Media Blasting (of all sorts)

How much does it normally run to get a cab blasted inside and out? I want it down to metal as I don't know the "real true" condition of the car as paint can hind a lot of things.

If I go sand, is this too abrasive for older metal (early 70's f100) or should I be okay with that?

How much does it normally run? Same with the baking soda way, and bead blasting?

Any help is appreciated, thanks guys.

---Grant---

walnut shell blasting seems tobe the best right now. or glass silica bead. get the yellow pages or google some bead blasters near you.

Thats a tough call on price most blasters will shoot you a range. But you never know whats underneath years of paint.

Lets beat the myth about sand is to abrasive. There is a ton of different forms of sand, Silica, and Black Diamond tend to be the most common, Silica sand is really fine it doesn't generate a ton of heat and gives a nice uniform surface. If the blaster is retarded then warping can can happen, Black Diamond comes in a few diffent grades, ranging from coarse to super fine. It has better cutting properties than silica but in the wrong hands will jack your shit up.

So sand can be used on vehicles safely if the blaster is well qualified at using it.

Problems with walnut or glass bead are that there really good for striping paint, walnut shell doesn't do much to rust or bondo, so its really good on newer vehilces or parts that dont seem to have a ton of mud or rust. Glass bead has some of the same characteristics and can come in differnt grades of coarsness, it disipates heat fast and will strip paint right quick, depending on the media it may or may not do anything to rust or mud.

Most blasters will use walnut, glass bead, aluminumoxide, plastic or whatever to take the paint off, then will follow it with some form of sand to hit the rusty areas.

Best advice is to find a blaster that does a ton of cars and pick there brain about your project.

Damn long post.

DO NOT USE SODA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://spi.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=853&mforum=spi

Why not use soda? thats what every hotrod shop uses on their restorations.
Soda blasting on the large flat metal is the way to go. Soda will not warp the sensitive areas. Most good blasters will use soda on these portions and sand on the corners, etc.

If you go to an insured blaster expect if to cost in the $700-900 range for the cab. Closer to $1500 for an entire vehicle.

Read that thread i linked and u'll know why all those hotrod shops are having to redo 10k paintjobs due to soda!!!!!!!!!

I used soda. The truck has to be cleaned very well after. Let the painter know what type of media you used. The 63 C-10 was soda blasted inside and out for $900. The includes the interior, firewall, inside of bed, and more.

If I were you I would be more inclined to take advice from people who media blast in the first place. Otherwise you get nothing but rumors. Take for example CrazyTalkArmy's post. He is my business partner and we have over 10 years experience in blasting.With that said...Soda blasting is not...I repeat, is NOT the way to go! It doesnt have good cleaning properties and the whole point of the process is to get the metal as clean as you can. If your vehicle is for the most part covered in paint your best bet would be to have someone go after it with plastic media, walnut shells, or sponge blast. Then follow that up with a black diamond(also called black beauty) blast on all the rusted spots. If your vehicle for he most part is surface rust and/or pitted rust then you have no choice but to use a media which if the hose is in the wrong hands can screw things up. Crushed glass, glass bead, black diamond, and silica sand are some of these medias. Crushed glass tends to have a higher risk of warping because of its size so you will find that glass bead is more widely used because it is ground to a real fine consistency. The problem with glass bead from experience is that it doesnt do very well on deep pits. Its so fine that it more or less gets in its own way and doesnt have the cutting power to remove rust in pits. Silica sand for the most part has been outlawed for blasting purposes. If silica sand has been run through the proper washing compounds it can become safe so you will find some people still using it, but not many. Typically the finest grain of black diamond has the best properties out of all these medias. Still I cant stress enough that if you dont know what youre doing you can screw things up no matter what media you use!!I would expect that youre going to get an hourly rate quote if youre shopping around. This may range from $60.00/hour to $130.00/hour. Be careful that you dont fall for the "cheapest" quote. It might sound nice compared to $130/hour so it gets you in the door, but then it ends up taking them 4 times longer than the guy who quoted you $130. Expect prices to rise the closer you get to neighboring cities. Do your research, make sure people work on cars or have worked on alot in the past. Ask for references. Youre going to find some will say they can do it, but they wont blast your roof(inside and out) or your hood. These places dont know what they are doing. Its highly likey they screwed peoples roofs up in the past and dont want to force the issue again. Plus, you have to keep in mind having to take a DA sander to your roof inside and out now. What a pain in the ass!! So do your research!!All in all I think you should be able to get a GREAT blast job on just a cab which would include inside and out...roof...floor...dash...under the dash...firewall...back cab wall...and possibly two doors for either side of $600.00. Keep in mind if you have pitted rust or really baked on paint the price will rise. If you need things masked off...the price goes up...If you need the cab picked up and dropped off...up again. So there are alot of factors. Just make sure you do your work by cutting down on some of that stuff. Spend time scraping undercoating. Pull all glass, brackets and trim...things like that.You can find some blasting pictures on our website at www.crazytalkcustoms.com they are under the "media" section for now untill we have time to spiff the webpage up. Good luck!

Is aircraft stripper not an option?

Well thats just fucking great. I just had a 1969 Mustang GT 429 Super Cobra Jet blasted. He used soda on the flat parts (roof, hood, etc). The blaster came highly recommened by both rod shops I called in my area.......The car is currently in Epoxy, If it starts falling off I may just lose it!