What should be used to blast body panels and inner fenders wells? Also anyone local in North Orange County California?
I prefer to have it chemically dipped if it will be a bit before you go to paint. Blasting has its perks but the applicator is where I worry the most about. It's easy to warp. Stay away from glass media if you go that route.
I've had several cars and body parts media blasted (plastic beads) No warping or pitting... when it's done it looks like you have brand new body panels. Plastic media won't remove rust but it's killer on old paint, Soda blasting is also good. As far as I'm concerned sand and glass are no good on body panels
Media blasting with a skilled operator works well other then dealing with having beads in every crack & crevice. Sandbasting a big no-no unless you plan on skim coating every panel with filler, I don't care how good the guy says he is. After media blasting chemical treat light rust (surface) and you could spot blast heavy rust areas, they will need filler anyway more then likely
Sandblasting IS media blasting. I have done quite a bit of blasting of all sorts of different parts. Some kinds of media are much safer, but with enough skill and care it is possible to use aggressive medias without damaging the part. That said, and even though I could probably get by with doing it, on something I cared about I wouldn't use a coarse media, or an aggressive media like sand, aluminum oxide, slag, silicon carbide, etc, etc.
So basically I need something thats not too coarse. Anyone know of a place in So Cal that can do this for me?
Not sure where you are but Anacapa Soda Blasting in Oxnard does it all. They also have paint facilities but have never seen their work as far as paint goes. They had an article in Hot Rod several years ago about their soda blasting.
Going to rehash this thread. I scored a bed (FINALLY!) for my 58 D100 and have been slowly stripping the paint from it with stripping discs and wire wheels, it's been very slow going. The local blaster uses either sand or garnet to blast depending on the item. I've spent enough time looking to see that sand is a no on these bigger flatter panels (bed sides and tailgate etc.. Would garnet be appropriate media to do the blast with? I'd like to minimize warpage here.
The majority of blasting medias can damage your part. Garnet would be among the aggressive medias I mentioned in my previous post. Your guy may be slick wnough to do the job with no damage, but I wouldn't risk something I cared about unless you are POSITIVE he can pull it off. What about removing the paint off with stripper, then dealing with the metal and/or rust as needed.
I worked my way through college sandblasting and painting heavy equipment. When got late in the day and the sun was going down you could the sparks flying and the metal glowing on the surface. That's OK for pig iron bull dozers but it ruins body panels. In addition to possibly warping the panels, it tempers the metal. These days I chemically strip and sand panels.
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