Media Blasting

[Donny]

I don't use sand b/c of the health related risks, sure, sand can work just fine, you gotta be really careful though. How'd you get the impression I blast outside, and let plastic go everywhere? The stuff is too expensive and blasting outside makes your neighbors your enemies -- even in an industrial park! I reclaim my media, use it as long as it lasts, the smaller it gets the better it works; sad reality is this media then is at the end of its life-cycle.

Soda (IMHO) has its uses, lots of folks use it for their cars, but, when you use it on fiberglass, you're doing the wrong thing, its too fine, and it will penetrate the hand laid even composite 'glass will be penetrated, and, will ruin your well-layed out paint job. Soda is not as effective against rust as other medias, Soda (as other medias) have their respective lane of purposed use.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Thanks for the reply, Donny. I saw a picture of you on here somewhere blasting outside.....or so I thought. Yeah, I figured you'd reclaim it somehow. I live in a very rural area. My closest neighbor is like 1/4 mile away on the other side of some woods.....they'll get over it. lol

 

[Donny]

I'm finishing up a 68 Charger today and tomorrow, this thing had the most undercoating of any car I've ever done. So, I assumed the floors should be pretty good, right? WRONG! I put the car on its side, had a 5 ft tall bird cage to blast, put it next to the underside of the Charger to catch secondary blast, well, I cleaned perhaps 40-50% of the underside this way, but, under the undercoating were tons of little pinholes in the trunk pan! This was a surprise even to me! If the customer had 'wire brushed' or used a chemical to remove the undercoating he would never have found the weak metal areas. Again, even I am sometimes surprised at what is uncovered right before my eyes!

 

[Donny]

FYI, figured some of you may be interested in what's next. I took in a 66 Mustang coupe, the guy has done some work to it, spent 2 grand on a rotisserie, cut out the floors and qtr, 'welded' on replacements, and, (get this) he glued on the tail panel with the panel adhesive, with no welds. Now, I said he welded the aforementioned parts, well, his welding skills is a beginning beginner with a Mig. All the welds are turds, the bottoms of the floors are not welded up. Bottom line, I've been hired to blast it, re-weld it (fix the welds) and then spray some epoxy primer on it. I'm interested (and thus my reason for bringing back from the dusty section of the board) in how this panel adhesive will withstand being media blasted. Of course, I will post a pic before and after of this panel. I'm sure some of you will want to know how this plays out. Cheers!

 

[747mopar]

Lots of good info, I bought POR15 for my car but couldn't bring myself to paint over rust "it's still sitting in the garage". There isn't anybody local that does anything other then sandblasting so I removed all of the bad sheetmetal and had the chassis blasted and then coated it with epoxy primer and spray on bed liner. The rest of the sheetmetal got chemically stripped "man does that stuff stink". I ran into the same issue you talked about, it looked like someone stripped the hood and trunk, left it sit outside for a year and then just primed over it. My biggest problem has been humidity (Ohio) I came home today and my brother inlaw had the door hanging wide open (it was unusually warm today) on the garage I went inside and the whole car was soaking wet. I've found that if I coat (urethane) any areas where I've sanded threw then there isn't a problem but if I don't the filler absorbs the moisture like a wick. I finally bought a dehumidifier that seams to help a lot. Keep the info coming

 

[Donny]

Here's the car...pics do ALL the talking here, no need for me to say anything! lol

 

[Photon440]

Oh my goodness. Did he forget to turn the gas on? No wonder he opted for panel adhesive...

On the plus side, he DID realize that he wasn't up to continuing the job.

-=Photon440=-

 

[MoparBill]

Oh my goodness. Did he forget to turn the gas on? No wonder he opted for panel adhesive...

On the plus side, he DID realize that he wasn't up to continuing the job.

-=Photon440=-

Looks like he used flux cored wire- no gas needed, either that or a bird flew by and pooped on his Ford!

 

[Donny]

He spends the money on good equipment; a 2 grand rotisserie (still too thin gauge), and a Lincoln welder, but, he is lacking in the 'how to do it' department.

 

[747mopar]

I always encourage people to try and do it yourself but "at least practice on some scrap first" that's horrible. Speaking of panel adhesive (I don't like the idea nor do I ever plan on using it) what do you think of it, I always have people asking me about.

 

[Donny]

I just finished a Honda Civic up for an organization http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeH8wK_1-aY and the battery tray was welded inside the pax compartment, well, not really welded worth a damn, as I just ripped it out with my bare hands and found a birds nest of Mig wire behind it. Amazing, people just think something is easy b/c they see it done on TV. Anyone out there that still thinks the Blue Collar workers are chumps and they can do it themselves better, well, keep being delusional, and Home Depot is having a Tile laying class from 6pm to 7pm tomorrow from a guy making 9 bucks an hour who just got out of HS, attend the class, and you're an expert! lol

 

[dvw]

My 2 cents. $2500 for a strip job is more than I could spend. I sand blast the inner fenders,floors and jambs. The rest is stripped by hand with stripper. It's a mess and time consuming but it works. Also I've seen many warped panels by blasting. I agree someone who is good at it won't warp too bad. How do you know if the guy is any good? As far as skim coat with filler. Your filler work is only as good as the person doing it. Metal straightening is an art form. Many out there "cave and pave" If you want it straight, and I mean straight it's going to have filler. Repop or original, panels are not that straight. It all depends on how picky you are. I find POR15 to be an excellent product when used in the right context. We pour it inside 1/4 panels,door seams, cowls, and other impossible to reach areas to seal out moisture. Unless your cuting the parts apart it's impossible to know what's insde. We've found this to be an excellent method to prevent rust from growing. Several cars running around done this way,some over a 20year span that still look like new.
Doug

 

[Donny]

How do you know if the guy is any good?......I find POR15 to be an excellent product when used in the right context. We pour it inside 1/4 panels,door seams, cowls, and other impossible to reach areas to seal out moisture. Unless your cutting the parts apart it's impossible to know what's inside. We've found this to be an excellent method to prevent rust from growing. Several cars running around done this way, some over a 20 year span that still look like new.
Doug

Good question! Perhaps a track record? As far as $2500.00, I never get that much Full car is very close up towards $2000.00, usually around $1650-1850.00. Putting the POR15 inside the qtrs seems like the car will be around long after we're gone! lol

 

[Donny]

Just finished the Mustang today. Owner told me "My buddy said the floors look fine". One thing the media blast does is 'punch' the metal, finding weak areas, and thin areas, and, as such, opens it up. So, the areas this owners 'Buddy' said was good, well, they're not! This owner has immediately started bitching to me how much he's spent so far; didn't have the heart to tell him he wasted 2 grand on a tool he's not capable of utilizing; that rotisserie. And, the 2 grand he spent on his Lincoln welder is also wasted. If he came to a professional before dropping 4 grand, he could have gotten out of where he is now for less than he's going to spend with me fixing all the screw ups.

Blasting finds areas that were aforementioned good, now, renders them needing assistance. He's going to need a rocker panel too, one was filled with bondo that he had no idea was in this condition. Best money you can spend if you're serious about doing it right; Media Blasting.

 

[Donny]

Here's one good reason why spending your good, and hard-earned money on having your car/parts professionally Media Blasted. This is the above Mustangs door, I forgot and failed to see/located the door stop (I usually catch these prior to blasting) and notice how the old Mustangs use an embossed metal with designs in it prior to stamping into door shapes? This door stop prevented the paint from being blasted off, and, after being blasted off, notice the details that are retained in the metal whereas a harder and more aggressive blasting media would have dulled the embossed features of this unique metal. What's still amazing to me, is how thick the paint on these cars really is! And, this is the inside of a door, imagine what 2 or 3 repaints' thickness is really like on the outside of your car!!! And this is after I put a coat of self-etch primer on the door!

 

[YY1]

Thanks for keeping us informed on what's going on in the world of media blasting.

I always enjoy seeing what you're up to, what kinds of problems you run into, and what techniques you use.

Someone finally opened a blasting service in my area.
I haven't been in to check them out yet, though.

I picked up a 73 RR hood for my Satellite. It's got some rust through on the lip that will need patching, and some dents where someone went overboard fixing something.

I't does still have 80% of the original paint, and boy it that an SOB to get off.
It's the worst paint I've tried to blast off yet. VERY slow going.
The paint is harded to get off than the fairly thicj surface rust!r
Thanks again, man!

 

[kellycom]

@ YY1. http://www.allamericanpowdercoating.com/ (All American Powder Coating & Sandblasting 1213 E, Bearss Ave Lutz, Fl 33549). These are the guys that did my 65 Sport Fury. I was very happy with the results. I'm not sure how far they are from you. But maybe worth the drive.

@ Donny. Thanks for all the great pics and info!!!

 

[YY1]

What did they charge/what did you have done?

TX

 

[Donny]

A guy bought a 70 Satellite, brought it to me and indicated it was 'straight', hahahaha, here's to anyone that gambles their car is 'Ok', you MUST get your car Media Blasted, always, no negotiating. If you're serious, get it blasted.

 

[Photon440]

Got a picture of the "straight" look it had before you blasted it?