Sandblasting?

[CG]

What are your thoughts on sandblasting a cab, especially if you are going to do a color change?

You hear a lot of ... Its going to warp ... I dunno, I feel like the only part of a cab that could be a problem is the roof, in which case I could have them only do around the rain gutter and just sand the top of the roof myself.

Honestly Id like to do the bed, fenders, and doors too (hoods already done), but its that warp thing that keeps eating at me.

[MySons68C20]

I sandblasted my inner fenders with a buddies old harbor freight deal. (very slow) There was no warping but was a very slow process.
The high volume systems produce the heat hence the warp.
The small hard to reach areas should be fine like you said.
Large panels are where it's a problem unless you use a wet blast deal like you see advertised.
Your idea of sanding the large panels is the safest bet imho.

[tinman_local2]

I had mine done. No problems what so ever. If I had it to do over, I'd probably do it myself. I got a 110lb blaster for the frame and ended up using on the doors, fenders, and hood. Worked good. You just don't want to hit it straight on. Do everything at an angle. Remove all glass and put down a tarp. You can re-use the media quite a few times.

[morepwr]

The problem in my opinion is that sandblasting is so aggressive and actually pits and removes metal. I have never seen warping but I haven't had large flat panels sandblasted either. Sandblasting is fine for cleaning up a rusty area for repair. Media blasting is much less aggressive and won't be so hard on the metal. I have had both done and prefer the media blast as it is finer and leaves a nice workable finish.

[CG]

I think that saying sand blast vs media blast is a good distinction. So probably best to have media blasted and saving actual sand blast for frames and such.

I had forgotten all about the portable wet blasting thats out there now. Ill have to see if we have anyone in our area that does that. Would be nice to have them come to me and not have to haul my stuff.

[MySons68C20]

Looks like these guys service your area.
https://alpineecoblasting.com/

[CG]

Originally Posted by MySons68C20

Looks like these guys service your area.
https://alpineecoblasting.com/

Hey nice! I appreciate this.

Im going to give them a call on Tuesday. Ill post on this thread what they say.

[MySons68C20]

Perfect, I'm curious what the cost is vs taking to a conventional dry blaster.

[C101972]

Best thing to do if you are worried about warp age is to have it blasted with baking soda, it takes painted material off with no warp age at all. It will also remove rust as long as it is not to badly rusty. Thanks Chuck
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[C101972]

Baking soda also will not harm glass or chrome.
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[racerface]

Media blasting is the way to go. I have had parts soda blasted and I have had parts walnut blasted. both are easy on metal. morepwr is right.

[Myself]

Not my vid but we bought one of these doo-hickeys that hooks to your pressure washer.


https://youtu.be/BUx1RZKfB-E

[cornerstone]

Not a bad doo hickey at all! I imagine the water keeps the metal cool to help with no warpage. What is the name brand and where do you get it?
Brian

[vics stuff]

Originally Posted by morepwr

The problem in my opinion is that sandblasting is so aggressive and actually pits and removes metal. I have never seen warping but I haven't had large flat panels sandblasted either. Sandblasting is fine for cleaning up a rusty area for repair. Media blasting is much less aggressive and won't be so hard on the metal. I have had both done and prefer the media blast as it is finer and leaves a nice workable finish.

I agree. I blasted my 32 ford coupe body and fenders with glass media. I used the glass which department of highways use when striping roads then they apply some of this glass beads on the wet paint.
My body came out great and did not remove good material. I was very satisfied. It was a slow process but well worth it.
Vic

[Accelo]

The pressure washer style blasters are slow. They also work best with sand or an aggressive material. You you have all the disadvantages of sand. Don't expect to do this with a 5hp machine. 11to 13hp is required or you will be there forever.

Sand blasting media gets in the crevices and will eventually rust out the body. You have to use non-silica based media to save your lungs.

Soda blasting is the best and dustless soda blasting is even better. One disadvantage is it takes a lot of air to remove paint at any speed. Doing this at home with a 5hp compressor is only for small lots. Dry are is mandatory, do not expect this to work with any humidity. It will frustrate you to no end. Soda devolves in water and can be washed out of the crevasse. A pressure washer works great for this.
The water, in the dustless system, keeps everything cool and keeps the mess down to reasonable levels. Another advantage is you don't have dust coming up when you are painting.

Chemical stripping may be the best but it is also expensive.

[special-K]

It's all media blasting. Sand is the media with sandblasting. I hear the wet blasting guys are expensive. Soda blasting doesn't do anything for rust. Why not have someone spray water to cool while sandblasting to prevent heat build-up causing warpage? Or just take your time, like with welding sheet metal? I understand wanting to have it done. I've gone both ways and having it done is much more pleasant. Just have to find a careful sandblaster. Alternate media is a good idea as well. Just saying sandblasting can work. And if concerned with large flat areas, just sand. Other than rust, it's the hard to sand areas that bring blasting into the picture. You can also use stripper on the top without issues from captured residual

[CUSTOM/10]

I know this place is on the opposite coast from you, but if you go to there website you can get some good info. They specialize in blasting classic cars. They use crushed glass and low Pressure.
Gary

http://www.classiccarblasting.com/index.html

Here is a link to my build with some pics.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=259859&page=5

Found this video clip when searching ( Classic car blasting in Hampstead NH ) The green and white truck is mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmrmMQPg-_E

[BigBird05]

I just saw an article on dry ice blasting. Literally no media clean up. I don't know who dose it but worth looking into.

[Davidf]

Uh, sand blasting is a form of media blasting with sand being the media. So, might be helpful to define the media if not using sand. I had my ‘52 commercially sand blasted and there was definitely damage. The hood never fit as good as it did when I removed the unmolested original. But, the truck was solid surface rust and too large of a project for me at home.

Soda blasting sounds fine, but you must neutralized the soda or paint problems will loom.

If I ever do it again, water blasting is something I will try…better for your health as well.

[BASE]

A couple years ago I got quote for wet blasting my axles of $1000. It would have been really convenient because they come and do it in your driveway, but it was a little more $ than I had in my budget at the time. It’s worth looking into but just brace yourself for the cost.

[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

[Jason Banks]

Don't do the dustless blasting. I had the front frame blasted and cleaning up WET media is so much worse than cleaning up dry media that will blow out or vacuum. Even when it dry's it became like concrete and needed to be broken up to get out.

When I did my cab, I used 36 and 80 grit sandpaper and https://www.eastwood.com/7-in-cleani...sc-system.html (which are made by 3m, you can find them elsewhere) to take off all the paint I could and then I sandblasted the areas I could not get to. It really goes pretty quick.

After I had done my sand blasting and metal work, I had a guy come out and sandblast the bottom of the cab only. He used a much more powerful system than I was using to my part. He said it would not have been much more work for him to have done all the edges like I did.

I did not sandblast the inside Dash, Roof, Firewall, and back wall. I did blast most of the floor inside.

I used the finer coal slag from Tractor Supply and so did the guy that did the floor. It's cheap, but at times I picked it back up and reused it.

[Myself]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Not a bad doo hickey at all! I imagine the water keeps the metal cool to help with no warpage. What is the name brand and where do you get it?
Brian

Mine came off Ebay from a company in TN. Works fine on my 5hp plain jane pressure washer. Just remember to keep something over your bucket of sand so stray water doesn't get in it.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by Myself

Mine came off Ebay from a company in TN. Works fine on my 5hp plain jane pressure washer. Just remember to keep something over your bucket of sand so stray water doesn't get in it.

Thanks man.

[Accelo]

The dustless blasting I was referring to used Soda.
I guess you could use sand but the point of dustless is not only dustless blasting but dustless painting.