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

I have the bed off my truck and have many questions. First I've taken the fenders off and taken out the bad floor but I didn't remove the crossmembers. It looked like the final crossmember might be hard to remove. So--- should I sandblast it as one unit or should I take the thing all apart? My other question is,is it worth buying a sandblaster for this one truck or should I hire it done? If I do hire it sandblasted about what is the going rate? Thanks to all that responded to my electrical questions and thanks to all who help with my new questions.

First question I would ask you is do you have a big hefty air compressor. If not, then add that to the cost of a sand blaster.

You will need an air compressor that will do about 25CFM at about 100psi (go check the air requirements of the blaster you want).

My air compressor is at least 25cfm @ 100psi. Thanks for the reminder.

just take it to a pro. Going rate is between $1-$2 a minute around here. It's well worth it. Sounds like a lot, but it doesn't take long to blast something off with the right equipment.

Funton: I asked the same question. I bought a pressurized blaster and my 7hp/80gal/175 psi compressor handled it very well. BUT just for one truck it is not worth it. It takes a lot of time and although it may not take much sand that is an expense to.
Purchased the blaster $225....about 450 pds of sand....several evenings in the hot sun. Finally got smart, sold the blaster for $100 and moved on. I wish I had had it done, like others I did, and moved on.
The local GOOD place here charges $100 an hour and furnishes the sand. The guy has been blasting for over 20 years and has the volume of air to do a frame in "short order".

Hope this helps. If you want to spend some money on a blaster spend it on a nice cabinet blaster. Its something you will use more on the small stuff and will use it many many times.

Hope this helps.

This is kinda what I wanted to hear. So I'll hire it done. Now with regard to my earlier question about taking out the crossmembers or leaving them in place, what do you think?

Anything that is bolted on should come off, including the shackles and springs. Rust can continue to rust under the bolts. The cross member that goes under the front of the torque tube needs to come off, it likely is full of crud and should be cleaned out anyway. My frame (half ton) was light enough that I could manhandle it onto the trailer by myself.

Thanks 1953 panel, but I was refering to the crossmembers of the bed frame.

I think it would be well worth your time to completely disassemble the bed if you are going to have it blasted.
It isn't really much of a job to get it all apart.

Ugh, I'll never try to blast anything but the smallest of parts and only in an emergency. Take it to a pro, it is worth it. Or do what I did and try it yourself, get dirty, frustrated and then take it to a pro! I even had a big compressor, but it was just such a pain. Still have sand in my ears and that was 2 years ago!

Have a pro blast it all, chassis, and sheetmetal.