Sandblasting?

[sick472]

I had my cab, frame, front fenders, tailgate, & doors sandblasted many years ago by a private business that typically blasted out concrete trucks. He knew what he was doing and how to set up his equipment for doing sheet metal. He refused to do the hood for fear of warpage. The rest turned out really well.

BTW, it's NOT the heat that often causes warpage. Sheetmetal will have internal stresses the come from being cold formed or pressed. The bombardment (peening) of the metal by the sand relives those stresses and that causes the metal to relax and take on a new shape or curvature. These stresses are what help keep it's form and once relieved a new form may take place. I ended up using a small pistol grip sandblast unit on my hood and about half way through I heard an oil can pop...sure enough the hood had warpage. This warpage was not small, it covered a quarter of it's surface. This small blaster would only clean a 1 inch square at a time and there was no heat that could be felt. I suppose an industrial blaster could generate enough heat in the hands of someone without any experience.

Bedsides, bed front panel, cab roof, and door sides are the areas to avoid with sandblasting. Those areas are easy enough to strip with paint stripper and sand clean. If there is rust and/or pitting, I would not hesitate to sandblast with a small pistol grip gun keeping the gun at least a few inches away from the metal as the peening effect is reduced the further the gun is away. I'd have it blasted first, then get it to the shop and strip the rest.

Tip: a cab rotisserie is not too hard to make and makes basting and working the cab soooo much easier. Not too mention rotating over and over along with using a compressed air wand really helps get the sand out.

[Grumpy old man]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVFi6CMjhI8

I would be very leery about sand blasting the seam sealer out of the drip rail .

[Livrat]

Originally Posted by CG

I don’t have any blasting equipment of my own. I have no room for this kind of stuff, and no desire to do it myself at this time.

I heard the dustless blasting is pricey but I want to at least give them a shout

Also found out we have a blasting place here in town. I’ll be stopping in there later in the week

Mark, About the only items I would never have media blasted again are the hoods. (over the years I have had 4 hoods ruined).

If you are seriously thinking about the dustless blasting method I would recommend you really research reviews of the pros/cons. I have heard horror stories about the residual effects of not being able to get all the imbedded soda off the metal before paint.

If you are only wanting paint/bondo removal and not concerned about rust removal then I would recommend walnut shell media for blasting. (pictures attached are of one I had walnut shell blasted, you can see what was lurking under the factory paint, (the owner wanted to retain all the factory paint in the jambs).

It was done by alternative blasters in Marysville. https://www.yellowbook.com/profile/a...625062021.html.

The powdercoating/sandblasting place in Monroe is Thermo Tech (http://www.thermotechcoatings.com/home.html ), Zach (the owner) is a serious car guy. He also owns JB Sandblasters in Arlington.
I have had lots of work done by them and highly recommend them.

[CG]

Good info Mark. I’ve always used Alternative in the past. They changed ownership awhile back now and I feel they are less organized.

I wanted to try that place in Arlington next if nothing panned out here. It’s good to know it’s the same owner as the one here in Monroe. I stumbled across them last week-ish, never even knew they were here.

[Blazerowner]

There’s a company near me that uses plastic media to blast. Anyone heard of this? I considered using them a few years ago for my Chevelle.

[Hotcorner]

Eastwood sells an interesting wet blaster, but you need a 3.5 Gpm pressure washer and seems messy. https://www.eastwood.com/liquid-media-blaster.html

I’m finding my portable air compressor is woefully inadequate for media blasting with a Harbor Freight pressure blaster. Humidity is a huge problem down here too. (Not blasting anything on the 69. Just wanting to clean up a classic motorcycle frame and other things.)

[davischevy]

I had the cab, doors, fenders and hood hydro blasted on the Arkansas K10. The hood was a fail, all else was good.

[special-K]

Good to know. What went wrong with the hood?

[davischevy]

He warped the hood.

[desert-rat]

Had my cab, doors, and fenders media blasted. Soon the bed. The guy uses fine crushed glass. The cab isn't assembled yet, but never heard of warping. Does give the metal a rough feel. Blasting is the best way in my opinion to see everything. After having the metal blasted, more rust became visible. Now the body shop knows what their working with.

[ItWillBeSlow]

Lots of comments in this thread about hood issues. What is the trick to not warping a hood? I need mine blasted, or else I am going to have to buy a repop.

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

I would be very leery about sand blasting the seam sealer out of the drip rail .

Why would you avoid blasting the seam sealer out?

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by ItWillBeSlow

Lots of comments in this thread about hood issues. What is the trick to not warping a hood? I need mine blasted, or else I am going to have to buy a repop.




Why would you avoid blasting the seam sealer out?

Remove the caulk manually to avoid over working the thin sheet metal an old screwdriver and pick does the job just add elbow grease . If your willing to invest the labor there's no reason to BLAST anything . Nobody said it's easy hiring someone else to blast the cab is the easy way out . The cab I'm working on now I stripped manually using 3M strip wheels and scotch pads to bare metal inside and out for a color change ,Sure it takes a lot of time but I know exactly what I have when I'm done . Whatever method anyone chooses it still all has to be brought back to a smooth paint surface . The reason shops charge big dollars for a complete paint job - LABOR .

Watch the stout customs videos fo a lot of good information . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbuvdY0lzTg

[Grumpy old man]

If your set on having the truck blasted just leave it all up to whoever is doing the final paint work . If you watch the Stout Customs videos you'll see the considerable amount of work required after all the metal work has been done before any actual paint is sprayed .

[ItWillBeSlow]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Remove the caulk manually to avoid over working the thin sheet metal an old screwdriver and pick does the job just add elbow grease . If your willing to invest the labor there's no reason to BLAST anything . Nobody said it's easy hiring someone else to blast the cab is the easy way out . The cab I'm working on now I stripped manually using 3M strip wheels and scotch pads to bare metal inside and out for a color change ,Sure it takes a lot of time but I know exactly what I have when I'm done . Whatever method anyone chooses it still all has to be brought back to a smooth paint surface . The reason shops charge big dollars for a complete paint job - LABOR .

Watch the stout customs videos fo a lot of good information . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbuvdY0lzTg

Thanks. I agree with the screwdriver method to get the sealer out. When I removed mine and wire wheeled the gutter, I still had to spot blast the rail to get it paint ready, and thats why I asked th question of why you would avoid blasting. Id bet most cabs will need spot blasting still unless theyre in great shape.

I also recently took a cab down to bare metal for color change without blasting. Lots of work for sure, and I did use a small spot blaster in a lot of locations. Surface prep discs on an angle grinder, and many wire wheels did the trick for me.