Questions/concerns with soda blasting
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Took on a side project/ swap deal. Paint/bodywork on a 65 Ford step side truck. In exchange for building me a garage. The truck is totally disassembled and stripped. The owner soda blasted all the jambs and around the windows and the rest of it has been sanded with 80 grit da. I have never dealt with soda blasting and have heard mixed reviews on it, mainly concerning adhesion issues. I plan on starting with epoxy, then 2k, seal then base clear. Has anyone here had first hand experience in dealing with this? This truck is in awesome shape ( zero rust holes that I have found so far, and very minimal mud work to deal with. ) I want to make sure this thing turns out great, I can’t-afford to deal with adhesion issues. So any first hand experience would be greatly appriciated . Thanks
Chuck
I used to do sandblasting at a shop. I have never used soda, however. I believe the issue with adhesion is due to 2 things. The first is that the soda residue has to be completely cleaned off afterwards, and secondly, the soda does not leave much of any abrasion on the metal, so the metal needs to be sanded afterwards (i would think 180 would be pretty good).
I like epoxy myslef, but I wonder if using a good etch to bite into the metal would be better in this instance.
I use soda blasting equipment frequently and have had quite a learning curve with it. The residue left behind on the metal is alkaline and requires an acid to bring the ph back to normal. As good as epoxy is…. it will not adhere to the soda residue. I usually have to use a red scotch bright pad and anything acidic, or something similar, like PPG metal prep and some soapy water. A good washing is required afterward. Many a painter has been burnt by soda blasting and won’t touch it anymore. You just have to understand it. It also will not remove rust or harm glass, plastic or rubber. If you miss a spot you’ll know it and will have to prep and re-touch with epoxy.
You MUST wash all panels with soap and water to neutralize the soda,very difficult to get clean.Once clean and dry it would be better to use 80-120 on your sander to put some tooth on the panels for epoxy,180 is too fine.
all these guys are right on man. the soda leaves a residue/film. if you epoxy over it the epoxy is stuck to the film not the metal so its comming off. gotta get the film off. imagine taking raw metal,putting a coat of wax on it then applying epoxy over it. same difference really. because you cant see it doesn’t mean its not there. scotchbrite, 80 grit, soap, water or reblast with another media.
I ended up taking vinegar and washing the whole thing three or four times then washed the crap outta it again. I still wasnt to sure about it so I went back over it again with 80 on a da. I think I will stick to aircraft stripper from here on out. Either that or just sand it off. But I finished most of the mud work on the cab today. Tomorrow I will shoot some epoxy on it.
man i try to blast all i can. its faster and leves a prefect tooth for paint however i never use soda. i use a medium crushed recycled glass. the stuff works dynamite and wont warp sheet metal. http://www.newageblastmedia.com
Can you buy that stuff locally? We have switched over to black beauty for the remainder of the stripping. But the crushed glass sounds interesting. Might have to give it a try this winter on my Volkswagen.
no, they ship it all over the country. black beauty is fast but its pretty bad for you, easy to warp sheetmetal with and it embeds into the metal which can contribute to rust down the road.
Hi Jim
What does the stuff cost? per 100lb bag?
They dont say on there web sight I hate it when they do that!as with most stuff like this price really depends on how much you buy. its obviously more expensive to buy by the bag than by the pallet and cheaper the more pallets you buy. its also much cheaper if you buy it in the 3000lb sack than in bags. my price really falls in between sand and black beauty. they are 50lb bags and i think i am at $7 per bag. i got a sack once and that i think was $320. this is all for the medium grade.
Jim
Well doing what I am doing I wasnt going to order just a few hundred pounds more like at least 1000 maybe 2ooo lbs.
I know what your talking about though. I guess I will just have to call them and figure in shipping and all and see what kind of price I can get.2000lbs would be 1 full pallet of bags. Yes you need to call them and find out. Everyones price is a little different and you do have shipping to take into account. We beat them up a little on the price when we got set up.
JUst got my 1960 Impala back from the dustless blaster,uses a mix of crushed glass and water/rust inhibitor sprayed at high pressure,very happy with the outcome,$700 to do the whole car including jams.Doesn’t touch lead filler,but plastic fillers and rust is eliminated.
[URL=http://s260.photobucket.com/user/lowdeville/media/P1010004_8_zps107ac52c.jpg.html][IMG]http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii9/lowdeville/P1010004_8_zps107ac52c.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s260.photobucket.com/user/lowdeville/media/P1010003_11_zpsd900e171.jpg.html][IMG]http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii9/lowdeville/P1010003_11_zpsd900e171.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s260.photobucket.com/user/lowdeville/media/P1010014_3_zps8a3daf18.jpg.html][IMG]http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii9/lowdeville/P1010014_3_zps8a3daf18.jpg[/IMG][/URL]Nice! :rock
I would kill to have a blaster in town….
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