Thread: Sand Blasters and soda blasters

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When I had a pressurized portable sand blaster I used black beauty as a media.I know at that time there was a number of other media around including soda.

So now I am considering getting a used set up that is a sand blaster.I read on Eastwood there is a conversion kit to soda.What is the difference between the two??.

soda is much less abrasive. It will take off the paint, but not rust. It helps to avoid warping panels, but requires more work getting a panel down to bare metal.

Also baking soda is bio degradable so you can do it outside with no problems.

sand will promote rust. soda leaves no anchor pattern but does leave a residue that if not completely removed will cause adhesion problems. olivine is a good media .

panels do not warp from heat. it is the penning of the metal that stretches it. you must stay at a 45 degree angle to the surface. also high pressure is not needed. my big rig only runs at 35 lbs .

Apart from warping potential, sand (and black beauty) is silica based and leaves microscopic particles of silica imbedded in your clean metal surface. Silica is very hard to remove when you are ready to move on to prep for paint.

Silica is also not great for your lungs. Even wearing a good respirator I am still having allergy problems I never had before I did a lot of sandblasting a few years ago. I just bought a new sandblast cabinet and they stress in the booklet not to use play sand or aluminum oxide media unless you wear some OSHA approved mask. I wear the mask, but still have dryness in my nose after using it.

Don

Before you decide which you'll use read up on soda blasting pros and cons and sandblasting pros and cons.
Both are good but BOTH have their problems if the steps are not done correctly. Educate yourself before spending your money, because when using sand or soda BOTH require additional prep work AFTER the blasting when using them.....joe

Thanks for the replies guys.A couple of the guys said soda doesn't work for rust removal.But Eastwood said it did.Eastwood did say soda leaves a residue behind.That is a advantage as a prevention against flash rust on clean metal up to a month.To remove it you have to take a damp rag and keep rinsing it until all the soda is gone.Then use a metal etching paint primer.Are they just selling it or does it really work that way with the correct compressor/CFM??.

I was curious too about why they sell a conversion kits from a sand blaster to a soda blaster and what that would consist of??.Does that mean if I had a soda blaster,it couldn't use a sand media??.Is it just the tips that is different??.

The compressor I have to use is a two stage 220 80gal tank.I would think that would have enough cfm to work.

i blast a car and then wash it with water and dawn soap. blow dry it then epoxy it. all this gloom and doom about flash rust is not an issue . even if i get some flash it is no problem. it tells you the metal is clean. scuff with 80 and epoxy it. starblast contains less than .5% silica.

Yeah, what Shine said!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just use Gibbs product on bare metal to stop any flash rust until you are ready to paint.

the fewer products involved the better. epoxy should be applied to clean bare steel. any rust preventative ( etch primer ) will have phosphoric acid in it. acid and epoxy do not mix. you will get a chemical reaction which can cause co2 which leads to adhesion loss and bubbles. epoxy as soon as it is clean. do not leave it setting around bare. spi epoxy has a gloss to it and helps find problem areas .

I blasted full-time for years as a job. My advise is to use a sander first, then do as little blasting as possible, then more sanding. My thoughts are that blasting moves the metal around. I'm doing a rusty 37 car and I want as little as warping as possible. The one person said at a 45 degree angle which is very good advise.
If you use a blaster first, you then usually get to carried away. You waste sand and cause warping.

CFM's can be a problem. I had bought a used compressor(30 gallon) that said on the side it would run a sandblaster, but didn't work at all with the HF blaster I bought. I'm not sure what they need but an 80 gallon size tank should be adequate! I ended up with sand everywhere, and paint and rust untouched! Took forever to get the sand out of all the nooks and crannies, still run across some on the frame from time to time!

With blasting you need a big enough compressor to build up air fast enough to recover from the air that you are applying to the blaster. A 3/8 inch hose that is usually run to the blaster is not enough. You need more (umph) more air to go to the blaster and air to recover for the time you are using it.
I'm going to check with someone who might come out to my house and use Dry Ice to blast with. I use to blast for a living for 8 years. That was my job. It was usually on concrete for making designs on new buildings. To make a long story short, more air going to the blaster is what is needed for it to work, but more air causes more heat, so be careful like I'm going to do. Test something to make sure it's going to work for what you need.