda blasting because it's less aggressive than sand. Also I believe the soda is better for chrome and glass that may still be installed.

I'd do soda over sand any day. What type of blaster do you currently have?

 

[79jasper]

What about the rigs that run water with the soda for dustless blasting?

I saw it on trucks or extreme 4x4 on powerblock.

 

[laserjock]

I have a HF 110 lb pressurized unit. Eastwood makes a conversion kit but HF has one too.

I did some reading last night. The answer seems to vary from was it with water to phosphoric acid wash to starter fluid cleaning. I get the first two, but the third one confuses me. The soda would be soluble in the first two and just wash away. Started fluid is mainly diethy ether. I highly doubt the soda is soluble in it. Although it would make a good pre paint wipe to get rid of oil and grease. It takes even really nasty grease off things.

You can add a water mister to the side of the valve to slow the dust down too.
I was hoping somebody had a short tutorial to share.

 

[PackRat239]

I will be watching this thread. The D60 I bought was soda blasted by the seller. Real Clean! But when I sprayed it with black spray bomb, the paint just fell off. I have also heard others say not to soda blast anything that you want to paint later.

 

[89dieselbko]

yeah soda + paint sucks, you need to get a heavy duty solvant cleanser, AND a waterbourne cleaners. 837 prep solvant from PPG works well, but still need a waterbourne based cleanser, i THINK i use 897? or the like (also from PPG) and then i spray a 2 part epoxy/highbuild/corrosion resistant primer to make sure i get a good STICK. the primer i use is 822 and 823 is the catalyst. Also from PPG.

NOTE!!! im not trying to sell PPG products, but with the above numbers you can go to your local jobber, tell them the PPG numbers and they can give you the sherwin/dupont what have you product that matches.

With all that said... i prefer to media blast. depending what you use its cheaper then sand, depending on the type media its harder to overheat panels. and no messy clean with this and this and this and super sticky primer to be positive it dont lift crap.

 

[laserjock]

I talked to my buddy who is close with a Porsche engine builder. He cleans all his engine parts up with soda then follows up with lots of water. You don't want a stray walnut hull or sand grain ending up in the wrong place in a $50k motor.

More reading...

 

[G. Mann]

Look around your local area for a soda blasting company. Drop by for a visit and ask them questions about how they prep after they spray to neutralize the soda.

Soda blast media is to the best of knowledge, bicarbonate soda, just in harder form than the missus uses to bake bread. It should turn to gas when mixed with water, so leave no residue? It is a base material, not an acid material. Does paint use an acid material to make it stick?

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[DOE-SST]

I've used commercial and hobbyist soda blasters, wet as well as dry, and sand blasters.

The only advantage I see of soda when used on a truck, is that it is less aggressive, allowing you to take one coat of old paint off while leaving most of the primer intact. Using soda with a pressure washer is much faster than blasting with dry soda, but makes a much bigger mess. I would use at least a 3200 PSI machine to get enough velocity to suck the soda into the washer.

You need to use commercial type soda, not the stuff used for baking. It can be a lot more expensive than simple sand blasting, which works fine on vehicles if you mask off what you don't want blasted, and keep the nozzle moving to avoid warpage.

Oh yea, don't soda blast on your front lawn, it WILL kill the grass.

 

[G. Mann]

>Oh yea, don't soda blast on your front lawn, it WILL kill the grass. <

Thanks for the tip, I have a patch of Bermuda grass I've been trying to kill for last 4 years.. I'll give it a try !

 

[riotwarrior]

WAtching this thread I am....I've got an old gas pressure washer and well...I'd like to blast some stuff and with an adapter to the pressure washer to keep dust down, be it soda or sand...

Lots of good info here.

 

[G. Mann]

On that note. I bought an adapter from Northern Tool that fits on my gas powered pressure washer that used the 3500 psi water to blow sand. I have a 50 lb sand pressure pot from Harbor Freight [the big one they have] and with a load of dry sharp sand and about 20 psi of air pressure to make it feed well, it blows paint off like crazy..

So far, I've only used it to clean trailer frames and farm equipment, so heavy stuff, but it gets with it.. and leaves a clean surface of bare metal. Have to make sure to dry it good after blasting or it will rust fast, since it's wet.. but in Arizona.. that's not an issue..
Back in the "humidity zone" might be another thing.

It's been 3 yrs since I bought it.. but I'm betting Northern Tool still has them. Works much better than trying to do a blast job with the air compressor.. The engine driven water pump helps the sand impact speed and I don't have to wait for the air compressor to "catch up".. so the job moves right along...

I've never tried it on light gage sheet metal.. but if you are shooting sand, you sure don't want to have glass in the way.. or rubber, or bondo.. zip.. gone..

 

[riotwarrior]

naw for me it's all about HD blasting ...

frame
suspension
diffs
tcase
etc

sheet metal is least of my worries and if I do that I don't care too much about warping or ***** like that...just elimination of RUST lol

Al