Media blasters - anyone doing this at home? What blaster?

[YY1]

I found this gravity setup at a yard sale for $25.

Works as good as the HF pressure pot with a LOT less hassle.


Here's a look at some of the things you find.


I knew some of this would be there.




We'll see how this turns out.

I've not warped a panel yet...and I did a roof last year.

I LIKE that left hand grip on the TP Tools gun.


Here's the compressor I'm using.





BTW that corner took an entire bag of sand and about an hour.

Regulator was at 85-90 PSI IIRC. Compressor is set at 140.

32 CFM.



Next time I'm putting down a tarp so I can reclaim at least some of the sand.

 

[fatecaptured]

so what your saying Donny is that if the car was fully dismantled and on a whirly jig, it would result the same as conventional dry blasting. From what I've studied about that process (wet blasting) is that it generates virtually no heat. Which heat is what causes 95% of warpage. Plus no respirators are needed do to the fact that no dust is being created. You can even blast in street clothes. To me it sounds like an industry changer.

 

[Donny]

An industry changer? I bet you no. I went to Dustless Blasting HQ down in Houston, tried their system to get first hand knowledge. You indicate 'Dust' is not there with their system, well, where does it go? It is not absent on their system...it's sludge on the ground. I handled it first hand and tried it out. Their promotional video is 'cool', however, it does not show an all-inclusive and 99% of the time required blasting to really get it all clean and eradicate the rust and rot.

And, to focus on 'Industry', I don't think the hobbyists out there are going to change any industry as there is no industrial means and methods to recover the sludge that the Dustless blasting leaves in your driveway and grass. Dust that's airborne is captured and sent to a can or bags for later disposal, and, trust me THAT is a messy and nasty job!

Everyone talks about 'Heat' that causes flat panel damages. I've been doing this since 2002 and the heat is minimal. Your Hood on your car in the summer is hotter than any 2" square area I, or any media blaster will heat up. The damage is not from heat, but, from the effects of about 100 small ball peen hammers coming down at once in that small area! So, operator skill and experience is what also needs to be considered.

The corner of the Hood, you spent one hour on that corner, really? That's insane! Why are you wasting your time doing that at that speed? What's your time worth? I'd have the entire Hood done in 90 minutes. But, I get it how it's fun to do it for yourself for the first time.

 

[Hemirunner]

For me, there is nothing "fun" about blasting. It's just a necessary part of the hobby. I like the reward of pulling a clean part out of the blast cabinet, or starting with a rusty floor and blasting it up nice and clean, but I'd hardly call it fun. With my schedule, it's about the convenience and cost of doing it myself. With my alloted time, it amounts to an hour here or a few hours there. Moving this car to a blaster and doing the whole thing and all the parts would be far more work (at any given time) and way less convenient than rolling it outside and blasting a section here and a section there.

Your method would be a far better one, but my time and budget dictate otherwise. If I were doing this to make money, I would definitely haul it to a guy like you. I view as it's just a hobby and I like doing all of the varied operations of restoring a car, from body work to upholstery. Luckily, I have the skills and tools to do nearly everything on one of these cars with the exception of final paint. I may even try that on the current project.

I'm the type of guy who rarely hires anyone to do anything. I like to try and master new skills and if I can save money by doing it, that's a plus. Sometimes I spend more and chalk it up to the cost of learning said skill. Now, if I were your next door neighbor, that changes everything!!

 

[moparmuscle]

I'm (Colemans father) on the same page as Hemirunner, plus its is fun to being doing the whole thing with my son verses farming it out (if we could afford to). Its his first car. View attachment 243645View attachment 243646View attachment 243647 Back to the thread, the pot blaster whether its from HF like the one we have or Eastwoods (which are the same unit I belive) the blaster works fine however the the handles and front leg are made of thin walled tubing. When its full of media the front leg is stressed and ours bent over. I did a repair on it the first time reusing the original leg but last night it gave way again. We cut it off and used a thick walled cheater pipe and welded it on with a brace because of the angle the leg is at...its solid as a rock now. We also made a plastic enclousre in the garage to contain the mess and have a big fan to blow the dust out. That makes it nice to recover the media and reuse it....but remember it does make a mess to clean up

 

[YY1]

I'll have you know my sanity (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with my value of time.

There are no commercial blasters near me (I thought about dong it), and even if there were, I'd likely have more in that than I have in the hood.

I'll agree that I can wheel out the scaffold, blast a section, prime, and wheel it back in on my schedule.

I'll also admit that the hour also included the above plus playing with the regulator, filling the hopper twice, and maybe having a beer or two.


I could never get that pot blaster to work consistently. It needed LOTS of fiddling, wasted a lot of media, and there was barely any perceivable difference in performance versus the gravity hopper.

 

[Donny]

I think you need to wear proper protective equipment! Wearing that Hood offers basically no protection from the free silica released by sand blasting. You're doing many risky things whereas you need not. You're going to need a fresh air fed and filtered Helmet if you plan on doing a car body. I'm raising a lot of professional Red Flags on this thread folks, really, Silica is NO JOKE on your lungs.

 

[Propwash]

I think you need to wear proper protective equipment! Wearing that Hood offers basically no protection from the free silica released by sand blasting. You're doing many risky things whereas you need not. You're going to need a fresh air fed and filtered Helmet if you plan on doing a car body. I'm raising a lot of professional Red Flags on this thread folks, really, Silica is NO JOKE on your lungs.

Not to mention aluminum oxide. That stuff can easily mess you up for the rest of your life. Be careful out there guys! We just had an older gentleman (boiler inspector) from my work die not too long ago. Only 3 1/2 years of breathing in Silica dust while inside a boiler did him in. He wore 3M dust masks all the time.

 

[Donny]

I don't mess around. I have three fresh air filtered Helmets, two filters. I spent a lot of time in the Desert for Uncle Sam, and, breathed a lot of that **** over there, so, the odds are in my favor for getting lung issues! So, be careful folks!

 

[65Fury440]

I was scuba diving in Hawaii in 1997 using an aluminum tank. The tank had been cleaned internally, but left aluminum residue from the process. It made me very ill after breathing aluminum "dust" in, I can taste it in my lungs even today.

An ounce of prevention would apply to breathing apparatus when blasting.

 

[moparmuscle]

Is there any specific reason to use silica sand verses black blast slag?

 

[Donny]

I don't let people waste their money nor I my time. If something is even close to being junk, and fixing it may be just a bit more expensive than buying new, and it's repopped as a new item, the chance of blasting it is not so good. Old original stuff is best; Fenders, Hoods, Doors, etc. And, if they can be saved -- and if the cost is not too much more than fixing the old, I tell them to fix the old and I blast away. However, making repop stuff 'fit' often is more expensive than if we fixed the originals. So, to answer the question; sand or slag, I don't do either! If it's a Hood that's not replacable, then why in hell would anyone with half a brain run Sand or Slag over their Hood?

 

[moparmuscle]

Were not using it on the doors, hood or any body panels just the underside and engine bay--the question was...why silica over black blast?

 

[snakeoil24]

I have to speak in defense of Donny, media Blasting is not for the faint of heart. This business requires Industrial grade compressors. A rotary would be nice at 10K each minimum or a diesel powered portable with 50 CFM is real good. Buying any of the Harbor Freight or East wood stuff is simply good for hand sized pieces and that is it. The bigger issue is what you should pay to get it done. First thing you need to do is be clear with the blaster what will get done so no corners are cut. I had my B Body Coronet done by a blaster in NJ who did a good job. I had the car done with out floor included since their reallly was no floor for 900.00 in the off season cash in hand. This included 2 doors, 2 fenders, Trunk Lid and Hood. The body was done except for floor and i get a great price "Steal" and for 100.00 more he picked up the car and dropped it off. I also had a good amount of under coating already stripped off. So if i had not done these pieces I would have expected to pay 1400 dollars. I had estimates of 2400.00 and again i asked the question how many days and how many hours plus how many people. Then I made sure we used Dupont Star Blast which did a good job. Also doing this at home presents another issue with Dust and this is no easy matter getting rid of the left over blast media from the body.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Is there any specific reason to use silica sand verses black blast slag?

Yes, a BIG reason: Silicosis. It's an evil, debilitating disease that no one wants. Sand produces it whereas other medias (black slag, walnut shells, aluminum oxide, etc.) do not. NEVER blast with regular sand without sufficient breathing apparatus ... which most hobbyists won't condone being able to afford even though they should.

 

[NOSTRT980]

Where do you get the carbide tips?:icon_eyes:

 

[Lowhound]

I used one of the Harbor Freight blasters but only on my underbody & interior. I chose to DA sand the entire exterior. The HF models do a decent job but only after you change out all the valves, plus learn how to adjust it to your needs. Nobody in my area does any type of blasting or I would have likely gotten it professionally blasted. Its a nasty, filthy, slow process without the proper equipment. Listen to Donny is my best advise.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Where do you get the carbide tips?:icon_eyes:

TPTools.com. They have good prices on all kinds of blasting consumables. Check out their Upgrade Kit if you use a cabinet too.

 

[Propwash]

TPTools.com. They have good prices on all kinds of blasting consumables. Check out their Upgrade Kit if you use a cabinet too.

I'll Second that! I have one of their Scat Blast cabinet's. Good quality american stuff!

 

[Donny]

You should not be using Sand, period. Doing it for the fun of it is not fun if your son (or you) gets sick from what Cuda Chick sais, which is true. There's a LOT of areas where Hobbyists can excel in; blasting is not one of them. DA'ing the outside panels you will NOT get clean areas like this, in fact, you'll be wasting sand paper, your time, and making a turd of a car if you sand this (and these types of areas) down, and paint over it. In fact, you don't know this sort of damage is there unless you media blast.