Sand Blasting Truck & Frame

[crawdad]

Trying to find someone around my neck of the woods to sand blast my truck is proving to be mighty hard for me. I've found a local boy who is in the monument business (head stones), who said he would blast my truck for me, but he admitted he hasn't done very much of this type of work. He has blasted a few heavy fertilizer trucks, etc, however. He wants me to get the sand and he said he would just pull his rig over to my house and blast it here. What I need to know is what kind of sand to get. Do I need to get any particular type? Are there different grits, and if so, what grit should I get? Lastly, can someone give me some kind of idea as to how much I'll need to do the whole truck and frame? I'm sure there are other questions I'll think of later, so if any of you care to throw in any tidbits of helpful information, I'd appreciate it. Thanks

[crawdad]

I realize now I probably should have put this in the Paint and Body forum. Mr. Moderator, please move if needed. My apologies.

[68 short step]

id use alum balls , glass,or walnut shells. if you do go with sand get it treated for sandblasting. untreated sand can have salt in it minute pieces inbead in the frame (but looks real clean) and you paint it and les then a year later your back at step one.

[jamesi20]

I would be careful too with someone who doesn't do this very often...should be no problems with the frame,but body panels are very easy to warp and distort with too much pressure.

[crawdad]

Originally Posted by 68 short step

id use alum balls , glass,or walnut shells. if you do go with sand get it treated for sandblasting. untreated sand can have salt in it minute pieces inbead in the frame (but looks real clean) and you paint it and les then a year later your back at step one.

Will the walnut shells shoot through the same gun, or do you have to have something special to shoot it? Do any of you Georgia Boys have any idea where I might find this stuff in our state?

[Botietruck]

I did my whole truck disassembled and used very fine grit blasting sand. I believe I ended up using about 60-70 bags. That was sandblasting everything. You cannot blast on one area, you should sweep the nozzle along and keep it moving, keeping a good distance from the sheet metal. If you're very careful, it won't warp the metal...but it can turn into a disaster quickly. Good luck and report back and tell us how it worked out.

[cdowns]

theres bagged sandblasting sand //i always use the fine grit//check your local autopaint supplier to see if they carry it they might also know of people that do automotive stuff for a living/some toolrental companies also carry it// or a building supply company or concrete company but make sure it's sandblasting sand

you do realize EVERYTHING must be disassembled prior to blasting front and rear suspensions all mechanical items like ww wipers wiring removed gauges glass from the doors etc

[crawdad]

Originally Posted by cdowns

you do realize EVERYTHING must be disassembled prior to blasting front and rear suspensions all mechanical items like ww wipers wiring removed gauges glass from the doors etc

Yes, I've just about got everything stripped and disassembled now. I'm getting ready to weld in some repair panels and wanted to follow up afterwards with the blasting. Since this guy hasn't done this a whole lot on vehicles, he said we would start out "way down" (pressure) and "way back" (distance) until we got the results we wanted. Thank you all for your help.

[Fred T]

Best supply for blast sand around here is an outfit that bags the redi-mix concrete. You might check the suppliers in your area.

A bit of advice here. I wouldn't have any problems letting this guy blast a frame, but I would not want someone without a lot of experience blast any sheet metal. It is too easy to destroy the sheet, many outfits recommend against sand blasting sheet metal period. It's just too easy to warp. It might look okay while the blasting is in work, but when you go back and look later you see the damage.

[72CSTC5]

Man, do not do it. I am a bodyman. Trust me. It is okay for an isolated spot of rust say in the corner of the windshield opening or something like that but a whole vehicle, forget. I wouldnt even work on it if you brought it to me after sandblasting.

[longhorn71]

Originally Posted by 72CSTC5

Man, do not do it. I am a bodyman. Trust me. It is okay for an isolated spot of rust say in the corner of the windshield opening or something like that but a whole vehicle, forget. I wouldnt even work on it if you brought it to me after sandblasting.

The same thing my body man told me.

[N2TRUX]

Not only does the heat from blazting warp the metal it also changes the molecular structure even if it's not warped. I would look around and see if you can't find a company the specializes in auto paint stripping to do the job. They know how to do it and will cause minimal damage...

[crawdad]

Ok, you've convinced me. I'm not going to blast the body parts. I'll just do the frame, and there is a couple of small parts in the bed that I would like to do. Thank you all for your opinions. That was what I was looking for.

[Dean]

I wouldn't even do your frame if the suspension, brakes and rear end are still on it. Unless of course you love replacing bearings, seals and etc down the road. The sand will get in no matter what you do.

[mplex2000]

Strange that so many people do this with such great results. Guess it must not warp and distort the panels that bad.

[cdowns]

Originally Posted by mplex2000

Strange that so many people do this with such great results. Guess it must not warp and distort the panels that bad.

it's a great way to prep a body IF the person doing the blasting is familar with proper tecniques biggest mistakes are using blasters designed for bridges and blasting the metal straighton the thinner and longer the panels are the more of an angle is required i/ve been blasting stuff with sand for over 30years without warping a panel

[Joe67]

Originally Posted by crawdad

I realize now I probably should have put this in the Paint and Body forum. Mr. Moderator, please move if needed. My apologies.

Done

[crawdad]

Originally Posted by Dean

I wouldn't even do your frame if the suspension, brakes and rear end are still on it. Unless of course you love replacing bearings, seals and etc down the road. The sand will get in no matter what you do.

Yep, already been warned about that. All of that stuff is already off. Nothing left but the frame itself.

[72CSTC5]

Like everything else, some people are better at their profession than others but most people that I have seen blast can not do it properly. We had a customer bring in a 55 Bel Air hardtop one day blasted and on a rotisserie on the back of a roll back WITH NO RUST! We thought sweet, this is going to be a nice job, until I ran my hands over the panels. We refused the job!!