media blasting

[57chevyman]

hey guys, i got my hands on a decent 1956 stepside bed. its dark red. no rot. one fender has a dent on top that was filled with bondo years ago and now half of the bondo is cracked and missing
can you advise me on media blasting? a friend of mine has a great big air compressor i can use, so im thinking of buying a blaster and blasting my bed rather than pay a company to do it.

what media do you recommend?

do i need to bother with the tailgate? should i just scuff up the tailgate and spray some gray primer over it? at some point ill probably have a body shop paint the bed. are they gonna strip off rattlecan primer either way?
i want it to look presentable next summer. a bed in primer is fine for now....

[tristan]

My truck is at a restoration shop that uses plastic media, particularly for sheet metal. It keeps the heat down and the panels don't warp. Cleans 'em up good too. They get the stuff in 55 gallon barrels.

[_Ogre]

sand is the best for that... imo
my truk had every panel sand blasted, primed, body worked and then painted; in that order
the metal on our trucks is thick enough to sand blast without warping
and yes do the tailgate or all that rust will pop out on you
the hidden rust under the seams will eventually pop any way
a commercial blaster can probably do it for less than you can buy the stuff for

i also recommend after blasting, wiping everything down and spraying some 2k primer to seal up the body
any rattle can primer will have to be removed before proceeding with bodywork
any primer is not waterproof, it is the base for paint; it is also permeable and will let water thru
if you drive it in weather the bed will need to go back to bare metal and start over

your plan has faults, rather than blast it, prime it, install it, drive it for a year and then body work and paint
just spray bomb it as is, install it, drive it for a year... then disassemble, blast, bodywork, paint and re-install permanently
otherwise you will end up doing everything twice; at twice the cost

[57chevyman]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

sand is the best for that... imo
my truk had every panel sand blasted, primed, body worked and then painted; in that order
the metal on our trucks is thick enough to sand blast without warping
and yes do the tailgate or all that rust will pop out on you
the hidden rust under the seams will eventually pop any way
a commercial blaster can probably do it for less than you can buy the stuff for

i also recommend after blasting, wiping everything down and spraying some 2k primer to seal up the body
any rattle can primer will have to be removed before proceeding with bodywork
any primer is not waterproof, it is the base for paint; it is also permeable and will let water thru
if you drive it in weather the bed will need to go back to bare metal and start over

your plan has faults, rather than blast it, prime it, install it, drive it for a year and then body work and paint
just spray bomb it as is, install it, drive it for a year... then disassemble, blast, bodywork, paint and re-install permanently
otherwise you will end up doing everything twice; at twice the cost

Thank you for this advice . I'm gonna go ahead and put some primer gray on it for now and just spend whatever a few cans of primer is.

[mr48chev]

Make sure you see the work of who ever does the blasting before you turn the metal over to them. Here the sandblast dude who works for one of the powder coating houses in town seems to have the best handle on sandblasting sheet metal and not damaging it.

On the fender, clean the bondo out and straighten the dent. I did that on a 54 fender that I sent to a kid in Arizona last year. They had pookied a real easy to fix dent rather than just knocking the dent out and working the fender.

It looked terrible when I dug it out of the shed

You can look through the headlight opening and see the dent that someone didn't take time to fix right in the past

[roger55]

Originally Posted by tristan

My truck is at a restoration shop that uses plastic media, particularly for sheet metal. It keeps the heat down and the panels don't warp. Cleans 'em up good too. They get the stuff in 55 gallon barrels.

No matter what the media is, it doesn't generate heat when blasting.
Warpage is caused by the peening action that stretches the metal.

On the thick gauge of steel that's used on these old trucks, only a large commercial type of blaster would have enough power to warp panels. If you take it easy with the pressure blasters most of us use, you don't have to worry about warping.

That said, I don't blast areas that I can sand. There's no need to do that. I just use a D/A on all the accessible areas and blast where I can't get to with that.

Plastic media is good for removing paint only. It won't touch rust. I use coal slag (Black Diamond or Black Beauty). It's very effective, relatively cheap and unlike using sand, is not dangerous.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by roger55

...... and unlike using sand, is not dangerous.

....As far as we know up to now. Stay tuned.

I only mention this because I had a family friend who was seemingly healthy as long as I knew him then he came down with a cough that was determined to be mesothelioma and it killed him in a year.

For me, I'll use the absolute best breathing protection I can find and just won't do the work without it. I want my truck done right but I'm not willing to literally "catch my death" to get there.

[roger55]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

....As far as we know up to now. Stay tuned.
I only mention this because I had a family friend who was seemingly healthy as long as I knew him then he came down with a cough that was determined to be mesothelioma and it killed him in a year.
For me, I'll use the absolute best breathing protection I can find and just won't do the work without it. I want my truck done right but I'm not willing to literally "catch my death" to get there.

Of course you should use breathing protection no matter what media you blast with. But free silica is bad stuff. I don't want that around the yard where I live even if I'm protected during the blasting session.

[Mrscrape]

Just a suggestion, soda blasting is a good media as well

[roger55]

I would never consider soda blasting. Too much chance of spoiling a paint job if it's not 100% neutralized.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by roger55

I would never consider soda blasting. Too much chance of spoiling a paint job if it's not 100% neutralized.

Hmmm, I didn't know that. Good info.

Many years ago when I was maybe 17-18, I did a little bit of blasting using a cheapo Sears siphon feed blaster and silica sand (kid's sandbox sand - do they still make that stuff?) with NO protection of any kind.

Absolutely stupid, but I'd never heard of silicosis and didn't read about it for many years afterward. I've never had any breathing issues but I've always wondered if it would come out in my older age. Well, I turned 60 last month. So far, so good but as I related earlier I had a seemingly healthy friend die of mesothelioma (yes, I know it's much different than silicosis). So it's in the back of my mind sometimes.

[Softpatch]

my vote is for walnut it did a fantastic job
.

[DransportGarage]

I use DuPont Starblast. Cuts/acts like sand, but no silica. Wear a mask.

http://www2.dupont.com/Titanium_Tech...cts/starblast/

[Ratpin]

Dip it!

[Rude Dude]

We have this type of blasting available in our area my neighbor was quoted around $250 to $300 to his 56 Buick in a hours time. No mess doesn't hurt sheet metal and you don't have to deal with clean up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCehkkTTeMk

[paulspickupparts]

Everyone has had good tips . When people blast I am more worried about the people blasting than the item being blasted . If you ever get silica (sand ) in your lungs you will not have to worry about your old truck. Your lung will actually grow around the silica.

With that being said there is no media that is safe. They all suspend into the air and mix with old paint dust that is being blasted (lead) . Anything suspended in the air ( grain dust , woodworkers dust, etc ) can find its way to your lungs. If you decide to do this buy the best respirator or breathing protection you can buy. Also use a breathing air supply . It must be stand alone. Do not use breathing air from the compressor you are using. They use and are oil driven compressors and will pump contaminated air right into your lungs. Also if the air is calm there is the chance the exhaust from the compressor engine will be pulled right into the air supply of the compressor . That equals force fed carbon monoxide . I found out the hard way on that one.

I would hire a professional that is familiar with doing auto body parts. Not water towers. Someone that is not familiar will make junk of your parts. Clean but wavy junk. Good luck but be careful.

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by paulspickupparts

I would hire a professional that is familiar with doing auto body parts.

good advise IMO

[57chevyman]

^i got a quote of around $500 to do the whole bed . I'm not doing it anytime soon tho since I'm not ready to do a proper paint job. I'm just gonna sand my bed a little and rattle can it for now. I'm gonna give this rustoleum paint a shot on the tailgate....

[57chevyman]

Got some work done today .

[Richs'55]

Originally Posted by roger55

I would never consider soda blasting. Too much chance of spoiling a paint job if it's not 100% neutralized.

Explain how to neutralize the soda residue. Also, any paint tips on a wash right before sealing and painting. I watched the painter of my last project use something that he sprayed on from a hand squirt bottle and wipe down. Any ideas what it was (I know, I should have just asked him)?

[57chevyman]

^^ yea the shop owner I spoke to advise the same thing- that the soda would change the ph of the metal and it would have to be treated to have a chance of paint sticking to it.

[57chevyman]

the shop owner told me that a viniger solution is used to neutralize the metal after soda blast.

[1958Warrior]

I saw that paint at Home Depot, be sure to post a pic of your tailgate ,curious how it will turn out. looked pretty close to the color on my truck.
I was also thinking of doing the fauxtina look with that paint since it may be a while till I can get it painted.

[57chevyman]

I painted a wrench with it and now I can't wait to get the tailgate done ! The one one the right is the seaside gloss.

[_Ogre]

looks close enough for a quicky paint job, just don't expect spray bomb paint to hold up like real paint
but it should look good for a while; ''while'' you figure out the plan