More sandblasting q's; doing it at home?

[Canada20]

Hey all. I know blasting cabinets and equipment like that is available for media blasting but I seem to remember having a buddy in school who's dad was really into restorations and he did sandblasting in his driveway. I don't know what preparations he made to do that; maybe he had some $4000 sealed tent that fit over the vehicle that I just never saw or maybe he just loaded up a gun, strapped on a facemask and blasted away. What kind of stuff can a do-it-yourselfer get away with?

Greg

[pierce]

We rented a portable genarator and blaster, came with a suit/mask. Put a tarp on the ground to collect and reuse the sand. After the body and frame was blasted we primed all the bare metal right away. It was about $100 for the day.

[barn9]

Sandblasting might be OK for a frame and related parts, but I would not use it on body parts, way too abrasive. Media blasting does not pit the metal the way sand does. I had my inner fenders sandblasted while they were off, and they still look rough after 3 coats of paint, wouldn't do that again on a bet. IMO, sandblasting is for industrial use only.

[stllookn]

Depends on your neighborhood and tolerance for a mess. I sand blast outside but live on 3 acres and can't see the neighbors! I do it a long way from the house since it creates such a mess. Use a good particle mask that seals well and will block all dust. It will be in your hair, down your back and any place that you can imagine. If you can pay someone else to do it for you in a booth it would be much better. For small parts I drive 15 minutes to a friends shop and use his booth...so much easier!

[70c10]

I did some sand blasting back in July on a truck I was working on. It had some heavy rust and I wanted to knock it down quick. It's very messy. You definitely need eye protection and should keep your mouth shut!. This stuff goes everywhere. It's a fun process but you have to use DRY fine sand.

[Long Knight]

For a great blasting finish, use glass beads. They are extremely fine and leave a clean finish without unwantedly gouging out good material. However, the fine glass beads are a little pricy. I would recommend buying or renting blasting equipment that is equipped with suction, blast an area then let off the trigger and the beads are sucked up and recycled.

[Canada20]

Wow you guys are quick! thanks!

I'm going to have the front pretty much totally apart in the spring right down to the frame and while it's exposed thought I'd give it a mediablast/zero-rust treatment. I don't know what the shops around here charge for sandblasting and I doubt I could afford it anyway. Luckily my landlord owns a rental shop and he's already said that as long as no one wants to rent a piece of equipment, I'm welcome to use it.
I'd only do this to thicker chunks of metal like the frame or maybe an intake or something. I don't think I have the guts to try a body panel so don't worry about that one.

These are all encouraging replies, thanks.

Greg

[busterwivell]

I have a small cabinet at home, just blasted a set of rams horns for a friend last night. I've helped a friend blast a frame outdoors with tarps. Put a screen over a bucket to filter reclaimed sand. Messy but it works. A friend had a complete 37 Chevy body walnut blasted for $375.00. I thought that was a DEAL!

[Fred T]

After you've blasted something you realize how good the price was for letting someone else do it. It is hard work. Wearing the protective gear is hot and sweaty. You end up with sand in every crack in your body. Your skin becomes a rust magnet. And be sure to wear a good air filter under the hood, silica dust is extremely hazardous to your lungs. As for me, I will gladly pay someone else to do it. You, however, are probably younger and in far better health than I, so if you have the equipment and a location suitable, go for it.

[1971Stepside]

Fred T is correct! Use a respirator! It is one nasty job. I would also recommend that you scrape off all the excess oil/dirt/grime that you can before blasting. I sprayed oven cleaner on my frame and let it sit out in the hot sun for a few hours. Then took my power washer to it. This will make basting much faster.

The key to blasting is having a very strong compressor that can keep up with the blaster. Having to wait on the compressor is not much fun.

It will make a huge mess.

I like the idea of the suction at the end of the blaster tip. I wonder if I could rig up the shop vac to handle that???

[hughnews1]

and get a tow comp ..... SCHRAM or so then tow it on the back of your c-10 1971 ... woo hooo pricelesss

[Truckstr]

Sandblasting is doable at home, but there are considerations.

First, as others have said, is the mess - a big mess.

Second, is the size of the air compressor that you use. I have one of those Campbell-Hausfeld 3 HP compressors - it ain't big enough! Everytime I use my sandblaster with my air compressor, the compressor runs constantly trying to keep up. I'm afraid I'm going to burn the thing up! Check the volume rating (cfm) on the compressor vs. the requirement of what you'll need for the sandblaster.

Third, I run into problems with moisture in the air stopping up the blaster nozzle with damp sand.

I solved the second and third problems by using the compressor at a friends' machine shop (always a great friend to have ). He has a really big 440 volt powered unit with an air drier. No more problems - but the mess is still there.

Good luck,
Jeff

[Dean23]

I've priced out getting my fram blasted form 95-145 canadian dollars. To rent a blaster is 38 bucks a day plus sand which is 10 a bag and would need about 6-8 bags ..... Getting soemone else might be more expensive but I dont have to clean the mess or inhale silica

[minibike]

I blast in my driveway, and then sweep up the sand and screen it. After all the blasting is done, I use the leaf blower to blow the sand out in the yard.

Of course, there are few zoning restrictions around here...

[minibike]

If you use #4 or finer sand, the profile or roughness is not too bad. The industrail type sandblasting yards use large sand that leaves a very rough finish.

[minibike]

If it is small enough to fit in the booth, it goes in here and the kid does it! You can build a booth for aboout $200 or less.

[Canada20]

Mini: that makes a pretty good reference photo for knowing what's holding these trucks up. Nice booth too...now I wish I had a garage.

Dean: Getting it done by someone else doesn't sound too bad pricewise, thanks for that. I wonder if there's anyone in Calgary that can match that price.

Like I say, my landlord owns a rental shop and I can borrow the tools for free if he has them. I'm just curious if it's something I could tackle in a weekend while I have the frontend stripped. I don't have the space to leave truck parts laying around to strip it right down and no money to get it carted away to get blasted or powder coated.
Kind of sounds like this would be too much of a PITA to be worth the trouble at the moment. Thanks for the replies, folks!

Greg

[Dean23]

I work with Uhaul so I get to use the shop after hours to work on my resto and then I get to use auto transporters and the truck to move my frame to the blasting shop. decent deal in my opinion

[HeavyK20]

I went to a place that blasts and paints big trucks. This guy claimed that you should blast the Pi$$ out of the frame with course sand to get a very rough finish. This give the primer something to grab onto.

[minibike]

That's true about giving it something to bite into. The roughness is called profile. You get more profile with bigger abrasive...same as sandpaper. You just have to be careful not to get too much, where the primer can't smooth it out.