Hey fellas I finaly got my big compressor mounted and and broken in...haha thats sounds funny , any ways I set it up last night to see how good it would blast and it worked flawlesly except for it was at about 10 oclck last night in the driveway and the media I used went everywhere lol. I am excited cause now I'll be anle to blast my frame my self. BUT my question is I need to blast my cab and have herd that if you do it wrong it will warp panels. Ok does anyone have a picture of a warped panel from being blasted the wrong way? AND lets say I tried it this way:

(DOOR)
start at the top and blast a line across from side to side
then go to the bottom and blast a line across
then back to the top
then back to the bottom
until I get to the middle and the door is done
would this work without getting to hot and causing warpage (probably didnt spell that right)?

I am using the cheap stuff that northern tool sells cause I am figuring on not being able to save alot of the media for reuse. Plus I will get the finest grit for when I do the cab.

 

Buy the RIGHT stuff (rather than the cheap stuff) for blasting the sheet metal and you won't have a problem! Walnut shell would be best for use in a standard blasting pot, especially if you don't plan to recycle at least most of it, as it is enviromentally friendly as organic mulch for your lawn, and the dust won't kill your family/friends/pets.
The other major way to avoid panel damage is to use as little air pressure as it takes to do the job and point the nozzle at a shallow angle to the panel NOT straight at it sweeping the paint off from side to side. Walnut shell will not remove bondo or heavy rust, so once the paint is gone quit. Remove bondo with a Clean and Strip wheel. Heavy rust will likely need cutting out and patching anyway. #1 rookie blaster mistake after using the wrong media: not preping the parts for blasting. Don't try to use blasting as a substitute for cleaning. Scrape, pressure and/or solvent wash off all grease and gunk before blasting.

 

thanks thats good info. Will walnut cut through surface rust well....theres alot of surface rust on the cab the frame is worse and will require me to cut and weld after I blast it, oh yeah will the cheap stuff be ok for the frame since it is pretty thick steal?

 

Sand is fine for frame work. I`ve been lucky (or maybe even careful enough) that I`ve managed to do decent rust removal on solid sheet metal with sandblasting especially inside the cab floor.

 

sounds like you've got some good ideas, I'll just chime in by saying that I've sand blasted lots of stuff including sheet metal and all with sand and I've not had any warped panels or any other problems that I'm aware off. I would say that I have become a big fan of strip-it discs for general paint removal. They don't in anyway-that I can see -negatively impact the metal unlike grinding or such and even though the discs are a little pricey even the sand blasting grades of sand in my area are pricey as well especially by the bag etc and Any blasting media is a bit of a mess etc-as you're finding out. Doesn't mean I don't use it--I do-- but I really like strip-it disc where they can be used. Sometimes I think a combo of the discs on big flat areas, and the blasting media on the sharp corners or hard to reach places etc. is a good way to go. The strip-it discs can get chewed up real easy if you hit an edge or something--good places to use the sand blaster.

 

I sandblasted my frame and body parts, cab, doors, etc with a commercial outlet (rented facilities by the hour). I did not have any warping problems; just stand well back from work, blast at an angle and keep moving directed sand, not staying in one spot too long. You can always go back over areas that require it. The results you get are phenominal; although I did have some sand to remove from cowl areas from cab, and interior of doors. Once completed you want to coat the bare metal asap. Good luck with it, have you got any practice pieces, to gain confidence ?

 

yeah I have some stock 5.0 headers that I have cleaned, they are stainless steel but I figured they would work to practice on. I tried blasting them like 30 min ago and it didnt work very well then I tried some rusted/painted steel and it worked but not as good as it did on my first peice I tried the other day. the one I tried the other day had been sand blasted by a freind and I painted it but the paint didnt turn out great so I figured I would blast it back to bare metal....well it worked really well cause I guess it was just cutting paint....but when I tried the old painted rusty stuff it wasn't as glamerous......