Sand Blasting....

[Strut]

What kind of material do you guys use to blast? I've heard of walnut shells, baking soda, and just plain sand.....what is the best?

Thanks guys.....

[cdowns]

swhen sand blasting you use sand

[screamin_c10]

I personally use sand for course work, and glass for the fine stuff...

[Seraph]

I use sand when sandblasting

[Mowdigger]

Use Black Beauty for frames and suspension parts and sand for sheetmetal. Don't shoot directly at sheetmetal, go at an angle to avoid warping the sheetmetal.

[toddtheodd]

I use a special sand imported from the Australian Outback... $500.00 per ounce...

[Longhorn Man]

as you can see, the answer depends on WHAT it is you are sandblasting.
Sand can and will damage sheetmetal if you don't do it right.

[Strut]

This is what I'm blasting:

[PICKMUP]

Bed walls & floors are thick and don't normally warp...like hoods & doors. Any good sand that leaves a clean surface will work. I use a green copper slag (acts like sand) because it is the safest to handle and looks OK in grassy areas.
If you disassemble the bed, you will get a much better job. Otherwise the rust in between the seams will come back on your fresh paint.

[Duncan and son]

I agree with Pickmup. Disassemble first. If you use walnut or pecan shells it will take it down to factory primer and will come out smooth as a babys bottom. Soda does a good job but is very difficult to clean from all the cracks and crevices, and if not cleaned will haunt you later.

[Mercury694]

Silica sand cuts the fastest, I use it at work to shape stone. The dust is pretty dangerous though, make sure you're using a good respirator. If walnut shells will cut the rust, I'd use that. Pretty much anything will take the paint off.

Has anyone used steel shot on rust? I've never tried but it seems like it would work and it creates less dust.

[Strut]

I'm going to take a wire wheel over all the nuts and bolts to clean the threads and see if I can take them off with out breaking them. Then I plan on taking the bed apart to blast.....I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thank you guys for your help.

[70duramax]

Mainly depends on your blasting setup. If its a gravity feed unit use regular washed sand make sure its nice and dry thats the least expensive. whatever you use make sure its heavy. with a pressurised unit use the light stuff, ie: glass bead walnut shell nothing heavy. my two cents

[Racinaround]

I use to own a plastic media blasting shop and we shot with plastic pellets
Its real nice to have smooth metal to work with.
but you will have to hit the rust spots with sand.
Im boulding a 69 1/2ton and had the whole thing frame and all shot with plastic and about a half hour of sand work. Looks great
Frame is back from powder coat and going together great.

I have blasted old tim and found ink mark from the steel manufacturer using plastic