soda blasters.

Hi, has anyone tried one of those home soda blasters that you seem to be able to pick up just about anywhere, around the 100lb capacity, seem to vary from around $275-$325 depending on where you shop.
What size, or minimum capacity compressor would you need?
Thought I may try one out at home, got a chassis I want to clean up good enough to throw a coat of paint on. Reckon on what it would cost me to transport the chassis to the sandblasters alone, could buy a soda blaster, IF they are any good, let alone paying someone to do it.
Time is not an issue, so if it takes a while to do the job, so be it.
Has anyone bought/used one, if so, what sort of results did you achieve??
Thanks, Dave

Dave, Unlike sand blasting, soda blasting won't remove any rust. They are only god for removing paint - best used on 'thin' metal in an expensive car restoration. Even then after the soda blasting, they often have to use a more abrasive material such as garnet on the rusty areas.. I haven't seen a 'home' version, but I guess they remove even less. I would recommend that you get your's sandblasted.

Forget soda,cost a fortune does nothing.There a lot of things used for "gentle " blasting,the cheapest being crushed Qld nutshells.,or rice husks.(dusty).If you want to do a truck chassis,first chip and scrape the buildup.Saves heaps of time.No matter what you use ,plastic air and fuel lines will be thinned,maybe cut.Abrasive used is a matter of cost.If you use white sand,its a health hazard and illegal.But cheap.Next would be black sand ,illmenite.Very fine ,heavy,and dirty.But legal,and was widely used once.Next is garnet,a pink sand,from WA.Expensive ,even when recycled,Probably $1000 a ton by now.Next is steel grit in a blast room with a 1/2 nozzle and 1000cfm/120psi.Job done in 20 minutes.Professional only,and will demolish anything in the chassis in the way of plastic or light ally.Min airflow for backyard blasting is about 80cfm/100psi.With a 3/16 or 1/8 nozzle.20 hours.Next is 125cfm,lot quicker.maybe 12 hours.Next is what the portable blasters use ,a 375 to 400cfm compressor ,3/8 nozzle,and sand or garnet.3 or 4 hours.You can easily make your own pressure blast pot,it aint rocket science.Rates vary from $300/hr for the blastroom,to about $100/hr for mobile blaster.

As a compromise, last two chassis I did, I cleaned all the larger surfaces with a wire wheel on an angle grinder and used garnet for all the fiddly bits. I swept it up and recycled it many times. A kitchen strainer works great to get the chunks out. A needle gun is great for the crunchy bits (rust bubbles) and much quicker than a hammer and chisel. (do this first, as John K says).

Jarrod.

If you get commercial blasting done,specify the result you want.Class 1 is blasted to white metal,Class 1A is nearly white,usually specified for structural ,down to Class 5,called a whip.Class 1 will cost many times what a Class 2 finish will ,and 2 is good for any truck chassis.Grease or greasy patches is a real time waster,because the grit will often build up instead of blasting the surface clean.It also causes recycling problems.Ive done lots of trucks with an old Broomwade 120cfm compressor and a small blast pot.I also have whats called a "consolidation "on one lung,which shows up in chest X rays. Caused by white sand? Hopefully not asbestos.
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Taken it on board, decided to go the route of getting it done by someone in the business, quoted $600 which includes the chassis sprayed with an etch primer, which going by you blokes would sound competitive. Dragged it around to a blokes place on an A frame where it will be done in the paddock with a mobile unit then put inside a big shed to be fan dried. Just didn't seem to be worth the effort, or the mess to do it at home. Thanks

Hi Dave

100_3060 by fill quinn , on Flickr

100_3061 by fill quinn , on Flickr
The mount goes up from under neath a cross member that is a u section, I hope this helps

Thanks Fill,
that looks to be a pretty substantial type of mount, obviously from the angle, one each side. What size is the Beddy? around the J3? just trying to get a bit of an idea of the size/weight of it.
Cheers, Dave

Hi Dave
Mine is a J Two duel wheel, J Three is the same but tray a bit longer and heaver springs. Both have a 214 cubic inch motor
Cheers Fill