Shot blasting or media blasting

[912UK]

Has any one done this on their car.. I know shot blasting a car is and can be a bit of a risk. Mainly because of the high pressure the media needs to move though the gun ( eg lifted from the store bottle ) It also generates heat which is something people foget about as well.

there is a company in west or east sussex called metal treatments and they use a treatmend use in the aircraft industry and it is plastic media they have quoted me £800-1000 for the car.. So what I did was strip the main part of the car and I was looking to either use them for the small bits in the nooks and cranies. Or do it my self.

So what I am asking is has any one done it on their car at home with a DIY shot blaster for the small bits and what sort of result have they had. I have a compressor and I have seen machine mart do shot balster guns for about £25-30

I was also looking into the idea of doing my own vapour balsting using hot water and very fine grit to see if this would cleanup engine cases and the like to a nice high quality finish.. I stupidly chucked out a bag 10KG of glass grit I had no use for and now i need it for this little project [] I hate chucking stuff out but after 5 sheds the future Mrs Collins is putting her foot down and said no to any more sheds [&:]

 

[eitnurg]

Have nothing but praise for Cleaning Consultants at Loxwood in W Sussex, 01403 752347, http://www.blast-cleaning.co.uk/. Have used them several times over the last 10 years, all sorts of stuff, complete bodyshell, antique iron safe, kids pedal car, etc etc. They use the plastic media stuff and it's so controllable they can even blast/strip fibreglass without damage. I also got one of those Machine Mart guns originally, tried it once, never again, just goes everywhere! Basically, life's too short for diy, just get them to do it all.

 

[912UK]

This is the company I met well done I forgot the name..

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

there are in my experience two major draw backs to doing this DIY. First off is the mess/dust and the need for correct safety gear to cope with it.
And second is the size of the compressor/ receiver. Then of course you've got to hire or rent a gun too. If you add up the time and rental costs + the media, taking the car somewhere starts looking good. BTW I have a large pot of fine shot blast media that's FREE to anyone pepared to pick it up(folkestone kent). Don't have details of actual size and grade as at work at the mo.

 

[912UK]

might have to take you up on that ... will look into it more..

Yes I think I might have a go for the odd area's see how I get on but like you say if it looks like I need more from it then off to metal consultants they did say if I had done alot of it then it would cost less......

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

From memory and looking at the machine mart cat it's aluminium oxide powder 120 grade and 22kg tub i think.

 

[Robin]

The Halfords blasting gun and compressor works well for seams and fairly small areas, once they have been stripped of paint! Stripping paint is a slow job, it is often better to use a jelly type of stripper to remove the bulk of the paint and then use the blaster to finally clean it up. I cleaned my early 911 underbody with one before painting. it is the only way to really clean out any little rust areas and the results are superb. I used silver sand to do mine. One word of caution though you need to be very well protected against any blasting media you use as it can get everywhere! I did the blasting on my driveway and shovelled up the used sand and re used it many times after putting it through a flour sieve, (best to use an old one) You will need a fairly decent compressor to supply compressed air to the shot blast gun 1 to 1.5 HP with a 50 litre air chamber is ok, its not the pressure it is the volume of air that is important. The results are impressive when you have done it, much better than derusting with chemical means.

With blasting whole car bodies there are many different media used for blast cleaning the coarsest ones which work quickly are steel grits of various grades. These can cause distortion in steel if used to do a "quick job" better ones are aluminium oxide, glass beads, crushed nut shells or plastic particles. The less abrasive ones will take longer to remove paint and can remove it layer by layer.
There are jobbing shot blast companies around the country look them up in your Yellow pages and go and talk to them if you want to do your entire car bodyshell.

I am pleased you like the Forum page, some things are best done behind the scenes.

 

[912UK]

Cheers Robin..

I agree there I have a 2.5 hp compressor so I think it will work fine.. I have stripped off 97% of the paint it is the last few area's where access has been a pain so I think I will pop along apick up a shot blasting gun. and some silver sand.

Then for my vapor blasting I will need to look into this more I am sure I can get a kinda matching finish..

 

[vitesse]

I t is illegal to use sand for blasting in what can be perceived to be public space;better to buy a bag of "copper slag" disposable media.You will need at least a 15CFM compressor with a water seperator and give the unit frequent rests.

 

[912UK]

i have a workshop 20ft by 10ft for this []

 

[pmjt]

Mark - I had the Carrera shell dipped by Surface Preparation near Birmingham - from memory about £800 and the great thing is absolutely no panel damage - I'd strongly recommend it - if you're interested, I'll find the website (they were featured in C&SC about a month or two ago) - great result and no hassle - MUCH better than trying to clean it yourself.

Philip

 

[pmjt]

Mark - found the artcile in C&SC - I got the name wrong - they're Surface Processing Limited in Dudley.

http://www.surfaceprocessing.co.uk/

HTH

Philip

 

[912UK]

Cheers for that it does look good. £800 is £800 ( and you would have to take the wire loom out [&:] at the mo I have a budget of £3000 to use up. So watching the pennies. Hey I did my 912 for £5200 including buying it and shipping it !!! and that number plate...[]

Once the 65 912 is finished and sold I should have a min of £7K left over..and then there is always those 4.5" Fusch rims I have to sell. ( I don't really want to sell them )

I have already stripped it anyway It's the last few area's to finish is why I want to shot blast the odd area. I could just do what most American cars and some UK resto places do and just ignor it and paint the car but I can't do that. If it's worth doing and all that..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v17/912uk/DSC01704.jpg

Just got to work on the nose but I am going to get Terry to finish that off.. it looks worse than it is in the pic as I have already dress 75% of it out..