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Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:32 pm

i just bought a cheap siphon sandblaster for light sandblasting. i want to blast my new pans before paint. what kind of media to get and where is it commonly sold? i tried home depot and lowes..no luck. thanks

Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:38 pm

I get glass beads.....................but i usually get it in bags from an e-bay site. If i get silica sand from the home improvement stores i always wear a respirator.

Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:47 pm

Check out..

http://www.consolidatedstripping.com/index.html

They have alot of information that is very helpful with media blasting.

They also sell the materials

Shua

Sun Jun 04, 2006 7:14 pm

I am doing this also.. I tried the slag (black stuff) on an experimental piece and it was way to damaging to the metal. Silica sand is better but you need to wear a respirator because it is nasty on your lungs. I am Zip Striping the paint on my bug and using the blaster only on non major panel areas and little spots that I cannot get clean otherwise.. I stripped the top and wiper mounting area today in less than 3 hours. I am a big believer in not blasting the body unless absolutely necessary. It can warp real easy and I don't think it is worth the risk..Of course the floor pans and chassis area is a different story.. can't really hurt anything there...jack

Sun Jun 04, 2006 8:43 pm

The paint on the new pans is extremely cheap and thin (at least on the two sets that I have recently used) are easily stripped with some Aircraft stripper. I welded the pans on (body off) then stripped them. Paint it on, leave it set, then blast it clean with a high pressure washer. After stripping, I painted them, and the entire pan, with Rust Bullet and then coated the bottom with Herculiner. Depending on your project, it's one option that I'm very happy with.

Sun Jun 04, 2006 9:55 pm

If you can get it where you live, garnet is real good.

John

Sun Jun 04, 2006 10:31 pm

Harbor Freight tools sells glass bead, aluminum oxide, and I think one other type of blast media. Very affordable if you have a store near you.

Sun Jun 04, 2006 10:47 pm

We used to use bags of "Sand Box" sand from the hardware store in mine at home. It's sold in 50lb bags.

It works very well as long as it's very dry.

If any doubt about it, spread it out on a tarp in the sun for a while before using.

Also, make sure you have a very good water seperator on your compressor. If the air line has much moisture at all, it will cause a siphon sandblaster to clog and be a real PITA to try to use.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 12:34 am

I will never shoot sand on a bus body again because it goes into the "sealed" panels but I was buying bags of blasting sand for $4.00 or $5.00 each at Home Base, which went out of business. If you decide to use sand, don't use the regular sand because it will have some larger pieces of quartz in it, which can clog up your media blaster.
I don't know how effective it would be but you might try crushed walnut shells.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:23 pm

what exactly is a siphon sandblaster? I'm looking to do some light sandblasting on my 74 Standard body. I haven't done any sandblasting before but I'm ready to get into it and learn.

I guess I'm looking for some sort of small sandblasting unit that can be used for small jobs. A rim, some trunk space, engine bay, pans, etc.

Let me know. Thanks everyone!

Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:04 pm

It is a hand held gun with nozzle and trigger. The gun has a hose attached from your air compressor and a media supply hose that is inserted into the media container. When the trigger is squeezed, air passes through the gun causing a siphon effect and drawing the media up the hose and into the exiting air from the aircompresser thereby living up to its name - sandblaster. I just purchased one for $19.95 and the sucker works good and I am using it on just the items you are talking about. I got it from the local guru who sell this type of equipment. I also have a little one that shoots like a water gun, Has a plastic tank above the gun for the media and I actually like this one equally well.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:48 pm

dlxcoupe wrote: It is a hand held gun with nozzle and trigger. The gun has a hose attached from your air compressor and a media supply hose that is inserted into the media container. When the trigger is squeezed, air passes through the gun causing a siphon effect and drawing the media up the hose and into the exiting air from the aircompresser thereby living up to its name - sandblaster. I just purchased one for $19.95 and the sucker works good and I am using it on just the items you are talking about. I got it from the local guru who sell this type of equipment. I also have a little one that shoots like a water gun, Has a plastic tank above the gun for the media and I actually like this one equally well.

Where could I generally get something like that? What kind of air compressor are you using to push the tool?

Thanks for the input!

Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:34 pm

Where could I generally get something like that? What kind of air compressor are you using to push the tool?

Thanks for the input![/quote]

You can get a cheap one from sears. I used to bead blast pool tile to get the calcium off and would use the standard craftsman hopper and gun. I would use the gun at a constant 120psi and it would last a couple months and then would return and get a new one. They work good and if it ever fails you can just get a new one.

Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:57 pm

Harbor Freight has a small pressurized one that holds 20 lbs. I have an old flyer on my desk from a sale of theirs back in Feb. Their "lot number" was 40925/44762. In the sale it was $46.99, regularly $64.99. I bought one a few years ago and its works very well provided that the sand isn't too large. It works very well with their Al. Oxide abrasive and glass beads, both of which are more expensive than sand. I have used it with hardware store type sand but the larger sizes tend to make adjusting it a bit touchy otherwise it will clog (I'm guessing this is true with most sandblasters). I suspect that pressurized blasters work a lot better than syphon feed blasters. Harbor Freight seems to put things on sale in cycles so if you wait long enough you should be able to find it on sale.

Tue Jun 06, 2006 4:19 am

You can buy a small siphon fed sandblaster from Sears.

I've found that SIFTED masonry sand works very well. You can buy masonry sand from your local Home Depot. It's very inexpensive and does a good job, and won't clog your sandblaster. I've found that play sand has a tendency to hold moisture and clogs my sandblaster.

The type of blast matierial you want to use depends on what type of surface you're sandblasting. Cast Iron parts (like exhaust manifolds) are usually blasted with aluminum oxide. Exterior automobile surfaces are usually blasted with either plastic media or crushed walnut shells (I've even heard of baking soda being used but this is a very slow process). For parts like floorboards, undercarriages, and wheels, masonry sand is okay to use.

P.S.) It's important to SIFT the masonry sand before using it, because masonry sand contains particles too large for the sandblaster to pick up and will cause a clog. An ordinary kitchen sifter works very well for this purpose. In my opinion BLASTING a surface is always superior to either stripping (which contains caustic matierials and is a mess to use) or sanding/grinding the surface (which actually removes metal from the car's surface and causes scratches that have to be filled and sanded later on.)

Tue Jun 06, 2006 5:38 am

Nice! I'll check Sears out. You guys have been very helpful! I appreciate it.

Tue Jun 06, 2006 8:45 am

Check your yellow pages. You should be able to find someone who supplies sandblasting sand in your area. I was able to buy it in 100lb bags for $5 a bag here in Austin, TX. It was nice clean sand and the correct grit. But, that said, I will never do it again because it takes way too much air (you need a BIG compressor) and it gets all over the place.

Tue Jun 06, 2006 1:03 pm

carmangary wrote: Check your yellow pages. You should be able to find someone who supplies sandblasting sand in your area. I was able to buy it in 100lb bags for $5 a bag here in Austin, TX. It was nice clean sand and the correct grit. But, that said, I will never do it again because it takes way too much air (you need a BIG compressor) and it gets all over the place.

Did you use a siphon sandblaster?

What size compressor were you using?

What size compressor other been using?

Tue Jun 06, 2006 1:46 pm

Josh, I got my pans from WolfsburgWest. They came with an orange protective coating. I used an electric drill with a brass brush on it and that orange came off really fast. You can use a blaster, but I don't think you'll save any time.

John

Tue Jun 06, 2006 5:09 pm

I was using a 20lb pressure blaster from Harbor Freight. It kept clogging up. The compressor was a 33gal sears compressor. To do effective sand blasting you really need one of those big industrial sized compressors.