Need an education on Soda Blasting

[Confederate Cuda]

Can someone give me the pros and cons of soda blasting as opposed to acid dipping? From what I can find out the pros to soda blasting are that it does not heat the metal and some of the cons are that it will not remove rust and I have also heard that the residue is difficult to remove and may cause the paint to bubble of come off later??? Would love to hear from some of you with experience.

[jeryst]

I don't have any actual experience, but I can't find anyone in my area that does it, and I'm thinkng about buying some equipment and doing my own work, plus maybe starting a little side business. I've done a lot of research, and basically, you're right on several accounts. It is very messy. It leaves a residue that must be completely removed or it can react as a release agent for paint. And it won't remove any rust other than maybe some very light surface rust. But on the other hand, it is very fast, and it wont harm rubber, plastic, chrome, glass, etc, so you can actually blast an entire car without taking it apart. I've watched videos where they strip the paint off of alumiunum paint cans without harming the can in any way. If you've got rust that needs to be removed, you'll still need to sand blast or acid dip, but if you just want to remove paint, soda is a pretty good choice.

[Confederate Cuda]

Thanks jeryst,
I have very little rust on my car so that is really not my issue and there is only one coat of paint on the car so it should be easy. I already have the car striped to the shell and plan on buying a rotisserie so it would be easy to do. How do you remove the residue? Is there some type of reducer?? I have heard of people power washing it off but I don't know how you would keep it from flash rusting? I live in Harrisburg, PA and have found a couple of people in the general area that can do it but there are not many.

[70challengerrt]

I used it several years back on a 72 chevelle and again on a 69 roadrunner. It worked great to get the paint off and see what you got. Then you can take care of the rust or bondo by hand. If you hit rust with a more course blast your fixing it anyway. Your right all body panels must be clean before painting, but you are wiping them all down a couple of times before priming anyway. As far as leaving the car together I wouldn't because your going to have to rip it apart to get the residue out of everything. Take time to blow out every nook and cranny (you'll be glad the first time you roll down the windows or turn on the heat, one mistake I made the first time I and the interior were coated). The down side is we went through a lot of soda. The second is you have to have a very good air dryer of it will clump up and plug the blaster( that sucked). The third is the air humidity has to be lower or it will clump in the hopper and you will be spending hours just trying to get it to work, and once it starts sticking together to hard to work with. If you use it on a low humidity day with the air dryer, you can't beat it, but it does have its down falls(at times hard to work with). I should not that were it excels is on parts like cowl induction hoods, air grabber hoods, ect you can get in every little spot with out wrecking things.

[Topcat]

My car is in a backyard with a neighbor nearby who complains whenever we have the fireplace going. I worry about how much dust clouds it makes. I already know that when I do it to mine, she'll be over in a New York Second.
So is there a lot of dust created that gets airbourne that can travel if there is a breeze?

[70challengerrt]

Yep forgot to mention that there is a lot of dust.

[jeryst]

Yes! It is very dusty. You can buy a special wet nozzle, however. It hooks up to a garden hose, and uses just a trickle of water. From what the guy explained to me, the water creates a cone of moisture around the soda stream. The soda is unaffected until it bounces off of the surface being blasted. Then it gets mixed with the water, which causes it to liquify, and fall to the ground instead of becoming airborne. He said that it really cuts down on the dust, but I don't know how much.

[70challengerrt]

That is pretty cool. I wish I would have known of it.

[Confederate Cuda]

70ChallengerRT
What did you wipe it down with to remove all the residue?

[Topcat]

Yes! It is very dusty. You can buy a special wet nozzle, however. It hooks up to a garden hose, and uses just a trickle of water. From what the guy explained to me, the water creates a cone of moisture around the soda stream. The soda is unaffected until it bounces off of the surface being blasted. Then it gets mixed with the water, which causes it to liquify, and fall to the ground instead of becoming airborne. He said that it really cuts down on the dust, but I don't know how much.

Thanks. I have a guy lined up to do mine when I get to that point. He said $300 to do the undercarriage and outer body. I was thinking about the interior, but now with the residue in all the nooks and crannys, Guess it wouldn't be a good choice now for paint afterwards.