The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop can I avoid sandblasting the cab?

This may be a dumb question, but can I avoid sandblasting my cab? I mean, if I buy like 100 40grit discs, can I achieve the same type thing but more man hours? Or is the stupid way to do it? I guess I'm trying to avoid going to the rent place and putting down a deposit and worry about something breaking or something on the dang compressor... any thoughts? I mean, I can see the 40grit discs taking the paint/rust off pretty quick... has anyone ever done this rather than sandblasting the cab?

you run the risk of warping the metal by sandblasting. with a good circular grinder/sander, and some time given experience, you should be able to get the cab to where you want it.
just make sure to NOT leave it exposed to nighttime moisture,dew,etc... it'll start to rust faster than a bum on a bologna sandwich!!
if its in a garage,youve got the perfect set-up.
once you get going on it,,it'll move along pretty quick. do the majority with the grinder,,leave the small corners etc.. for later by hand.

Yea, that's what I was thinking.. I really don't want to rent a compressor (I just hate renting stuff, worrying about messing it up, and the having to return it) - I can do without all that... anyways, yea, I'll try the grinder and I'll buy some really low grit discs since I have a circular sander... Thanks!

I have to tell you, if you are restoring a truck you WILL be buying a compressor. Just admit it and get the darn thing NOW.

And advice on how ever you strip it, do ONE AREA or panel at a time. Get it in epoxy primer and move on. DO NOT do the whole thing at one time, you will be overwhelmed.

By the way, medallionrefinish.com has Rubber seal 2K epoxy YES it is real 2K epoxy in an aerosol can! Part number RS587 I believe. I have a can in my car that I just got today to try out.

Brian

Well see, I already have a pretty good compressor but it's not big enough to run a sandblaster. I didn't want to go out and buy a new compressor JUST for sandblasting when I already have one in my garage. And I didn't want to go and rent a diesel powered compressor JUST to use on my cab... wayyyyy too much power just to blast my cab..

How big is that compressor? Any idea how thick that paint is on the cab?

Blake...I was in the exact situation as you. My compressor is a good size but not big enough to run a sandblaster. Didn't want to rent one or send it out to get r done either. So what I did was wire wheeled the whole entire cab, inside and out, to remove all rust and paint. The wire wheel I used was one of those heavy twisted wire wheels on my angle grinder. As Brian mentioned, do one section at time. Was able to get everything down to bare metal. There were some tight places the angle grinder couldn't get to, so I used a Dremmel for those. When I finished an area, I primed it with wet sandable primer to buy me some time. I even wire wheeled the areas I replaced with patch panels so I knew exactly where rust stopped and good metal started. It took some time to do it, but I didn't mind. Hoped this helped ya.

SAFETY! Remember to wear goggles and hearing protection. Even with the rust in the air floating around, I still had to get my eye balls drilled twice in the emergency room due to rusty metal...not fun.

~Ron

If the paint on the cab is still good then just sand it down. You can prime and paint over it. A simple siphon blaster will work on the parts with rust. Your present compressor should prove adequate for that.

So true Houston.
Blake, How big is your compressor? I upgraded from a Wal-mart 5 gal to a 30 gal Craftsman and I got a bucket fed gun from Home Depot and it has worked great. More than enough air. Put a good tarp down and even reuse the sand later on heavily rusted stuff. I use walnut shells on light rust and don't have to worry about heat as much.

I have a refinishing business on the side and I agree with the above posts. It sounds like you don't have the experience to run a "pot" type blaster which by-the way requires very little air in reference to syphon type. It is not sandblasting but media blasting in your case as sand in inexperience hands can cause more problems than it cures. That "media" can get somewhat expensive so I would go with the disks as you sound like you've got the time and it's a labor of love.

Be careful- you can warp metal with a sander or grinder too, but at least you can put your hand on it and check it before you ruin it.

No problem doing it that way- in fact, most of us recommend against sand blasting altogether.

Dear Mr. Blake;

Mr. Barlett is quite correct. Rotary or D/A type sanders can & do make big mess of things when used in the wrong way etc. Use a "jitterbug" type (sands back/forth) to be safe.

"sandblasting" should be done by a pro too. If done improperly (as mentioned) major damage can occur.

There are chemicals these days that can remove rust in a safe way when used by professionals.

Unless the metal is bare & rusted only light machine & hand sanding is necessary.

Pay someone that knows to look at your vehicle & get an estimate for the work first. Don't take chances on antique auto parts as; there NOT that many left etc.


Good luck, John M...

Hey Mummdogg,

I'm in the same position as you describe in that I've got a good compressor but not enough power to seriously sandbast anything bigger than small parts. I like the idea of twisted wire in my angle grinder but was concerned about getting all the rust out of the pitted rusty metal. Did you have any problems with the rust coming back under your paint once the truck was complete?

Howdy Phoneman and welcome to the family of 'Bolts'. I wish I could answer your question about the rust coming back, but I can't. Currently, the cab is only primed with Rust-o-leum Wet Sandable Primer for now, no paint yet. I wire wheeled everything, even the areas that I knew were gonna be removed due to rust. I did come across some areas of pitted rusty metal and the wire wheel worked very well. Most of the pitted areas on my truck that I felt were still considered reusable metal are inside on the floor under the seat. I was planning on coating that with POR-15 or Zero-Rust. That'll put the brakes to rust coming back. The exterior pits on the cab, mainly on the roof, will be skin covered with filler, primed and painted. What I did on the roof was use the wire wheel, then used a DA sander with 40 grit to smooth out the pits the best I could. I'm sure as long as the pitted areas aren't too thin and primed properly, there shouldn't be a problem. If the pitted areas are too thin, you may want to consider replacing the metal. There are alot a guys in here that can help more on this topic then what I can offer.

Hoped this helped ya.
Take care
~Ron

Well, yesterday I bought a wire wheel and about 4 packs of 40 grit sandpaper for my rotary sander.. time to get to work on my cab. I'm going to do it section by section and get it sprayed with epoxy afterwards. I have nothing but time right now so I should move pretty quickly on it.

I worked on the cab for most of the day. I got about 1/2 of the outside sanded down to the metal and sprayed with epoxy. Tomorrow I'll do the other half then I'll start the interior.. On another note, I finished my frame today. I sprayed it with black Tractor paint. Looks very very nice! Check it out on my gallery. I'll get pics of the cab soon.

Just checked out your frame. Now I got serious frame envy! Looks very nice.

don't forget the degreaser/wax remover before shooting primer!

I'm really glad I decided to seek advice from my fellow stovebolters. I was getting ready to sand blast my recently acquired Arizona very little rusted cab. Ouch! sandblasting is out of the question for an amature like myself. from all the great info that was given to Blake I will be able to succesfully do mine as well.
Here is what I am proposing to do.

1. Use a heavy twisted wire wheel #40 grit with combination angle grinder and D/A sander. Dremel in tight corners.
2. One section at a time!
3. Prime and seal as soon as possible after every panel is complete.
4. I plan to wear goggles and a dust mask like a painting resporator due to the fact that there is lead base paint in these old cabs.
4.Roof pitted area or any pitted area I will clean up with D/A sander as smooth as possible and use rust inhibitor type product to seal pitts. Prime, smooth fill.

I was wondering about areas such underneath the cab dash? Can I sand by hand and use rust inhibitor in places I can't reach?

sounds like you have a great plan! let us know how everything turns out!

vickraft...Welcome to Stovebolt. Like Blake said, sounds like you have a great plan. To answer your question about cleaning behind the dash. I haven't gotta that far yet, but my intentions are exactly what you mentioned. Behind my dash isn't too bad...just surface rust. So I was just gonna wire brush and sand by hand then use Zero-Rust afterwards. Before working on my truck, I've never heard of ZR, now I'm a big fan of the stuff. It really does perform what it says it can do. Don't worry about getting it down to bare metal behind the dash.
Keep us posted on your progress, and don't forget to show us some pictures.
Have fun...
~Ron

It might be too late for Blake, but I had my body panels soda blasted, it worked out well and got all the small places where it is hard to sand. I epoxy primered the whole cab and rest of the truck panels, cost was around $1100.00.