The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Paint Removal

Can someone tell me about soda-blasting? Is this something that I can do at home or do I need to hire someone. I would like some suggestions about removing old paint as I have limited funds and chemical dips are so darn expensive.

Wow, Message #1 at Stovebolt! Boy, you'll never do that again......
Welcome to the site.

If you decide on a chemical stripper you can do yourself, take a look at the "Removall" section at Zerorust.com. It is a water borne stripper that soaks through coatings, off gases O2 and lifts the film. Real easy to use and a whole lot safer to be around than the methylene chloride in Aircraft stripper.

Have you located a soda blaster in your area? Go look at his/her work. From what I hear it is not as potentially damaging to sheet metal as some other blasting media. Maybe Mrs. Fender's little boy Fat will jump in here with his input on how it did on his truck.
Cheers
Bruce Palmer
[email protected]
Salem Or.

Here I is. Soda blasting is done with higher pressure than sand blasting. I had the guy come to my house. He did my cab, inside and out, frame (IFS, axles et al) running boards and a few other bits and pieces. Cost me 450 Canadian. Very little mess after two days of rain. If you want, they can inject water and keep the dust down to zero. The water is not a factor you then coat with Zero Rust and yer on your way. Keep in mind with Soda Blasting you do not have to remove chrome, glass or anything else. I did to do a better job but you don't "have" to. It doesn't removed rust, but it does blow away the loose stuff and that's all that Zero Rust requires for application. Above all else - in the future, after you've painted and your using yer ride, you won't have sand falling out from under the dash everytime you slam the door.

Have you talked with a sandblasting company? Besides soda, they can use plastic media, which also does not warp the sheet metal. Blasting an entire truck will run into some money, but I think it is the way to go, gets rid of everything but good metal.

Nowadays with the newer products, it's not absolutely necessary for us do it yourselfers to get rid of all the rust. Just get rid of the loose stuff. What does it matter if it doesn't progress? Bottom line is will it stop the process? If it does what does it matter what's under the paint? This is an honest question from an amateur.

Thanks Bruce, I will take a look at the web site you suggested and no I have not found a soda blaster in my area. Anyone have any suggestions?

Fat, that was cheaper than the quote I received for a chemical dip for just the cab. Will look into the blasting.