soda blasting

[Peanutbutter]

need info on soda blasting, surprised there is no info on this forum or I don't know how to find it, very little on sand blasting also. Like to hear the pros and cons between sand and soda.

[mongocanfly]

I wouldn't use soda for painting..sandblast is better...

[MARTINSR]

If you do sand blast just be sure you KNOW who ever is sand blasting your body sheetmetal they REALLY know what they are doing. Warping panels by even experienced sand blasters is very common. I had a guy ruin a 1928 Buick door for me once. I had him blast many things for me but never something like a large flat panel and DAMN he ruined that sucker!

We aren't talking "Darn I have some work to do" kinda damage, we are talking "HOLY &%$# IT'S RUINED AND I HAVE TO THROW IT AWAY" kinda damage!


Brian

[Wgesnerjr]

Just had my truck done by two different blasters with two TOTALLY different results.

The first guy got my core support and fender wells as a test. He used straight sand to blast and damaged the metal to the point that it felt rough to the touch. Once primed, it looked like a million tiny peck marks. Sanding the core support was not fun and took a LONG time, but I got the roughness down to a bearable. Unless you look a the underside of the hood latch support then you can see it. My stuff was damaged but not warped. Decided he was not my guy to blast.

The second guy was blasting Camaro parts the day I came by. He did the frame and front a-arms with GREAT results. He said he does sheet metal but worried that my 80's metal was thinner than the stuff from the 60'; so he would have to spend extra time as to not warp anything. The media he uses is "StarBlast" and he wound up spending a total of 6 hours on my truck. (cab, bed, fenders, 3 doors-1 was extra, tailgate, cowl panel and grill panel)

Everything went fine except the hood. He made no guarantees with it because I previously epoxy primed but did not do a good job. Rust came back through the epoxy so I knew it would have to be blasted. He tried many passes without much luck. He called with the news and asked what I wanted to do. Figuring it was useless as it was, I had him lay into it with the blast gun and try to get through the epoxy. He got through it, but it warped. Had I left it alone and gave it to him bare and rusty, it would have been fine.

The body shop could not save it. They found a replacement for $260 that fit great. It's painted and in final assembly now!

So do your homework and find someone experienced. Talk about media and time. Both will cost more money. Ask to see their other work. That was the difference between good and bad work in my case.

[mongocanfly]

the guy doing my IH told me he switches to glass beads when the metal is 80s or newer...

[Nh4clo4]

The person I used Seems to be doing a nice job, I bring a couple panels at a time. He blasts them the epoxy primed right away.

He uses the glass beads

[sprint_9]

My guy uses glass as well. He varies grits depending on what he is doing always trying to stay with the least aggressive grit to get the job done. Im fine with this even if it takes a little longer and costs more because of it.

Soda blasting I think is less desirable, namely because I think it can cause problems with the painting process if it isn't neutralized properly.

[mongocanfly]

we have a dedicated soda blaster and a dedicated glass bead blaster at work and use tons of soda and glass and we never use one for the other.....the soda we use has a detergent [like soap] in it.....I don't know if it all blasting soda has it or not..

[variationperson]

I heard soda blasting takes off paint but leave the rust on the panels ,is this true ? lmk thanks

[mongocanfly]

the soda is not very abrasive...it will get rust but you have to spend a lot of time on it....not worth the effort it takes...