The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop sandblasting vs sanding

Well I started sandind my fender down to metal an man what I Bummer. By the speed Im going it will take me for ever to do a 59 fleetside. Can any one give me a rough idea what it would cost to have it sandblasted an primer on just the out side an inside the bed with no body work?
thanks joe 59 chev police truck

got power tools Joe? maybe you're not using coarse enuff paper - get a DA sander and some 36 or even 50 grit, and it don't take that long - I did the whole front end of my 58 in a couple days - not to bare metal except where it needed it, but ready for the body work and primer

sandblasting can work, if the blaster really knows what he's doing, but it can leave a heck of a mess in every nook and cranny, and careless hands can warp the sheet metal of larger flat panels - if you really wanna get it blasted, find someone who can do it w/ media or soda - and use epoxy primer!

Bill

You live in Sacramento which is a great place to find whatever your looking for. I'd look in the yellow pages and make some calls. Sandblasting is very messy. If your not doing a complete breakdown of all pieces, I don't recommend it. I'm not even sure they can do it if you have glass in the doors. Just buy some stripper, wire bushs, kids next door, power tools, and whatever else you find that will do the job. I've used them all, except for the kids, they don't want to work for any amount of money. Cecil.........

51Jimmy your truck is very impressive.

A wire knot wheel in an angle grinder is much faster than a sander, if you insist on using mechanical stripping. It cuts through the paint, where the sandpaper just tends to heat it up and gum up. Save the 80 grit for the final cleanup.

Thanks boys for all the insight. An about the kids in the area, there to busy on cell phones,an driving their Hondas.

I got a BOSCH random orbital, vari speed, electric sander last week. I like the loop type front handle ($109, there are cheaper ones). I did the main part of a '51 door in about an hour with very little effort using 80 grit. Then that amount of time or more doing all the places the Orb. dosn't get. Anyway, I am happy with the results and time saved. It will still be a long process but I will get it done.

Good Luck, Buddy

Just a thought, it isn't always necessary to get a body down to metal to get a great paint job. There are many teriffic paint systems that are compatable with utilizing some of the old paint layers as fi Smittyller on your way to a straight body. Why sand, grind it off just to use a high build primer to get it back level?

There is a guy near me (in PA) that we take our stuff to get sandblasted. He does baking soda blasting, sand blasting, walnut, glass, etc. and then epoxy primers everything if we want. He said he will do a whole car top to bottom (the baking soda will not hurt glass or chrome) and under the car, epoxy prime it all, and paint the underneath black for around $300. Now I call that a deal. I had some stuff done for the '39 and it is beautiful and a heck of a lot better than if you would hand sand or wire brush it! And it is like starting out sith fresh new metal and there are no scratches from wire wheels. When it comes to restoring trucks, nothing beats sand blasting!

Bob:

Amen to the guy in PA. What a deal. I wish I had a source in the Kansas City area that would provide all of that for that kind of price. I have a '66 C-10, '66 K-10 and a '66 C-20 that could all use some blasting, priming and painting. Any stovebolters in the KC area know of any shops that do soda blasting for that kind of money? Thanks for the heads up Bob.

As far as my experiance with blasting sheet metal, it can strech the metal if blaster is not careful, as well as leaving a mess, I would recomend using sand blasting only on the chassis ect and use either an pneumatic or electrical orbital sander for body work. I have used my Festool geared orbital with integrated vacuum, works very well indeed.

I just had the body of my 49 sub sandblasted for $375. Finding a guy who knows what he is doing with a blaster is the key. The guy I use did my sub inside and outside in 2 1/2 hours and not a warp anywhere. I can't imagine the time it would take to grind or wire brush all that paint and rust off and not miss any spots. Weeds

Just an observation. I seem to remember reading somewhere that blasting sheetmetal could not only cause warping, but the pressure of the blasting would most like;y harden the metal increasing its' brittleness. I am talking about sand blasting. The other blast media are much softer and do not harden the metal. Smitty's 2 cents.

Joe: Sandblasting can and will cause sheet metal warping due to the pressure needed and a build up of heat due to the pressure. Sand blast frames and running boards but use a media such as plastic or glass to blast body panels. I'm having mine done now. It is not cheap (around $1500) but I'm frame off and totally (I mean TOTALLY)dissasembled and I'm going for full restoration (not cheap either).
Jon
54 3100 5 window

You can sand blast but not with high pressure. That will ruin your sheetmetal pieces such as hoods, roofs, cab rear panels or other pieces that are not strengthened by internal supports. I used a $10 siphon blaster and a bucket of blasting sand. Worked fine but slow. I would recommend the knotted wire wheel on an angle grinder. Takes paint right off and can make short work of body filler - BUT WEAR A MASK or you will be coughing that stuff back up.

Soda blasting is great but in this area it runs about $150 for a hood and that is just the outside. $400 was the quote I got for a cab. Good way to go if you have the dollars but be sure to prime it quickly or you will be sanding surface rust off in short order. Use an epoxy primer as a base and then you can do the remaining body work on top of it.

if you ever get a good blaster pressure feed and a big compressor youell never go back i took my whole radiator support frame out on my lawn hit it with the blaster 5 minuets looked like new metal ready for paint could work a week with a sander it wouldnt look as good but it took me a while to get my set up iv never had metal warp and im running 150 lbs mayby a newer truck with thin metal but not a stove bolt or mayby a monster blaster with a big nozzle mine is 1/4 inch