Media blasting costs suprised me

[FFredo]

I called a local outfit today. I have used these guys in the past on several motocycle projects, mostly powder coating. Customer service is top notch and the staff is always friendly and helpful.
I wanted to know what mmy ball park cost would be to blast/strip my 59 cab and fllet side bed.
The price I was quoted was 850.00 for both and 650.00 for the cab alone.
That price does enclude a primer coat to ward off rust blooms while I work on the sheet metal..
I'm in San Diego Cal. Does this seem about normal for price or should I keep shopping?

Thanks in advance for your input.

PS: I forgot to ask if that encluded doors, hood and fenders. But I'm guessing probably not.

Fredo

[99-LS1-SS]

I just got a quote today to do the frame and body and this is what they sent.

"To burn ,blast,and powder coat chassis only $550 to burn, blast, powder
coat primer body and mis. parts $1000 do them together $1500"

[skip99]

makes you want to buy the stuff and do it yourself , huh?
why not? $1500 buys a nice compressor and sandblaster...

[LEEVON]

FFredo, that is a great price. They will have $200-300 in materials alone. I have a neighbor that does blasting work, mostly fire restorations and he fills-in with cars/trucks. He's $100/hr plus materials and I've seen him put in more than a full day on a car body on a rotisserie. Materials can be very expensive depending on the media.

The hassle of buying equipment, materials and the many days you would spend is WELL worth $850 trust me. And it comes back primed, that's perfect...

[55metalmonkey]

Sounds good compared to where I live, phoned around to a few places to get JUST my frame blasted (no suspension, just raw frame) and the lowest price was $600 (no primer or PC) worst was $1200. It just depends on where you live i guess, we're kinda trapped on an island with a lot of environmental regs. so that hikes the price. I found a buddy who has a small non comercial one, I'll just use his shop for a few days and take my time.

[01spirit750]

If we are talking about sandblasting...

After I read about silicosis I started taking all my stuff to the professionals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by skip99

makes you want to buy the stuff and do it yourself , huh?
why not? $1500 buys a nice compressor and sandblaster...

Have you ever blasted before? I have and that stuff gets everywhere and it just was not worth the clean up.lol I tried to blast and contain it in a tarp and after while I was spending so much time for setup and clean up it just was not cost effective. Plus trying to reuse the media and screening it and blasting again sucks.

I got my cab blasted for 250 inside and out. That was just the cab no doors. I can prime it myself their price to prime was 400 for a blasting and priming, but they use etching primer and I don't.

[Indian113]

I just had the frame of my Model A sandblasted ,only cost me $175.00. I took it to him and he had it done the same day.

[jps03]

I just called caps in fresno and was quoted for blasting and no primer on my 48 these are the prices off the top of my head:
cab 250-300
doors 65-75
fenders 65-75
hood 140

They said that they use a triblend of materials that they use bodies. Sounded reasonable and my buddy was happy with their work.

[fabguy]

I checked around also and was quoted from 850 - 1500 so I went down to my local harbor freight (before you laugh let me explain) and picked up a 110 lb. blaster ($129.00) and it works great. I am using crushed walnut shells mixed with aluminum oxide and did a complete qtr section on my 39 2 dr sedan in about 45 minutes. I made some screens out of visqueen from home depot so it made pick up and cleaning a breeze. I checked out alot of blasters and eastwood has the EXACT same one for 179.00 plus shipping. I bought from H.F. because about the only thing I needed to replace would be the fitings or clamps if they go bad, hasn't even clogged yet. For a 1st timer buying from them I feel I lucked out so far.
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[no moa]

I been blasting for years, couple times a summer. The **** is nasty. I wear a mask and a blasting helmet, sand still gets in my ears, hair, i made the mistake of blasting without my mask under my helmet, and what a mess, felt like **** for 3 days. Not good. So now i pick a nice windy day and stand upwind. lol.

I haven't used Soda or glass bead yet. Mostly just black beauty. I paid $28 for 3 bags and i've used some of it to do my frame, and the rest of my parts.

[kaycee]

Wow you guys are lucky they wanted around $2500 for my truck and that was me taking all the stuff off and no primer.This is the only place of I know so they got the market cornered here

[fabguy]

Originally Posted by no moa

I been blasting for years, couple times a summer. The **** is nasty. I wear a mask and a blasting helmet, sand still gets in my ears, hair, i made the mistake of blasting without my mask under my helmet, and what a mess, felt like **** for 3 days. Not good. So now i pick a nice windy day and stand upwind. lol.

I haven't used Soda or glass bead yet. Mostly just black beauty. I paid $28 for 3 bags and i've used some of it to do my frame, and the rest of my parts.

Be carefull, that black beauty aka aluminum oxide nor particles from crushed anything can't be good to breath in. Respirators are one of my closest tools. Have had a few of my friends die from, silicosis, mesothelioma, and paint/ primer poisining. I don't want to see anyone join them to early ya know. I'd like to see the frame though.
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[no moa]

Thank you, I don't do it that much, and I have a respirator now I'm useing. After the last time, I'm not gonna go through it again.
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[Thadious]

I just tarped (canvas) out my garage, put in a 20x20 box fan in the window opening, rented a 90 cfm compressor for 3 days, made the pressure blaster (siphon is for the birds), and 11 bags of crushed glass. Reused the glass a few times but in the end... did every piece of sheet metal for about $300. Expensive part was the compressor, and only because I didn't have one that could keep up with the airflow.

Trust me when I say that sand gets fkn EVERYWHERE! It took me two weeks to get it out of the nooks and crannys and I still find piles of it everywhere (2 years later!). But it did a wonderful job and I'm no expert yet never managed to warp or twist a single thing. Ground rule.... never stay in one spot, keep moving and if you don't get it all in the first pass, come back to it later!

Just my experiences... first hand.

Cheers,
Ted.

PS Invest in a damn good respirator, you will need one throughout the life of your project! Whether sand blasting, cleaning with harsh chemicals or painting... it's your lifeline.

[jevonniespapi]

I have quite a bit of experience with a siphon sand blaster. Ive only used the black sand stuff, and wow, its horrible. I can go into detail how it gets everywhere, and then sticks to you, while your all wrapped up and sweating... but everyone already has tried to explain how nasty it is. If you do it yourself, tape off your entire work area. I am finding this stuff behind outlet covers... months later. It gets into EVERYTHING. I even tried doing it in my drive way about 6 months ago... my lawn still has black patches in it. When I finally get to where I must do body work... forget doing it myself. I am a very cheap guy, but this is one area that I'd hire out... and at 850 to get your parts back in primer already... you got it made.

Ask yourself, how long it would take you, vs paying 850 and having it done in a few days. If your only workin weekends, it may take a few. Not to mention clean up. Or contaminating your kids play area, or worse... your wifes stuff.

One thing I know is blasting is worth the effort, but ill gladly pay for someone else to put in the sweat.

[hotrod1]

There is a guy in my area that comes to your place to do the soda blasting. He seems to be reasonable and does all the clean up. He sets up somewhere outside. My question is; "Does the soda harm plants and grass?"

[PurdueSD]

fwiw...soda isn't abrasive enough to remove rust.

[99-LS1-SS]

Are walnut shells?

[vintage_car]

soda blasting will strip it and can take out light surface rust, but that is about it. it doesn't harm plants or grass, when your done blasting you just spray it off with water to neutralize it. The biggest issue is when you spray it off you are wetting the bare metal so you need to dry and epoxy right away or it could flash rust on you. There are plenty of mobile sodablasters and the other nice thing is that as long as you leave the soda on and not wash off, the metal will not rust...I have had a couple gas pumps soda blasted and they were fine for almost 10 months by the time I got to them. I washed them, etched, epoxy and primer.

[mr48chev]

The cost of media blasting is like the cost of a lot of other labor intensive things in that a lot of it depends on the going wage rate for the area. I haven't priced having a frame sandblasted around here lately but feel that it currently around 250 and maybe a bit more to have a bare frame done. There are several truck and heavy equipment shops that do it along with the powder coating shops in the area. A couple of the truck and equipment shops don't do well at all on sheet metal though as their workers don't seem to have the finesse with a blasting gun to keep from damaging sheet metal.