none of my friends have a sandblaster that i could use so i decided i would purchase my own....it will be used to strip off the hundreds of layers of maaco paint jobs on my chevelle. where is the cheapest place anyone knows of to get one? thanks for any help!
-jay

Hey Jay,
I'm not sure, but I'd bet you might be able to rent one. Try calling a couple of your local equipment rental places.

You know you need to be careful, with body panels right ?
Paint stripper might be a better idea.

I have the $79 one(on sale) from Harbor Freight.Works good for the money. I run black beauty through it.Its much cleaner than sand,less dust plus you can sweep it up,screen it and reuse it. Only thing is you will RUIN your car if you sandblast the outer sheetmetal. Either chemically strip it or save yourself a lot of time and headaches and pay to have it media(plastic) blasted. Place i used to use charged $600 for inner, outer, underneath and jambs.Can't beat that, figure about $25 a gallon for paint stripper and you could easily use ten gallons and countless hours on a car like you descibe.

hmm...you guys have a point. i will make a few calls and see how much it would cost me to rent or get someone to do it for me. is paint stripper easy to use....could someone explain to me the procedure for it? thanks again for the replys.
-jay

70isfine - I used aircraft stripper on my chevelle and only used a little more then a gallon. The cost $10. I did in less then 4 hours. Messy but works well. It did not take the factory primer off though, for this is I used 40 and 80 grit DA sander.

Lee

So your saying you stripped your whole car in four hours with one gallon of $10 stripper? I use the Kleen Strip aircraft remover,the strongest struff on the market and it is close to $25 a gallon. I used almost a gallon stripping a 70 hood with about 5 coats of paint,plus had to Da the factory primer. Was your car original paint? Factory laquer comes right off.But any catalyzed finish will take 2-3 rounds with the stripper.

what about a d/a sander? would that be good for stripping paint? i have a friend that owns a body shop and im pretty sure he would let me use it....

70isfine - I have a can still left, I will let you know what it is.

Yes, it was the factory paint and in minutes it was all bubbled up. I then took a 6-8" scraper and it just fell of in sheets. It didnt take the primer off in most places so this is when I used the 80 grit DA. In fact, I could of done the whole car with the DA but the dust is too messy.

Lee

Ok, the factory finish is one thing, 'hundreds of layers of Macco paint' is another. smile.gif As for the Da it will take you forever,you will spend half as much money on sandpaper as if you payed someone to media blast it and you will make a huge mess. I would suggest buying a gallon of good stripper and try it on ONE panel and see how it goes.Don't spread it over the whole car. Strip one panel to bare metal,then go on to the next.

I Must have special sand paper too! I only used 1 disc! It's a purple 3M product and I have a whole carton left because I thought I would use it all! In fact, I bought the 3M purple for my inline sander too and I did almost an entire 67 camaro and the paper looks as new as when I first put it on the sander!

Lee

Here's a simple tip when using chemical stripper. Buy some plastic masking film. cut the plastic into sizes suitable for the panel being stripped. Put on one thick coating of stripper then cover with the plastic forcing out any airbubbles. The plastic keeps the stripper from drying out and lets it loosen up all the paint. When you pull the plastic off the paint is usually softened completely down to the metal. No more multiple stripper applications. I have never used more than 1.5 gallons to strip a car this way reguardless of how thick the paint is. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

thanks for the replys...keep the tips coming!!!

baddbob71 - I forgot to mention that! Thanks.

Lee