Need media blasting advice
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New User
Joined: Jul 2009
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Need media blasting advice
I'm almost done mounting up my Crown Vic IFS which after a cleanup of the frame and axle housing it will be time for body work. I'm looking at a soda blaster but am unsure if it's up to the job or worth buying. Anyone here with some experience that can chime in? I'd like to carry on my pace and do it myself but if it is going to be worthwhile just to take it somewhere I'd rather do that. Any help is appreciated!
Here's the blaster Soda Blaster Starter Kit w/ Media
Here's the blaster Soda Blaster Starter Kit w/ Media
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 266
Likes: 1
From: salt lake
east wood makes a great product. but it does take a lot of time to do a whole body. it my be worth your time to let a pro do it. it will be more $$ but save you a lot of time. also if you use soda make sure you clean every little hole. soda will collect moister even after paint. and we all know what the = rust.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,109
Likes: 9
From: Thornton, Colorado
Has anyone used the walnut media? What kind of blaster can you use that with I can blast outdoors at my dad's place, but I don't want to be concerned about catching or cleaning up the media. Is walnut shells a good solution for this? I don't want to blast a whole body, but there are parts that I need to work on, like small areas of the bed and floor pans , and I want to blast them to ensure a good weld surface.
Cargo Master
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 3,014
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From: Concord, CA
If you use soda and you are outside then be prepared to **** off the neighbors at least 2 houses away. The dust cloud created by soda blasting will carry that far and damage all plants that it lands on. Turns the soil in the immediate area alkaline. When I did it the house next door was empty and remained so for months. Good as it looked like Christmas all over the place till rains and wind. Learned my lesson and will never do it again unless in a controlled closed environment.
Lead Driver
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 6,305
Likes: 18
From: Boulder Creek, Ca
Purchased a pressure blaster off ebay and used my small 6.5 cfm shop compressor to clean chassis and it ran during entire use. The purchase included a container of medium grit media and found my shop compressor did not have sufficient cfm, or pressure output to force the heavier grit media out the nozzle. Ended up using alum. oxide, or glass bead, comes in variety of grits and it worked great. Don't have neighbor issue but these are compounds definately don't want spreading thru the neighborhood. Also, dispite taking procautions; respirator, goggles, hood, gloves, etc. still got media into every oriface of my body, miserable for couple days. 
Tend to be in Mike's camp, don't believe I would attempt a 'do it myself' again, if I did, would consider soda blaster; understand Eastwood has an adapter that can be attached to the pressure blaster. Would be interested in quote for having it done by pro.; estimate cost of media and shipping, and safety equipment alone will run at least couple hundred bucks. May want to consider a water pressure blaster that puts out considerable psi, don't imagine cost much to rent, along with a grinder with wire brush wheel should do a good job.
Tend to be in Mike's camp, don't believe I would attempt a 'do it myself' again, if I did, would consider soda blaster; understand Eastwood has an adapter that can be attached to the pressure blaster. Would be interested in quote for having it done by pro.; estimate cost of media and shipping, and safety equipment alone will run at least couple hundred bucks. May want to consider a water pressure blaster that puts out considerable psi, don't imagine cost much to rent, along with a grinder with wire brush wheel should do a good job.
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 762
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From: Monroe, Louisiana
Soda is for paint, other media is for rust (it's my understanding that you should only use glass media inside a blasting cabinet). You can get a combo setup from Eastwoods that let you switch back and forth for less than $390 (through today I think) regular price is $429.
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Postmaster
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 3,351
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From: Escondido, CA
Interesting topic since it came up last night at a gathering. Most in my area of California consider soda blasting the best solution for stripping body panels and frames. I was told best to wet the driveway/ground, drop the pressure to 40psi, and then tent the project to prevent massive mushroom clouds. A 50 lbs bag of soda can be had for $24 and clean up consists of garden hose to disolve the powder, allow it to dry, shovel into trash bag and dispose of.
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Joined: Jan 2003
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From: willamette valley ore
If you have close neighbors, I would suggest not doing it at home. No matter what you do there will be dust concerns. I do all of my blasting in my shop. I have a home made cabinet for small to medium sized items and I make a plastic tent with one fan for fresh air and one fan for exhaust for large item such as frames and cabs , hoods and fenders. I use an air supplied respirator. My medium of choice is silica sand because it cuts fast and is cheap. A 100# bag of #30 grit is about $13. I know there will be some that will sound the alarm at the exposure to silica. But any of the blasting dust is not going to be good for you if you are not careful. I have a charcoal respirator handy when sweeping up the residue that escapes the tent as I use it over and over. You just need to take care of yourself when around any dusty conditions. I have an elderly neighbor, ex-farmer who carries an oxygen tank around all the time due to brown lung that he aquired farming. He never wore any protection because those were in the days before we were informed. He told me that at the most he would wet a handkercheif and tie it around his face. obviously that was not enough. Steve
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2009
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From: Dallas, Texas
Thanks for the info on soda blasting. I have thought about it but never tried it and now I never will.
Couple of answers: Walnut shell media is for use on items that trapped sand could damage. You would blast a crankshaft with walnut shells; if they hide in oil passages and become dislodged later, they will be eaten up by the motor and will not score bearings or cylinder walls like sand. Also, if you use sand - say on an exhaust manifold, use blasting sand since it is more sharp. Play sand is easier to find, but won't remove paint and rust nearly as well (or at all).
And, glass beads don't cut, they basically just hammer the surface to give it a softer look than sandblasting does.
Speaking of blast sand, it is not available in many places and has been replaced by media with names like black diamond or green diamond which are both safer to use and more aggressive than blast sand.
Couple of answers: Walnut shell media is for use on items that trapped sand could damage. You would blast a crankshaft with walnut shells; if they hide in oil passages and become dislodged later, they will be eaten up by the motor and will not score bearings or cylinder walls like sand. Also, if you use sand - say on an exhaust manifold, use blasting sand since it is more sharp. Play sand is easier to find, but won't remove paint and rust nearly as well (or at all).
And, glass beads don't cut, they basically just hammer the surface to give it a softer look than sandblasting does.
Speaking of blast sand, it is not available in many places and has been replaced by media with names like black diamond or green diamond which are both safer to use and more aggressive than blast sand.
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Well, after talking to a few people and reading the feedback, the CFM seems to be the main ingredient. I'm not going to buy a larger compressor just to use a media blaster. I got a rough quote from a local here who said sand will be fine since it's older thicker metal (he's been in the business for 11yrs IIRC). He also has glass and soda available as well. Sand runs $10 a bag and soda $35. For a sand blast treatment he said it would be from $650-$1000 depending. I plan to have the cab completely stripped and all body parts separated and ready to blast so I'm guessing it will come in toward the lower end of that. I'm also going to have a dent pulled and epoxy sealer sprayed. He quoted the sealer at around $300 but couldn't quote the dent since his body guy was out.
I'm going to go out for some more quotes but does this sound about right price wise?
I'm going to go out for some more quotes but does this sound about right price wise?
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