What's soda blasting cost in your area?

[rightpedal]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

I ended up paying $700 to have the Lemans striped. They did the jams and entire body in about 5 hr. I payed by the hour. My complaint is the first guy (two man crew) took about 3 hr to get down the driver side and the second guy did the trunk all the jams the passenger side and the hood in two hours. I ended up with a lot of pressure wash time afterward but that car was the cleanest starting block I have ever had. Was it worth it? I will give it a hesitant yes. It eliminated a lot of stripping time. What is our time worth?

A couple of pictures of the process.

[CaminoKid]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

We have had three cars done here,each was about twelve hundred dollars.That's every nook and cranny.
There is no substitution for soda blasting,just be aware of the fact that you must wash out the car and every little place before painting.
this can be done without rusting the panels as its the body oil that causes the most damage in rusting.
We did all of the outside of the car,washed it down,did the metal work and primer,then did all the insides of the El Camino,being sure to wash it out very good.
There is no other way to get the job done and not damage the metal.Soda blasting creates zero heat and does not etch trim metal,if you choose not to totally strip the car down.

Hands down the best way to go.If you got a car done for less than a grand that would be a hell of a deal.

[Caveman Tony]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

Okay, here's a another question:

If I have a sandblaster, what prevents me from soda-blasting my own car? What does soda blasting require?

I've done the Dual-action orbital sander routine until my eyes bled, my ears bled, and my hands were soft & smooth from the HOURS of good vibes. Not interested in doing that again on a large scale.

Also not interested in the wire wheel on a drill/rotary tool thing. Being a pincushion sucks, plus it takes too long.

[CaminoKid]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

It has to do with tremendous volume of air and no moisture.

[milner351]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

See the trailer in the pictures above with the Lemans? that's a HUGE engine / compressor set up.

No electric compressor short of a monster screw type set up could keep up with this process.

I suppose if you had a big pot compressor at home, and could buy a pick up load of soda from some place - then rent one of those big compressors for the weekend, you could do it yourself. How much will that cost? no idea.

A friend is restoring the '74 vette his wife was driving when they met. He's having the frame redone for $1000, blasted, "acid washed" (no idea what that means - his terminology) then POR15. Price includes replacing some body mount and suspension mount brackets on the frame as well.

Seems a grand is the going rate to do a complete car body - and it can be done in a day.
A grand buys a lot of sanding discs.
I think the biggest attraction for me to the at home sanding process is that I can do it a piece at a time - and I'm not faced with an entire bare metal car that has to be rinsed, dried, and epoxy primed RIGHT NOW.

[milkovich]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

Okay, here's a another question:

If I have a sandblaster, what prevents me from soda-blasting my own car? What does soda blasting require?

Nearest I can figure is only two things, the orifice size at the bottom of the pot and a way to backpurge the crust that develops when you let it sit overnight.

I can't remember if it needs a larger or smaller metering orifice though. Definitely dont' buy one of those overpriced "conversion" kits for a million bucks. Once you figure it out though, please post the results instead of going into business making "conversion kits" like everyone else does.

[CaminoKid]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?


I think the biggest attraction for me to the at home sanding process is that I can do it a piece at a time - and I'm not faced with an entire bare metal car that has to be rinsed, dried, and epoxy primed RIGHT NOW.
[/quote]

Actually the process with the soda blast leaves a film on the metal and it will not rust if not touched by greasy hands.
I have had panels hanging in the shop for four months and not a bit of rust on them.

[Caveman Tony]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

Sandblasting seems way cheaper, and unless you're really worried about delicate sheetmetal, it seems like it'll do just fine.

The old '39 has an original frame, and though I haven't looked at the crossmembers yet, they probably have some issues.

The sheetmetal is great, save one crunched front fender, and the rear-most lower trunk piece. That's basically a front door for the rodents. The rot there is open 4". Yes, Dad drove it in Boston in the winter when he was a college student... basically thats the last time it was on the road.

So, I'm thinkin' the gameplan is A. sandblast & POR15 the frame. B. Inspect the body to see what else needs doin'. I.e., if certain areas need rust repair, do that first, then look at what might need "spot" blasting. Basically, D/A-sand the flat areas, and soda/sand blast the areas that are nooks/crannies that don't lend to easy sanding.

The paint is original, and on many surfaces its in decent shape. The roof is toast though, as the car cover absorbed moisture over the 20+ years its been in this particular bar. It's been in 2-3 other barns previously...

Once I actually get started, I'll give the whole long boring story.

[rightpedal]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

The Lemans was spot blasted before the soda guys went at it. Soda removes paint and bondo really well. It doesn't do very well on rust. Some of the panels weren't painted for a month or more and they did not rust.

Walter surface conditioning disks are the shit!

http://www.walter.com/PortalBuilder/WebPages/WebPage.aspx?wId=1927&p_productLineGuid=7AC5E2256DC09F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_actionGuid=7AC5E225746F9F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_toolGuid=7AC5E22575CE9F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_tradeNameGuid=7AC5E225710D9F40E043C0A8011F9F40

They are pricey but so worth it. I used one of the 4 1/2 medium disks to remove the paint from the door and hood of the 66. The door had 4 coats over the factory paint. I have yet to wear out my 7" coarse disk. It removes paint in a hurry!



The catch is you have to buy their backing pad $30 for the 4 1/2 and $44 for the 7".

Steve

[milkovich]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

Walter surface conditioning disks are the shit!

http://www.walter.com/PortalBuilder/WebPages/WebPage.aspx?wId=1927&p_productLineGuid=7AC5E2256DC09F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_actionGuid=7AC5E225746F9F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_toolGuid=7AC5E22575CE9F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_tradeNameGuid=7AC5E225710D9F40E043C0A8011F9F40

They are pricey but so worth it. I used one of the 4 1/2 medium disks to remove the paint from the door and hood of the 66. The door had 4 coats over the factory paint. I have yet to wear out my 7" coarse disk. It removes paint in a hurry!

How would it do against laquer, i find I gum up my disks instead of wearing them out.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

70 an hour is pretty smokin good for a pretty low overhead business like that

[milner351]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

Rightpedal - more info please?

DA/orbital, or grinder? What speed / size? Air / Electric?


Interesting that the bare metal after soda blasting insn't rust prone - that makes a big difference to me.

[Caveman Tony]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

Rightpedal - more info please?

DA/orbital, or grinder? What speed / size? Air / Electric?


Interesting that the bare metal after soda blasting insn't rust prone - that makes a big difference to me.

Honestly, the bare metal oxidation is super minimal, and it doesn't scare me too much. On some projects where that happened to me, I'd just spritz it down with Must for Rust, the rust disappears, give it a quick rinse with water, dry it with an air gun, then either alcohol or acetone it.

The alcohol or acetone evaporates so fast, and leaves a nice dry, dirt- and -grease free surface to prime. Plus the Must for Rust etches the metal. Primer/Sealer it, and your ready for the next step.

That process has been pretty good on small to medium panels, but I haven't done a whole car or roof all at once.... might be a little more difficult.

[rightpedal]

Re: What's soda blasting cost in your area?

That is pretty much how I handle bare panels. Dads TR had a door that got blasted and hit with metal ready. It sat like that for six months before we realized we had not primed it. Some red scotch brite and it was shiny clean.

How would it do against laquer, i find I gum up my disks instead of wearing them out.

I think one of the layers was lacquer. The disk gummed a little but kept spitting paint balls, so I kept at it. It wore through the layer and started spitting dust again.

DA/orbital, or grinder? What speed / size? Air / Electric?

I use a 4 1/2 ryoby electric angle grinder. Depo sells them in a two pack on occasion. I keep four riged up for metal work (cutting disk, grinding disk, wire cup, and a flap or a walter)

The 7 inch is hooked to a big makita angle grinder

here is a link to the backing pads

http://www.walter.com/PortalBuilder/WebPages/WebPage.aspx?wId=1927&p_productLineGuid=7AC5E2256DC09F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_actionGuid=7AC5E22574439F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_toolGuid=7AC5E22575659F40E043C0A8011F9F40&p_tradeNameGuid=7CE66B41C62E8A24E043C0A8011F8A24

Steve