sandblasting question
 

what is the best material to use in a blaster for cleaning an old rust pitted hood?? i heard sand will warp. is this true. how about metal slag?

Re: sandblasting question
 

If you can find copper slag it will leave a very nice smooth surface, the company that does my blasting and powdercoating uses this and i usually only need a double wet coat of fill primer to achieve a smooth paintable finish

Re: sandblasting question
 

Any material can warp a large "flat" surface. The friction of the media hitting the metal builds heat which is what causes warping. If you keep shooting the same place for too long it can really heat up that area and warp the panel. Similar to welding body panels, you have to be very careful not to build too much heat because it will "pop" the panel you are welding on. Point of this story... no matter what you use, keep moving. If you hit a stubborn spot, hit it a little and come back to it (maybe several times).

Re: sandblasting question
 

I have a cheapie Campbell gun and an old Craftsman hopper that I use on small jobs. The hopper has a screen and I've used play sand with good results. I assume that you'd still need to use safety precautions just like anything else, but I figured that it's cheap enough and more "get it all over your driveway" friendly.. With my compressor, there's enough pressure for small jobs, and like mentioned already, you don't want to use it for large flat surfaces.

I had rust around my rain gutters, so I cleaned out the caulking and blasted it clean. Works really good for the hard to reach areas.

Re: sandblasting question
 

sand doesnt warp bad blaster operators warp

Re: sandblasting question
 

:lol: :haha: :lol: and some are warped. :agree:

Re: sandblasting question
 

Good point. My body man doesn't trust any of them so I make sure the operators know to stay away from the big surfaces. It will almost always take less time to clean the surfaces the "slow" way (i.e. grinding) than to try to fix heavy warping on a large surface, especially a hood.

Re: sandblasting question
 

Out of all the abrasives out there, I like Aluminum Oxide the best. My buddy has a full-blown blasting operation with roll-in booth and that is what he uses for frames and bodies...He even TRIED to warp a hood once and had a VERY hard time doing it...

Re: sandblasting question
 

Anybody ever used baking soda?

Re: sandblasting question
 

good for biskits and cake// can leave residule which ends up like battery acid eating stuff away /major paint companies wont warrentee paint on a soda blasted finish

Re: sandblasting question
 

Where might be the best place to buy these different abrasives. Such as a local hardware store of some sort??

Re: sandblasting question
 

Thanks cdowns, I had heard about using it, didn't realize there would be paint issues. Appreciate it............Jerry