Soda blasting setup

[scottmk1]

I'm looking into getting a small soda blasting setup for a variation of projects such as cleaning up my lathe cabinet & then probably cleaning up the steel parts of a self build mini digger.

Could anyone recommend a kit to get started, air requirements and where to buy the soda from too?

 

[brightspark]

better off using expendable abrasive a cheapo blasting pot and a 14cfm compressor minimum preferably a belt drive .

 

[scottmk1]

Thanks, just a cheapo one of the likes of ebay?

 

[brightspark]

Thanks, just a cheapo one of the likes of ebay?

yes but cut the end of the blast hose and fit a 3mm carbide jet bought from ace engineering . fix it in hose with a jubilee clip

 

[scottmk1]

Ok thanks

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Soda blasting is good for thin stuff as it's not so aggressive that it stretches the panels but I wouldn't use it on anything over car bodywork thickness as it's too slow.

 

[pedrobedro]

I've seen soda blasting done on small components like carburetors using a cheap blow gun and some plastic pipe split and taped to the nozzle, friend of mine tried it on some bike bits and it worked quite well.

 

[Shedendman]

Might want to have a read here
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/soda-blasting-media.17846/

Then make sure your sitting down when you get the price for the soda

 

[henry Kadzielski]

I'm looking into getting a small soda blasting setup for a variation of projects such as cleaning up my lathe cabinet & then probably cleaning up the steel parts of a self build mini digger.

Could anyone recommend a kit to get started, air requirements and where to buy the soda from too?

Do you have any idea what a soda blasting kit is worth and are we talking about the same thing. A proper soda blasting kit is in the area of a pressure abrasive blasting kit with additional bits. These bits are there to control the flow of the soda, which is normally kept wet. Soda blasting is also 'VERY' messy, not to mention slow. It's greatest advantage is it dose not mark things like glass and or damage rubber seals. Did I mention that it is slow.
There are other media that you can use to clean up materials without damage. Using an standard pressure blasting kit you can use glass bead or walnut husk. Yes you heard me correctly walnut husk. I have used walnut husk to blast the bottom of an alli boat. This boat was left in the water without any antifoul paint, low and behold after two years there is some marine growth. Now they brought the boat with the bottom scrapped, but the bottom of the barnacles were still there. The walnut husk removed the remnants of the barnacles with out marking the alli. Now this process wasn't as fast as garnet, but didn't leave a mark.
There is more that one way to skin a cat. I own pressure and suction blasting equip, looked into soda blast and realised that the establishment cost was too high. Also very few people would even entertain the cost of running it. Yes it has it's uses, but doing what you are mentioning you will get pi@#$d off way before you finish.
I just remembered that I also use plastic abrasive in the bigger pressure blast cabinet. This is used to clean up airless paint pumps I get in for repairs. The supplier of the grit said to me try this plastic. I mentioned you must be joking, plastic! But boy does it munch the paint over spray and leaks on airless pumps, it also dosn't mark anything

 

[scottmk1]

Ok, sounds like using the expendable media is the way for me to go rather than the soda.

 

[GrimReaper]

I use a Machine mart grit blaster modified a bit for soda blasting.
Sleeve the pickup tube down to about 4mm with some plastic tubing stuffed inside the metal one (if you don't do this the whole hopper full of soda will empty in no time and turn the surrounding area into a snow scene.)
Buy Sodium Bicarbonate from a local farm supply store for cheapest prices, sieve it into the hopper to get rid of lumps.
A dry air supply helps to reduce downtime for blockages as the soda clogs up the nozzle quite easily when it gets damp.