Dry Ice Blasting

[TKat13]

Curious if anyone here has used Dry Ice to blast their shells? If so, how well did it work? The concept seems very intriguing as the pellets would just vaporize only leaving behind what came off the car, and not a big pile of sand, soda, etc. Will this work well with Rust on say, floor boards?

Cost is not a big issue as a buddy of mine 'rents' these huge units out with a compressor and all on the trailer. He informed me that this part of the season did not have much traffic and I could borrow it for free, but I would have to supply the dry ice pellets. He has never rented it out to anyone that was blasting a car but felt it should do well. Sounds great but I was hoping if anyone here has used one and see if it is worth my time investment. Also, being dry ice, I should not have to worry much about heat warping my panels. I hope?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

[the_engineers]

We have all of our exposed structural steel dry-ice blasted about once a year where I work.  Costs around $25,000 to do, here.  Removes paint, rust, de-greases, etc.

Unfortunately, most of what we have cleaned is pretty thick, so I can't tell you about warping.  BTW, most of the warping from blasting isn't from the heat, it's from the pressure.

[black71]

sounds interesting! never heard of dry ice blasting before....where do you get the pellets? wonder if its something that could be done with a regular harbor freaight sand blaster or of it would require a commercial type like TKat is talkin about?

[jeryst]

I checked into it when I was looking at soda blasting. From talking to several vendors, I got the impression that dry-ice blasting was more geared towards the cleaning of food equipment, like in cafeterias, food manufacturers, etc, because it cleaned the stainless steel without leaving any residue. None of them really recommended it for paint. They said it would probably work, though. I've never actually run across anyone that uses it for paint.

[dutch]

Unfortunately, most of what we have cleaned is pretty thick, so I can't tell you about warping.  BTW, most of the warping from blasting isn't from the heat, it's from the pressure.

     It won`t make any difference with warping, heat isn`t the problem

[TKat13]

good to know it is not a heat issue, btw, here is a link on youtube with someone blasting a car with dry ice, I could only find this one however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_9nITRz--0

btw, the guy that rents the equipment is where I would purchase the pellets, but that is really all I know.

[71chally416]

Well if it don't tear the metal off a Rotsun it should be fine for an old Mopar 

Did you know Nissan changed their name because they were called ROTsuns back when they were Datsuns? Look at one of those old Datsun trucks (if you can find one) and you'll see why. They used to dip the bodies in a salt water bath before painting them. 

[Chryco Psycho]

They use dry ice for aircraft  can't be harmful , may not be cheap

[xblade]

Seen this used on presses to remove ink. The dry ice came in very large tubs. We'd get 3 or 4 tubs at a time. I've never used it and always hate when it is used due to the roar over a 12hr shift. Like yourself I've always wondered how it would do on a car body.

[tyler]

one of my relatives does it.  I forget the details about it, but I just remember there was one bigger drawback to it, and i think it was how slow it would be, but I very well could be wrong about that too!  I do remember that a big benefit to dry ice blasting is how clean it is, all you're left with is whatever was on the car, no mountains of sand or soda or anything when you're done.  After it was explained to me, I just remember thinking that it just wouldnt be practical.   And, heat is the main reason for warping when blasting, im sure pressure might have some to do with it, but your biggest concern is heat. You'd be surprised how little it takes to heat up some 20 gauge sheet metal; and it doesnt take much heat to cause warping.