Why not??...I have done a bunch of searches and it appears do-able? The car is up with the entire front and rear ends off doing a re-build. I wnat to clean donw the 30+ years of crud. Why not buy a $100, I think you call it "pot blaster" sand blaster (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=22660&item=4352354906&rd=1) and have at it? Yes, from what I have read it's messy as all heck.

Any recent blasters with some good feedback?

...that would be to clean down the 30+ years of crud on the underside graemlins/clonk.gif

I bought a pressurized unit and did my frame and steering components from the firewall forward and then repainted. It came out so nice , I wish I'd taken the frame off. As for messy, picture your own beach . Right were your car is. Worth it in my opinion.

It is certainly do-able. Keep in mind if you plan on using play sand you are putting yourself at risk for the respiratory disease silicosis. And the proper respirtors for protection against silica dust are expensive. The alternative is using a "safe"er media like Black Beauty.

Having said all that, I did the bottom of my car several years ago with play sand and the wrong respirator and so far I'm still alive. I wouldn't make a habit of it though.

Even though it is the bottom of the car, keep the pressure on the low end and it should work great.

I hope you are just talking about sand blasting the frame, right? That would be o.k although VERY time consuming, especially if you don't have a professional compressor with a huge tank that can output huge amounts of air. If you're talking about the body, you'll end up warping the panels and making more work which will cost you more time in the end.

Mike

A siphon blaster would be safer, but take allot longer. You can use the pressure blaster with the pressure down (on the bottom of the car). Don't stay blasting in any one area too long and you should'nt have a problem. Like Mike said don't get it near any exterior panels. It only takes one swipe accross a flat panel with a pressure blaster to stretch the heck out of it.

Thanks guys for the feedback. Having previously done a bunch of searches I realize that "sand" is clearly not an option, and that some other media is preferable i.e Black Beuaty. Yes, it will be the frame not the body...though some of the under panels also. As for a compressor, I was thinking about renting a BIG AS$ unit for a weekend instead of my little 20 gallon 5hp unit.

As for the "beach",can you sweep up the media and re-use it?
For an underside, how much (bags, pounds) do you think it takes?
The type of blaster I note in the original post, is this the type of unit you use?

thanks again

You could probably reuse SOME of it, however you would need to sift it to get the big particles out so it won't clog the blaster tip.
Here is another idea for blasting big jobs, i did do my frame but mainly use this method for backhoes and trailers,etc. Its a wand that fits on a pressure washer. And it will throw some sand out!! Emptys a 5 gallon bucket in less than 5 minutes. I only crank the pressure half way but its rated at 3500psi so roughly half of that. But be warned, it will blow holes in concrete, and remove anything like grease/caked dirt, rust... etc. You will need to let it dry and primer it immediatly tho.
I got the wand from Northern. It also goes thru tips fast, about 1 per 3-4 buckets.

You can reuse the sand if you strain the crud out with almost no problems on a big blaster. What you have to realize though is that when the sand particles strike the substrate the edges of the sand grains break off, and smooth out (the sand grains loose alot of their sharp edges). With a smaller blaster you will notice a loss in the agression level of the blaster when you start recycling sand. It will still work, mind you, it will just slow down some.

Just for kicks I would price out farming the job out. Don't forget there are a lot of incidental costs you might not think of, like wear and tear on your compressor. Plus, it usually is messy, noisy(compressor runs a LOT) and it gets hot in the suit, takes lots of time, etc. Say you throw in renting a blaster for the day, and you might decide it just isn't worth it. It all depends on your situation, what equipment you own, who your neighbours are, how much you want to do it, etc.

I blasted my frame and supspension parts myself.

Get a good respirator $60 (still not reccomended for sand) or a full face hood with fresh air.

The main problem i had was keeping moisture out of the blaster tank,i did it in the blazing summer and it was a big hassle.
If you do it in the winter it wont be as bad.

Take about 20ft of hose comming from your compressor and put it in a cooler with some ice water ,run the other side to a water separator then to your blaster tank.

Also,even with one of those 6ft tall compressors I still sometimes had to wait till it filled back up to start again.I also went through alot of nozzle tips. When you start blasting open the valve all the way or it will just blast through the valve and you'll be stuck wide open anyway.

I sifted my sand through a window screen and it worked fine.

Main concerns,

Respirator (made me breath shallow for a few days :(
Compressor capacity
Condensation
Tips
Nozzle
(Play sand works fine)

I would look around. Our local media/sand blaster would probably do it for about $200. Of course if you want to invest in the equipment for future jobs and you have the time go for it. I'm going to do that with paint stuff!

I definitely would try going to a local area blaster, but the whole front and rear are off and therefore have tons of access with everything removed, let alone no way to get it there. I am going to look around and see if there are blasters that will make house calls...similar to if you need welding...they'll drive up with their rig and perform on the spot welding....maybe blasting?

thanks

Yeah,i think someone on this site said something about media blasters making a house call,said they brought a compressor with a small v8/v6 on it in the back of a pickup.

If i had known how big a mess and how much stuff i needed and the problems associated i probly woudnt have dont mine myself. But now that i have most of the equipment ,know what is involved and what i need to watch out for id do it again .

But if you havn't invested any money,id have it done by someone else.

I just called a local Taylor Rental store on a whim to see if they had a set-up. Tow behind mo-fo compressor, with dryer and complete blaster set up (200 #'s) for $167 total for the day!!!!

If I can't get a house call guy...I am going the rental route.

167 a day seems high.

Your going to be in way to big of a hurry,two days at the least.

I just called a couple of places to get price to do my conv. frame. Understanding prices may differ, depending on location, I was quoted between $175 and $400 for frame and suspension pieces. I already have body off but will need to remove remaining suspension parts. The guy with the lower quote even said that he had a trailer and would be happy to come by the house and pick up my pieces.

Most companies I talked to have the ability to blast out of a truck b/c they work on large items, ie, buildings, bridges, etc.

The trick to keeping costs down is to let them have the items with enough time so that they can do several jobs at one time (maybe your parts, plus someone elses parts).

I'll definitely have mine done by someone else - the hassle and mess isn't worth it for the prices I was quoted.

I would love to be able to deliver the frame to someone for blasting, but again it's not rollable; while I am not looking to do the complete frame off deal either....just clean up the bottom and frame. Fortunately it's in pretty good shape, just surface rust and crud. Though the thought of hitting it with a wire wheel would probably take eternity, and I couldn't get in to the cracks and crevices.

We were sandblasting my cousin's Cuda until it started to get cold. I was using a little syphon can blaster with a gas powered compressor. It worked quite well I might add. It took all the grease and undercoating off with ease.

you need a big commpressor if you dont have one i would have the blasting done i have one and have my frame done but still have body parts to do i wish i would have taken mine in to have it done it would be done and i would be further ahead

Blueess454 ....how big of a compressor (CFM) did you use?...and what type and how media did you use? I just bought a 10 gal. pressurized blaster on e-bay for $81.00 total including shipping...appears to be a nice unit. I spent yesterday underneath the car with a wire wheel on the drill. Worked pretty good, though as my kids said, I looked like a Chimney Sweeper when I came out from under...I was covered!

Have you considered Acid Dipping ?

I couldn't tell you what the CFM of it is, all I know is it's the only thing I've ever seen that can keep up with sandblasting. I guess that's due to the fact that it has a 4 cylinder gas engine pumping the air. I just used regular old play sand that I got from the local lumber yard for $2 for a 60 pound bag. I also threw a large tarp under the car so I could reclamate the sand and use it over again.

Thanks Blue

Acid dipping...no, it's a frame on cleanup.

i have one of those from ebay they work good you will like it i use the black sand in it i have a 10 hp with 100 gal tank set at 120 lbs takes it to bare metal instantly i use the biggest oriface

32fire....or anyone else, how much media do you/did you go through? I plan on cleaning down the complete underside. I have begun to wire wheel a good portion to get the heavy stuff off...and then use the blaster to clean it down close to metal. I'll spray on Eastwoods's Rust Encapsulator. Fortunaley it's not in that "bad" of shape. I think the biggest challenge will be to get the undercoating off,though that isn't that thick either.

I did the underside of my car with a small compressor and pressure blaster like you are looking at. Even though the floors came out good, it took forever and I had sand everywhere.

When you take into account the time, effort and health risks, it isn't worth the couple of hundred bucks you might save.

I'd rather sell a few parts on Ebay in my spare time to pay for the blasting than ever do that again!!

Just my opinion, but I've been there and done that.......!!

Rumblin70SS...I would also like to pay someone, but as noted in the post...it's a frame on. I can deal with the "sand everywhere" (I hope!)and after reading everyone's posts it will be a miseable job for sure. Though everyone typically comes back and states "though, it came out great". I am sure I will be cursing myself for thinking of doing this. At least it's a true to form winter in New England, so I clearly don't need to worry about the heat - sweat issue.

Question(s)....I still don't know how much product to buy...I was thinking about the Black Beauty for price, safety, application....but again how much do I need?....anyone??

Originally posted by drielly:
Rumblin70SS...I would also like to pay someone, but as noted in the post...it's a frame on. I can deal with the "sand everywhere" (I hope!)and after reading everyone's posts it will be a miseable job for sure. Though everyone typically comes back and states "though, it came out great". I am sure I will be cursing myself for thinking of doing this. At least it's a true to form winter in New England, so I clearly don't need to worry about the heat - sweat issue.Sorry bud, I didn't see the frame on piece earlier........that would be tough unless you had a junk rear and front suspension to roll the car over to a shop.

That being said though, please take extra precautions on taping everything up that won't get the blast treatment cause that sand will get everywhere. You won't stop all of it, but at least you can minimize it.

Let us all know how you make out!!