I am buying a harbor freight gavity feed blaster to remove the paint/rust on the body and frame. What materials would be best suited? I heard on here that glass beads will warp the panels. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Scott

The coal slag product is about your safest/cheapest media.
Aluminum Oxide is another for strong structural areas.
Dupont Starblast is another.
Using sand is a very dangerous media and is mostly outlawed anymore.
Some still use it but I would not.The health risks to you as well as your family/neighbors is just not worth it.The dust is what gets you and them.It's simply smashed shards of glass.
You can blast about anything BUT panels as these are the ones where you stand the greatest chance of warpage.Best to use stripper or a DA or even a regular grinder. Soda is another media but it's been a known issue with problems later in the paint. Soda is a form of salt and unless the metal is cleaned well after it and it completely removed,a little moisture and you start forming our enemy,Rust.
Another problem will be with "what" is available locally.
The media is cheap but the shipping is what will break ya.
You have to be "selective" with what you recycle. Crud from like frames and underbody areas will get recycled and cause you a world of trouble getting blasted back on to the vehicle.

dont expect much from the gravity feed system also knowing harbor frieghts quality standards dont expect long life from either the hoses or the nozzle setup

Thank You for your response Mike 85 - So you say to only blast the frame, suspension parts only? I shouldn't attempt any of the body parts?

Thank You cdowns for your response as well - I never expect anything to last from Harbor. Do you think it should last at least one time? A buddy of mine bought their enclosed sand blaster and loves it. He's had it for about 5 years with no problems. With Harbor it is a hit or miss on their products. Usually a miss, but for the money and if you don't need it but once, they will be suffice.

Coal slag or more commonly know as black beauty is very agressive and will tear the surface of the metal. Silica or glass beads are the best for removing rust. Even when shops are using plastic media to remove paint and won't remove rust, they usually mix in a little silica to remove the rust. Aluminum oxide works pretty well on body panels.

Those harbor freight blasters work fine for spot repairs, but don't expect much if you think you can do a whole truck with one. I would contract it out, much cheaper in the long run.

Mike

Well, I'll disagree on the slag. Could be the grit that is used but what I get comes from Memphis and is really quite mild.Looks like small "pellets" and it actually cuts better after a couple of cycles. No where close to sand in it's aggressiveness. Leaves a great anchor pattern for epoxy,WAY less dust and "if" used correctly,could be used on panels. But the door skins and other flat panels on this 85 are SO thin,I just won't chance it. Besides,It's factory paint and stripper just cuts it quick. I blast about everything else.Frame,firewall,cabin side of the doors,door window frame area down to the skin,jambs,anything with some structure to it. I use a 40# pressure type from HF and outside of the crap ball valve handle,which I replaced with a dead man valve,works fine.IMO better than a siphon type. Little more trouble to fill and some adjusting of the material flow valve is required but it's worked fine.I've used it going on 4 years now. Moisture is the BIG problem with ANY blaster and the drier your air supply,the better luck you'll have with them.
Hey, If you have the $$ and you TRUST someone else to do it,Fine. I don't and yeah,it will run your compressors ass off,another consideration,less than a 60 gal. and forget it. Any smaller and you'll be blasting forever.
Using sand is like having a thousand little hammers pounding the metal and that is what causes warpage. You streaching the metal just as if you were hitting it with a hammer and dolly.

Thank You for all your responses. I have a 100 gallon dual chamber compressor. I am going to Harbor Freight this weekend to pick up a few things. I know I have the money for the gravity feed blaster. I will double check to see what a pressurized version is, and will save if need to. I did look into having some one blast my whole truck and they wanted $1000.00 (if the truck is already a part) or $1600.00 to dismantle the truck and blast it. I would like to attempt it myself as well. There isn't a greater satisfaction than knowing you did it yourself. Who knows, if I get any good at it, I will pimp the equipment out and help anybody else who needs anything blasted.

Thanks again everybody

I bought a pressurized HF model, one that will take about a 5 gallon buck of media each time. I went through about a dozen tips and two or three of the handle stops, but it did a good job on my frame and suspension parts. The only sheet metal I blasted was the bottom of my cab, which really showed what metal was good and what metal must go...

But, the next time I strip a frame I will probably just take the pieces to the local equip. rental shop that does sandblasting. Looking back I probably spent 40-50 hours sandblasting and realizing now how incredibly long a real full restoration takes, I think on the next one I will save some of the mental energy I have allotted for the project for the other stages... IOW, having those parts blasted will save me big chunks of the "let's build this thing" enthusiasm. Because when you run out of that enthusiasm a guy usually has to take a few months off from the project to recharge those batteries, lol. And of course ymmv...