Sandblaster/air compressor

[MCS]

Hello,

I have a couple of questions regarding sandblasting / sandblasters.

I am planing to disassemble my sprite this coming fall and have it sandblasted /media blasted by a shop that does cars frequently. Their quote for the body is 1200.00.

I am looking to buy a good garage air compressor, it will be a 2 stage compressor with a minimum 18cfm / 100psi. Used for air tools and cabinet floor sandblaster etc.
If I purchase a good compressor and then spend a few hundred more on a sandblaster pressure tank my thinking is why not do the job myself and save a few dollars.

How hard is it to sand blast the body panels and not warp them.?
Will I really save much by buying a pressure tank and sand?

Thanks just trying to justify the cost of a nice shinny two stage compressor. And of course pass it by the Mrs as cost saving.

Cheers Phil

 

[ralph_s]

IMHO I would not sandblast the car. I'm having mine soda blasted to remove all the paint/grime. It won't damage or warp any body panels. The downside is it won't remove any rust, so a sand blast spot treatment will be necessary. If you soda blast, make sure your paint shop is aware as it will need a thorough cleaning.
Check out soda blasting on google & you tube. Your compressor set up can do either.

 

[nomad]

Good luck on the last!
I am interested in info on this as well.
KA.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

$1200 seems like a lot. Shop around.

 

[Billm]

I hope that you have 5 acres of empty land if you are thinking of doing it yourself. Sandblasting makes a HUGE mess if you do it in the open.
As a test go to Harbor Freight (Frank's favorite place!!) and buy one of those little "spot blaster" mini sand-blaster units and put a couple of pounds of sand thru it. You will find that your driveway is covered in sand and your wife WON'T like it!!
If you do have lots of land or an enclosure to contain the sand you will have no problems with panel warpage since you will be using 100PSI and very low flow (compared to a commercial units) and your metal will laugh at your efforts but you will strip the paint and rust.
BillM

 

[RickB]

Be sure to get the right protection for breathing, you don't want to develop health problems as those would quickly overcome any cost savings.

BillM sounds like he's talking from experience... again!

 

[Billm]

You should have seen my front yard and my wife's expression! (NOT priceless!!)
BillM

 

[John Moore]

I've done a little blasting in the yard and it's hot and EXTEMELY messy as Bill points out. While I'm all for buying the best compressor you can afford, sand blasting ain't much fun. I would try and find someone.

 

[tony barnhill]

I either sand blast them myself or have them sand blasted....its not hard to do without damage to the panels - that's an old wives tale perpetuated by people who don't know how to adjust the pressure before they blow sand.....that price (even though Canadian) is a bit high....around $400 for an MGB body around here....

If snad blasting isn't an option, chemically stripping the body using aircraft stripper is an easy way to do it....there are just a few safety concerns when doing that....I place a huge tarp on the place where I'm going to do the stripping, put the car on it, wear gloves & respirator, and have a handy source of water nearby.....as the paint comes off, it lands on the tarp...when you're finished, you can just roll the tarp up & throw it & all the old paint away!

 

[SilentUnicorn]

..when you're finished, you can just roll the tarp up & throw it & all the old paint away!

um.. wouldn't that be considered hazardous waste?

m

 

[tony barnhill]

What, auto paint & aircraft stripper that's environmentally friendly?

What's the difference is sand blasting the paint into the air as tiny particulates?

 

[Whitephrog]

Price is a bit much. $700 to 900 is more like it.

 

[61bugsey]

I sandblasted my '61 bugeye myself and saved a bunch. Yeah, it can make a mess but if you hang a tarp downwind and close and also put a clean one on the ground, you can recover a good % of the used sand, then filter it through a screen, and reuse it several times. There are a gazillion parts that also benefit from the sandblasting. I did not blast the boot nor the outside of the bonnet. For that I used both a DA sander and an angle grinder with the 3" gnarley wire cup brush. The wire cup really hogs off the old material (paint, bondo, and rust ) like you wouldn't believe and not near the mess as the sand blasting. Suspension parts, rear axle, steering rack, springs, etc all benefitted from the sand blaster. A 100# bag of #1 white sand cost me about $10 and I probably went through 5 bags doing the entire car. Didn't warp a thing in the process. But, you will need serious, eye, ear, and nose protection. Don't even think about walking in the house without changing out of your blasting clothes. Also, you might want to consider putting an additional fan (20" window fan ) on the compressor, just to keep it cooler than its own fan can do.

 

[toysrrus]

Hi Folks,

I agree with getting the compressor for most any need around the garage but "NOT" for blasting.

I just had my "WHOLE" TR3 Sand Blasted Inside, Outside, Engine Bay, Wheel Wells, Underneath, Wheels, "Everything" for about $600.00 by a "Commercial Sand Blaster" on his grounds, Outside (Thank Goodness).

I had my personal car parked about 50ft. from the blasting area & My car looked like it got blasted as well.

What they "Won`t" do is blast if there is any signs of Rain in the Forecast. It clogs the gun & everything turns into Mud.

Bottom Line; "Its worth having someone else do it"!

Best Wishes,

Russ

 

[vagt6]

Although this opinion won't be popular, it is <span style="font-weight: bold">100% </span>correct: Don't sandblast the car yourself unless you've taken professional-level precautions and have the facilities to do it (essentially no one has this setup at home, unless you're Bill Gates it's not economically feasible).

The particulate matter rendered in the sandblasting process is extremely dangerous. The particles embed in your lung and repiratory tract tissue and become encapsulated by the body's immume defense. This is proven to cause cancer, and does.

Go to www.osha.gov and put "sandblasting" or "silicate dust", etc., in the search window at top right of the page. It will make your head explode: reams of research by experts that <span style="font-style: italic">clearly</span> indicate the real dangers involved in media/sandblasting.

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=19380

Please note that the OSHA Standards are the <span style="font-style: italic"> </span> minimum published safety rules <span style="font-style: italic"> </span> for using these materials: if you don't folow OSHA's safey precautions, you are, <span style="text-decoration: underline">by definition</span>, unsafe!

It's not just the blasting media, but the stuff that's blasted off your car's surfaces that also cause health problems: lead paint, heavy metals and other toxic/dangerous chemicals are inevitably inhaled.

Not worth it, let a professional do it.

And, dispose of your waste responsibly.

Dont ignore the dangers . . .

 

[Tom Rynne]

I have been down all the roads here.
I had a TR4 sandblasted in my drive and it came out great although with just some minor warpage to the rear scuttle.It was $600 for all the frame and body as well as wheels etc. in 1982 I did however have about 1200 pounds of sand to clean up!
Doing it youself is not real hard with the right set up and with the Sprite you will need to make a rollover wooden cage or get some old matresses to roll it up on to do the bottom.
Make a tent with heavy polyethelene and this helps greatly with the mess aspect BUT outside breathing air is pretty much a MUST as well as a good blast hood-NOT the cheap ones like Harbor Freight sells. The cooler air helps greatly. You'll need a good pressure blaster as well. On the hood, trunk, and doors just blast the 6-8 inches on their perimeter and chemically strip the more easily warped centers or as Tony says with some care they can be done and not warped.
I've gotten lazy in my dottage and now really like soda blasting.
The car goes out looking like a POS and comes back epoxy primed like it was on an assembly line. I paid $1000 to 1200 for MGB's which included underneath,interior, inside doors as well as differential and wheels. This is the way to go as far as I am concerned for a ground up resto. Make sure the shop has a neutralizing method after blast or the residual soda can botch up the adhesion of epoxy primer something terrible and they need to be able to sandblast any rust as the soda isn't aggresive enough.
Also had one media blasted which is great as well but the media keeps coming out from hidden nooks forever.

 

[KSIS]

I redid a 65 Mustang in my driveway. I place a tarp down on the ground and did the under carriage. I did not touch the body panels. I was able to reuse the sand by folding up the tarp and dumping the sand through a screen back into a 5 gallon bucket. Not to big of a mess.

 

[JPSmit]

One thing that I don't want to get lost is whether you do it yourself or get it done, make sure that you/ they use the appropriate media and the appropriate pressure. I brought Ms Triss to be done - the owner had injured himself, the helper thought he would help by doing it - too much pressure and sand. Had to replace the hood and the trunk as all were warped and peened. Certainly the most heartbreaking day of the entire build.

 

[MCS]

Gentlemen,
Thank you for the replies. After reading and re reading every post I think as most of you confirm better to let the sandblaster guy do the job. I just hate paying for something I really can do myself. I should mention for the 1200.00 he does prep and epoxy primer the car for that price. I am working with limited space and do not have acres of room.

Next month princess auto parts have the cabinet blasters on sale, I will be buying one. They recommend 18cfm at 100psi as the required air needed. Still require a good size air compressor to do the job properly. I was just trying to justify to my wife that by purchasing a nice big compressor we would save money on sand blasting. Sounds like I will need to beg for forgiveness after the compressor purchase, better not ask for permission cause I know the answer.
Thanks Phil

 

[tdskip]

If you've never used on of these they'll strip a car pretty quickly, figure $100 into it for the disc.

Photo is faked as in they stripped it and then had the guy pose, but they really do work well, and personally I find this a lot less messy than chemical stripping at home.