Sandblasting Tips and Techniques..

[v6spider]

I did my first go at sandblasting today. So far it seems to be a slow mundane process...However, If anyone has any tips about making it go quicker I am all ears. I have a pressurized blaster that works very well and is quite adjustable and was able to dial in a great mixture of air and sand. The media I am using is a non-silica fine in the engine compartment and trunk area(70 grit). In the passenger compartment and underside i will be using a 20/30 grit which is a little coarser. Any way that is all I know at this point... so far i did the firewall.. that took and hour roughly... I am also going to try and reclaim the media. Advise there like straining the material etc. would be appreciated...


Cheers!
Rob

[azygoustoyou]

I used mostly medium grit. It breaks down after a while which will be like fine grit. I used a pool screen to sift the media through. It worked well taking all the debris out of the media. The only way to go faster is to have a compressor that can keep up, other wise just keep going. Have fun getting the media out of the frame and voids. I'm still getting sand out of the frame area. I cleaned it so many times. That stuff just lodges itself.

[mdrburchette]

I found if you take it to have it done it's far easier and quicker. The time you save is well worth the price. I think I paid around $350 for a company to do a Spider for me. Reusing media is going to slow the process down since it breaks down and loses its cutting ability. One word of advice: Beware that sandblasting will warp metal. Pay close attention to flat panels such as doors, deck lids and hoods.

[v6spider]

Thanks for the tips!

Brady: pool screen eh? I will have to see what I can rig up I was thinking a strainer like for straining pasta I have several of those. I am planning on putting visqueen down to catch the media.. The compressor i have is a big industrial one so it doesn't slow down much but when i get to the end of the load of sand i have to shake the canister in order to keep it flowing while I am blasting the bottom is flatter than some other designs I have seen, but I am not going to complain as I am using it and didn't have to buy it.

Denise: I have $20.00 into the media. The blaster is borrowed from a good friend who is in no hurry to get it back. In fact I am working on his computer for the usage of it.. bartering is great for sure. Yes I was concerned about warp-age so I did not plan on blasting any of the body panels I used a paint removal disc that goes on my 4 1/2" grinder. Absolutely no warpage and all of the bodywork is pretty much done. I am just blasting the trunk area, engine bay, passenger compartment and underside of the car and other hard to reach areas. I thought about paying for the blasting and yes the pricing was similar to what you paid. But i am on a limited budget and already have access to all the tools...

Cheers! Folks!

Rob

[azygoustoyou]

This was my set up. It worked out great. I used a tarp to help catch and keep the media clean. The blaster I used worked great. I didn't have to worry about the panel warpage. It wasn't that strong. Keep us posted.

[azruss]

i use a 10-20 mesh. more aggressive and quicker. a metal spagetti strainer works good. dont let your wife see you put it back in the kitchen drawer. i lay down plastic, but also use clear plastic on top with my well covered hands and arms inbetween. using this method, i dont have to pick too much sand out of my ears. I now restrict my sandblasting to very small areas where nothing else makes sense. getting all the sand out of nooks and crannies is an impossible job. for some reason it does manage to come out while you are painting. using a stripping disc on an angle grinder is very fast. watch your heat

[v6spider]

Brady: Nice setup! My blaster looks similar to yours without the handle or wheels.

Azruss: The paint stripping disc i used was pretty fast but it was made out of a plastic sponge material. It made no deep marks whatsoever on the panels. And i had no trouble with heat warp-age. Yeah already stole the spaghetti strainer..but I don't plan on putting it back LOL...

Rob

[engineerted]

Do not sand blast any of the body panels, it does baaaaddd things to the panels. It is ok to do the door jams but when it come to flat panels, sand is not the right media for that. The heat created due to the friction warps the heck of them. I made this mistake when doing the trunk lid, it took alot of srinking and hammering to get it back into shape just to get to a point where i could use some fill and blocking.

Ted

[v6spider]

Hi Ted,

Agreed... the only areas I am blasting are interior, trunk engine bay, door jams, underside, wheel wells and the like. I read early on about issues with blasting flat panels. I didn't even risk it. The exterior rough body work is done for the most part. as well as most of my fab work. I just have some re-enforcing to do on the underside of the car. and in the engine bay where the shock towers meet the upper frame. There is nothing wrong with the shock towers but I have an idea to keep them from having issues in the future. Which in my v6 powered spider is definitely a necessity...

Cheers!
Rob

[azygoustoyou]

Hey Rob,
Are you using sand or media?
This is what I used. http://newageblastmedia.com/
It worked great.

[v6spider]

Just sand.. probably not the best choice but it works great and it is cheap plus readily available here in town. I wear a hood and respirator. Soon no worries there...

Cheers!
Rob