hey guys ive got a quick question. Me and my buddy plan on pulling the bed off of his truck that was an ohio truck so its pretty rusty. The frame is not rotted and is solid, but the rust seems to just flake off in sheets. He picked up a sand blaster, would we be better off using play ground sand from lowes, or use some type of soda? Once we get it stripped down we will be using eastwoods frame paint and rust encapsultor so it should all turn out nice. Any input would be great on what would work out best for busting the rust off the frame.
I would think using a co****r grade of media would be better if there is rust or scale on the frame.Soda is quite gentle if used properly,but you will save time and money by using sand!
sand, soda will just put a nice shiney polished surface on the rust. Soda is mainly for paint removal.
I just bought out a soda blasting business, but if the rust is as bad as you say it is I would use sand. Be sure to use a respirator 'cause sand can lead to silicosis. Lay down some tarps to try to catch and reuse the sand after you strain out the trash. use a good air compressor, one that you don't have to wait on over and over. A commercial one that you can rent would be better. Think volume the bigger the supply line the better. Hope this helps.
If the rust is coming off in sheets,,,it's probably worse than you think. One way to loosen heavy rust is to whack it with a ball peen hammer and get under it with a heavy s****er before any blasting. On a frame I would use sand.
sweet sand it is guys. s****iron good idea with the hammer and heavy s****er, ill definatly do that. Im thinking my compressor will keep up, its a 40 gal tank. I think it should be fine. I planned on laying tarps down to gather the sand back up, for filtering im thinking of using five gallon buckets and a sifter made from window screen. It should work.
don't use the playsand, you will be fighting it because it's not well screened. I use 20 grit and finer from the masonry supply store at $7/100lb bag. 60 and 80 grit really get into the pitting good.
Your compressor will not keep up...I run a 60 Gal. 2 phase Craftsman, and in order to be able to keep up while sandblasting, I had to add a seperate "supply" tank to my set up. The second tank is also a 60 Gal. tank, I removed from a locomotive switcher at work.
if you cant up the tank size..just take breaks, your going to want to anyways oh and dont use play sand..use blasting media ..like black beauty or something like that.. sand will hold moisture, and pack up and bridge in your blaster..its a PITA besides a media made for blasting and sharper than sand will do a much better job
one more for sand. masonry sand, and about any other sand that is not specified for sandblasting has silica. i've used it for years, but always outside and always with a good respirator. (even though they say a respirator won't stop the silica, kinda scary stuff so be careful) good luck, it's just like a day at the beach.
i think if we take breaks my compressor will work alright, if not ive got grinders and wire wheels and all kinds of stuff. we figured we would give his sandblaster a shot. So it looks like people recomend 60 and 80 grit sand, and then 000 sandblast sand. Out of the three what will work the best for a frame, im looking at what will cut the rust the best, not something that will give me a mirror finish because its only a frame. you guys have given me a bunch of good info, thanks alot!!
you kind of have to think of sand grades like shotgun shells. finer grade=more grains of sand in a specified area. co****=less grains. with a smaller compressor and blasting unit you usually have a hard time balancing the airflow and pressure anyway, so i would go around 80 grit or what they call fine in masonry sand. if you can grind and brush away the scale fairly easy with other tools i would recommend doing that before blasting. at least all the easy, out in the open stuff then you have less debris flying back at you when you do blast.
somewhere in the discussions here on the board there's link to info that suggests NOT using soda anywhere where paint adhesion is needed. The soda MUST be neutralized, and this is notlways a simple task. Sounds like you've already settled on sand, but if you're still considering the soda, do a search.
ive read about soda and having to wash whater you blast with a water/vinager mix. So i think the game plan will be bust off all of the easy to get to stuff thats flaking off, then blast with 80 grit or something labeled fine, and then clean up with air and acetone to prep for paint. thanks for all the info.
Yeah, SANDblast is the way to go on the frame. Finish it off with some POR-15 or equivalent. Soda is good to remove paint and not stretch the metal
On something like that I like to use a "needle Scaler" first for several reasons... You can use one on the worst parts of the frame before teardown to see if the frame really is worth sandblasting... It removes the rust "sheets" easily, right to the solid steel and will cut down on the sand required to finish the job. It also quickly lets you see just how solid (or not!) the underlying steel really is. Not as hard on your air compressor either... It basicly lets you see what your getting into before you go thru the expense (and mess) of sand and plastic sheeting and the full teardown a blast job requires. Sand gets everywhere...including into sensitive parts of the rig if you don't tear down...not to mention your personal unmentionables!
Country Gent, I do not think that POR 15 will stick to clean metal. Therefore, it would not be a good agent for coverage AFTER blasting. Once you blast, think about good self etching primer and paint. 2 cents
ill be using eastwoods frame paint that comes with a rust encapsulator. it should work out good. hackerbilt what the heck is a needle scaler?
needle scaler is what welders use for removing slag.....it is basically an air hammer that has several needles instead of a chisel....
Pretty much... They are used on ships as well to remove rust in areas where you don't want to be blowing sand all over the place. Work better/faster than you might think, down to about 80-85% of what blasting will do. If your using POR15 it might be enough, but it takes a bit longer than a powerful sand blaster. Like I said...ideal for checking a frame in the bad spots or removing the large clinkers of rust before actually blasting! http://www.spe-int.com/productdetai...Low+Vibration+Pneumatic+Needle+Scaler&pid=103
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