Thread: sandblasting ?

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ok guys i got a ? a guy walked up to me and asked if i would be interesting in sandblasting some cars and some frames for him and he said he would supply all the stuff to do it with what would you charge the guy to do it ? i told the guy that when you sandblast one you haft to have the windows out of it and if there are any rust in it that its possible it could go from a pin size hole to a size of a baseball i just thought i would ask i am interested in it cause i know how to do it and i am not real fast at it but no slow i am just very detailed about it and i thought it would be some extra cash to put into my build


PS thanks for everyone replying

unless you do this for a living i would suggest to leave it alone. you may end up buying some sheet metal . sand is the very worst media to use in the first place.

Originally Posted by shine

unless you do this for a living i would suggest to leave it alone. you may end up buying some sheet metal . sand is the very worst media to use in the first place.

Then of course is the safety equipment - leathers, full face mask/hood with a supplied air system. That supplied air system is virtually a necessity unless you are considering a lung transplant in the future (and if a smoker, not too distant a future either ) it's called silicosis.

Now, add to shine's response, a friend, now passed away, had an antique Jaguar XK120 redone - the "custom" shop spent many dollars/hours of their own fixing the screwed up and distorted body panels. Sand against steel creates heat - lots. That heat distorts panels. There are better materials then sand.

Now, costs - that's impossible to determine. It should be done time and materials. So many hours plus so many bags of materials equals cost.

I agree with shine, I still do some sandblasting but it's limited to heavy parts like frames, castings, wheels etc.

Usually sandblasting sheetmetal turns into a disaster.

contrary to old belief it is not heat that warps. but rather the peening of the metal which stretches one side. even with the best equipment there is a lot of knowledge that an operator must have. experience is golden. i have seen thousands of dollars worth of destruction done by backyard blasters. the worst is the sandblaster who do cement trucks and such. they will destroy a car within an hour.

Concur with all of the above - the guys that do the cement trucks are working a very heavy gauge metal and are not concerned with a bit of distortion - they're wanting to clean off the residual chunks of concrete that were allowed to harden.

Most states have huge safety requirements for commercial (read "doing-this-for-money") for sand blasting.

Saw a real nasty accident on a man who didn't follow protocol and hit his left hand without protection. Nearly cost him his hand (did cost him his job!)..

Best left to those who do it for a living..

My 2 cents.
Glenn

in the very early 70's a dr took his pride and joy 67 or 68 rs/ss to a painter i knew to be repainted. it was his grad present from his dad when he finished high school. well the painter sent it to a blaster who destroyed the body. i mean he warped every inch of it. needless to say the doc went batshit crazy . he sued both of them into the stone age. . it had to have every sheetmetal skin on it replaced. believe me if someone has the money they can ruin your butt. he put the bodyshop out of business , cost the owner most everything he had, he put the blasters out of business and ruined them too.

sand sucks for blasting is what my composite supplier told me in the beginning.

sand blasting will screw alot of stuff up. i use to paint and did body work alot of old stuff and air plane s i had to give it up my back would not take it any more . man i miss it .working steel out and painting . i did a bmw for a doctor in town.this hot shot guy in town.. sand blasted lower s inside frame rails inners threw some primer on the car let the shell sit out in his yard for over 5 five years with no glass no door hood and never pop the drain plugs in the floor so.. it filled up with water . was packed with sand any and every were .. all the dash and power windows every thing had to come part . owner spent many dollars on the strait 6 engine cam .head work . side draft webbers .header . engine had to come apart as well . want they did not Puck up with sand and what they did not let rust the shell was used for a ladder and they walk on the car . when this ass started on the car it had less then 10000 miles on it. guy was telling him he was going to give him a show car .. Butcher .. had the car for over 8 years . when my helper fred and i were done he had a show car . lucky for the owner he knew a BMW tech

A friend of mine Doug who is a professional sandblaster told about a guy who was using a diesel compressor(like the ones used for jackhammers) for a air feed to the sandblaster and a unit to purify the same air source to breath.The purify unit failed feeding carbon monoxide into his mask killing him.

i think it was you that gave me the site called eastwood paint supplys have you used their paint and materials before and how would you rate there materials i have some friends that never heard of it or never used it before

So you guys have excluded any kind of blast media and therefor having a blaster for body work isn't worth adding to your shop tool complainant??. Just looking for more advise here and clarification.

no sir not me. i linked you to spi. i dont used cheap relabled kirker paint or any other junk eastwood sells nor would i buy from summit ..

i use starblast , olivine , type6 acrylic , corn cob . depending on the job.there are hundreds of medias but play sand is not one of them. also you will find it hard to find a blaster who uses sand that can do sheet metal . cement trucks and horse trailers do not warp . if the blaster is not in the business of blasting restoration projects or if you see a pile of sand run away.

I don't know what abrasive they used, but some of our stuff was blasted for painting---the guy actually was VERY knowledgable and had done many raqce/show cars--he blasted in a pattern--took off the stuff in layers reverse order of application---lettering first, then top paint coat, working in sequence down to primers and then bare metal--didn't strech or deform any thing including thin aluminum and magnesium panels-----but he was one guy of thousands------------

And then there was the place near us in Elburn, Il that used COAL particals to blast garbage dumpsters, concrete trucks, etc---------

Find a local paint store. If you don't want to spend the bucks for an PPG, DuPont or R-M, then ask if they have a second line. Also TCP Global (TCP Global - Quality & Service Since 1974) will sell you mail order paints from cheap to big bucks. Also about everything else for painting including DIY books

If you need cheap tools, Harbor Freight's are the same as many Eastwood tools but often painted a different color or repackaged. The HF is usually much cheaper.

i can look at the pressure gauge on a blaster and it will tell me all i need to know. folks look at my blasting rig and think it must run 200 lbs. they are shocked to find it is set at 30-35 lbs .