Media Blasting

[zcrew]

I have a hood I want to use, but it has a quarter sized rust hole in it and the paint is bubbling around it a little and in a few other spots. I'll be painting and fixing little dings anyway, so I'm thinking the quickest way to get it down to where I can work best with it is to strip all the paint/rust off. So here's the question....

For thin metal with some surface rust, would sand blasting just blast through it? Should I use another material like baking soda or something? I just want it stripped down enough to have a clean slate, i know I will be needing a thin coat of bondo in a couple spots, but I'm worried about blasting away more than needed.

[AFSil80]

If it's just surface rust, it shouldn't break through the metal as long as it's not rusted through.

[zcrew]

well, the hole is rusted through, but then it fades out to surface rust around it. i want to lose the least amount of metal as possible since it's down on a corner which is hard to bend metal to shape it right to fix it.

[AFSil80]

Well, as long as the metal isn't thinner than .040", and it is steel, so it shouldn't loose much metal after you clean up the edges of where it's rusted through.

I could offer some ways to fix it, but it's aircraft mentality, so it's pure function and ugly as sin. I'm honestly not sure of the best way to fix it in this scenario. I'd just normally spring for a new hood, I guess.

As far as bending/fabricating to fix, as cheap as this sounds, fiberglass would be the route I'd take, but that's just me and again, that's coming from an aircraft maintainer's way of doing things and we don't do pretty in that world, haha.

[Zippy69]

I can fix it for you. I'll do it pretty cheap too. P/M me.

[babowc]

if it costs more than $30 to blast it..
just go get another hood.

I think you can use walnut shells, those aren't supposed to be too abrasive(?)
also.. black magic(?) are supposed to be good too...

this thread reminds me..
i need to get a blaster!

[youngster603]

its a silvia hood he needs to blast, not a stock 240 one, so a new one would run more than $30. also, my dad has a sandblaster, nothing special but it should work... we just don't really know much about the different media and whatnot.

[Zippy69]

Walnut shells will work, but it takes longer. Since you are only doing a small area, just sand the area to bare metal and treat it with a rust inhibitor. After that dries, rub the area down with vinegar. Then repair the hole either by welding in a patch or by using fiberglass. Sand, prime, and paint.

[sponce]

if it costs more than $30 to blast it..
just go get another hood.

I think you can use walnut shells, those aren't supposed to be too abrasive(?)
also.. black magic(?) are supposed to be good too...

this thread reminds me..
i need to get a blaster!



wallnut shell will work perfectly... good answer there, but black magic on the other hand, will eat holes through it prety fast

another good sugestion is glass dust, works on platic even, and won't eat a whole through that, but cuts right through paint.

[AFSil80]

Walnut shells are used typically on fiberglass pieces.

Plastic media on aluminum and for removing paint.

Glass media for ferrous metals and corrosion.

[babowc]

i need to get me some of that walnut shell with a blaster then..
i dont feel like sanding down my polyurethane rear lip..

paint is all cracked and ish.