I found a place with reasonable rates to sand blast my truck. Any tips out there as to what I'll need to do prior to taking it in... as well as what I should do right after. I'll be doing the entire truck. Taking fenders, hood, cab, etc off so I can get a complete blast. Is this advised? Any suggestions?

 

I had it done to mine. Cover up your door jam tag that is riveted to the driver's door jam. Mine got blasted off, I never found it either. You'll want to use an epoxy primer though when you are done.

 

duct tape about 5 layers or so over the stuff you don't want blasted like door tags, chrome?, bearing races, or any other moving/pivoting parts to prevent scoring. Our local blasting place also epoxy primers everything, for a small extra fee.

 

Epoxy primer is what I was told. Are they all sandable? I wondered if they all were because I have seen a few cans in the body shop supply that said "sandable", so I didn't know if they all were.

 

What's the cost to have it all sandblasted?

There's a place about 2 hours north of you, Windsor, Ca. that has a big dip tank.

http://local.yahoo.com/details;_ylt=...cb=XxBTLjLUVA4

There use to be one or two metal stripping businesses with the big stripping tanks in the San Jose area.

 

Its $110.00 an hour.... he said about 1 1/2 hours. I'm doing all the labor

 

A lot cheaper than the chemical stripping tank, though the tank is more thorough and less damaging.

Just remember that sand blasting can distort metal.

Good luck. Show us some progress pics.

 

I had the entire body, less front end, of my panel sandblasted and epoxy primed for $600. Inside and out. I originally was quoted just the body seams and wheels wells where there was major surface rust, the guy wanted more for the entire body but when I went to get it the entire body was done and he didn't charge me anything extra. He told me the paint came off real easy so he did the whole thing. I didn't have to do anything other than strip the body of it's parts and take it down to the blaster. This was about three years ago. As far as I can tell there was no warpage and the sheet metal on the sides are pretty long and straight.

I don't like chemical dipping, there's always a chance of residual chemical in the cracks and seams that likes to seep out after the final coat of paint has dried. I have seen this happen and it's not very pretty. You have to make sure your blaster knows what he is doing and has experience doing light guage sheetmetal. If you are doing it yourself take your time and don't concentrate on any one area or else you're going to heat it up and warp it. If you encounter a stubborn area work it a little and come back later just don't over work it.

 

I would investigate his work. Get some referrals, ask around, make sure he is thought of as a good sheet metal blaster. If he just does sand blasting, with no specalizing in
sheet metal, your good price may be the worst price, a ruined truck. An experienced vehicle sand blaster will probably require complete dissasembly. At least that has been my experience. Joe

 

The place that blasted my frame required me to remove all undercoating and sludge build up. Apparently the blasting media just bounces off of it unless it's really dried up hard. I can lead to a lot of work if there's a lot of it.

 

Where is this place? I am going to need my stuff sandblasted.

However, I work with a body shop in Santa Clara that has a media blasting booth. I spoke with the owner. He'd do the work free for me (my employer gives him a lot of business), but he can't due to my employer's protocols about receiving gifts. I'm having two small pieces blasting and he's charging me like $10-20. He hasn't made up his mind yet. Another shop is going to finish the body work and paint it for me at cost.

By the way, I sent you a PM regarding the front MII end that I have. Are you still interested? Let me know.

Ilya

 

I was told that too. If you get a guy who doesn't know what he is doing, and blasts one spot too long, it will generate heat in that area and distort the metal. This is a non-issue if you get someone who is an experienced sand blaster.

The price seems about right for the sandblasting. Mine cost about $135 over 10 years ago. Chemical dipping is way too expensive.

Epoxy primer is just a bit harder to sand, but it's not too bad.

 

One thing you have to remember about epoxy primer is you have to spray over the top of it inside a certain window of time. If it is left to cure too long you will have to scuff thoroughly before painting to break up the surface, I use a scuff pad. Most likely if you have you truck blasted it won’t be ready to top coat right away anyway. If you are going to apply body filler over the epoxy primer the same holds true, it has to be scuffed up a little. Epoxy primer has very good bonding qualities and will not absorb moisture, preventing rust from forming. Plain primer will absorb moisture and will not adhere to bare metal as well. I spray a l coat of epoxy primer on bare metal and then follow that with a high built filler type primer. I then block sand the primer for a smooth finish.

It pays to have the blaster epoxy prime right after the metal is stripped. The metal will start to rust as soon as the paint is removed.

One more thing, the epoxy primer I use says not to apply epoxy primer over self etching primers.

 

I talked to a local blaster about doing my cab last week.He gave me a price of around 180 dollars to do the cab and doors.All I have to do is strip the cab clean of glass,trim,etc.He came highly recommebded but I asked him several questions about past autos he had done.He also said he would apoxy prime after blasting for a small additional fee.

 

Be sure the blaster is using ONLY plastic media, walnut shell or baking soda or a mix of these, NOT SAND or BEADS!!!! The first three will remove paint and even bondo if he works at it, but not damage or work harden the metal. If he uses sand or beads, you might as well just push the truck over a cliff now and save the headaches and heartaches when it comes back.
Remove all glass, weather stripping, chrome, bearings, plastic. Protect all machined surfaces.
rent a high pressure power washer to blast the chassis free of all dirt and gunk prior to blasting. rent a high powered shop vac to suck and blow out all the dust and grit after.
treat the bare metal immediately with either epoxy primer or phosphate wash or it will start rusting in a matter of hours even under cover. DO NOT TOUCH the freshly blasted metal with bare hands!!!! Make sure that it is handled only with clean cotton gloves. wear a full suit and hood when handling if you tend to sweat.