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Message |
    
miro
Senior Member
Username: miro
Post Number: 164
Registered: 11-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 07:54 am: | 
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I recall that there was mention of this technique earlier. Has anyone had experience with it?
I can see that it would be a lot less messy What eqipment did you use?
I'm looking to remove a combinatin of old paint and surface rust down to a clean metal surface. |
robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 170
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 01:21 am: |
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Miro,
As a matter of fact I am tomorrow going to blast some parts that are going to Bill if he still wants them ;-)? I'll be using baking soda with a siphon feed on my pressure washer. I'll post some before and after shots. It would probably work with corn husk as well, although the blaster who gave me the soda says the corn is more aggressive than soda. The soda did a beautiful job on brass and galvanizing (my boat) so it is hard to hurt much with it, even when used in a full sized sand-blaster. The soda is also easily and safely washed away, leaving no mess like sand and corn husk (except whatever was actually blasted off the surface of course) This blaster does his work 'dry' unless he has to inject water to keep the dust down. Obviously this avoids rust problems, although it does leave a ight dusting of soda over the whole item. |
richardday
Senior Member
Username: richardday
Post Number: 409
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2005 - 09:00 am: |
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I have had great sucess with wet sand blasting. It really strips off paint, grease, rust etc. and you don't get the terrible dust cloud which is very toxic to breath. There is little spatter and I put down a ten foot square of 6 mil plastic to catch the water and sand run off. When finished I let the sun dry the sand. Then scoop it up and run it through a screen to remove any large items. Then spread and rake the sand on a dry piece of plastic to let the sun totally dry the sand so I can run it again through the blasting process. I use FINE kids playground sand but you have to make sure it is totally dry before trying to use it as even slightly damp sand obviously won't syphon. Northern Hydraulics sells an attachment for about 75 bucks that attaches to a high pressure washer hose. The high pressure washer I use puts out about 4 gallons a min at about 3000 pounds. This same approach is a great way to strip fiber glass hulls that need to have their bottom paint removed. Just don't hit the hull at a right angle as it will cut right through the hull. One inatentive kid did just that in a boatyard when he stopped to talk to someone. He did not release the trigger with serious damage being the result.
It leaves a nice matte finish on the hull which is great for bonding the fresh bottom paint. I would not use it on brass or chrome plated items. For cast iron and steel it is the way to go from my experience. It is very good on inside radius portions of castings as it can dig out the paint and rust thoroughly. |
robert
Senior Member
Username: robert
Post Number: 171
Registered: 07-2003
| | Posted on Friday, June 10, 2005 - 01:39 pm: |
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Ray, what size of orifice does your nozzle have? Mine is about 1/4" and I suspect it is too large, with a 2500psi 5hp washer this thing goes through media in a hurry. Do you siphon from a bucket or do you have a gravity feed? Soda is great on soft metals and fiberglass, but my setup goes through soda at about a gallon a minute. At $30+ for a 50lb bag it adds up quickly. No photos yet, just experimenting in the driveway last night. |
richardday
Senior Member
Username: richardday
Post Number: 415
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, June 10, 2005 - 06:34 pm: |
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The water jet is about 1/32" Syphon from a 6 gallon dry wall bucket for the very very dry sand. |
