Soda blasting query ( qty usage )

[sasquar]

crushed glass is the way to go for car stuff, available in a wide variety of grades/weights, its cheap (its basically broken up wine bottles, so even cheaper this time of year!! LOL) safe to use, (no nasty side effects like silicosis) inert enough that you can clear up with a dustpan and brush and not worry about the leftovers, and best bit, if your careful (ie tarp the floor first etc) you can reuse it a couple of times before it breaks down too much!!

Soda is far to fine and wont touch rust at all. It also breaks down after 1 use so works out very expensive! Sand is dangerous, it was banned for a reason. Other medias will work better than glass, but will work out a LOT more costly..... Not a massive fan of wet blasting, it has its place, for boat stuff and houses/walls etc its brilliant, for car stuff, not so much imho......

 

[droopsnoot]

I've used a large plastic bag as a temporary blast cabinet before, when blasting the edges of doors and so on that won't go in a proper cabinet. Works quite effectively for collection and re-use of media, stopping it annoying other people etc. I did a similar thing when blasting parts of a bodyshell - get a plastic bag, cut a small hole in it, tape it around the area to be blasted, and gather the rest up around your arms, not forgetting to have the blast gun in your hand inside the bag. Most of the media stays in the bag and you can drain it out / sweep it up when done.

 

[luccass_j]

Hi I dont know if the topping is still open but i used aluminum oxide to sand blast my subframes. I prep my garage before i did it. I covered half of my garage with trapauline and put some on the floor so it was easier for me to clean it. I should have some pics so ill post them to show you what i did.

Recently i converted my pot for sodium biocarbonate to blast aluminium parts like heads, carburettors and distributors. I do it outside my garage so no cleaning required. Sodium biocarbonate is not going to clean any rust. Ive got some rusted metal parts and im going to get some crushed glass or glass beads to use on them. Something in between soft and gentle soda and very abbresive aluminium oxide. Ive never used it so ill let you know how its going to work.

 

[stevieturbo]

As an update myself, after the opinion from others I just went for a straightforward Sealey shot blast kit and only did the job a few days ago.

The jet did seem a little intermittent, but certainly when working it did blast pretty hard. I was blasting a rear axle and did it outside. I had done some small bits with a Sealey portable blaster which worked fine. The larger unit was more aggressive but still worked well, but it certainly goes through a 25kg bucket of grit fast !
The portable unit seemed to be more efficient in that respect. Large unit was on a 3.5 tip. I tried smaller but then struggled to get any flow other than air from it....again why I say intermittent.

But it sure does leave a mess behind in the yard !!

As much as I also need to do some parts on the underside of the car...I dont think this method would really be ideal and something a little less aggressive might be better. But I dont think I'd contemplate any sort of blasting inside the garage although I had considered the tarpaulin etc.
There isnt any heavy rust on the chassis I need to remove, at the minute I've been trying to clean as much off with wire wheel/drill and a powerfile....but it's just slow and awkward. Blasting would definitely do the job better. Would also be nice if there was a blast option that might remove dirt from the underside but leave good paint relatively unscathed ? Some of it is pretty well caked on

 

[tom-madbiker]

I made a pot from a gas bottle works OK I use a 90cfm comp and a 6mm nozzle I have found the med to fine crushed glass works best but I am going to modify my pot to improve media flow by adding a funnel type bottom the fittings are all standard bsp the grit liner is a bit of 3/4 bore rubber hose with a 1 inch gate valve that has been bored out a bit slid over the top and the air is controlled by a 3/4 solonoid valve on the inlet and a trigger on the gun