Soda blasting

[RichardH]

As an alternative to Sand, glass or grit blasting - Does anyone know/ have any experience of this?
Is specialist equipment needed, or can "standard" home blasting nozzles and containers be used? What sort of equipment is needed? Any info please, as it seems to be a cleaner, less aggressive system than most of the others?

So far I cant find any "bad points" - there must be......

 

[Tony Hunt]

Richard,
There's been quite a bit about this recently. Search on 'soda' and you'll come up with lots.
The largest thread is http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-powertrain-transaxles/17329-bead-blasting.html
Tony

 

[Jac Mac]

My comments as per post #25 on that thread stand. I have however had no experience with its use in a smaller system. The unit that we use has a large screw compresser driven by a 6cyl Isuzu diesel, a bit hard to replicate those pressures/volumes with a 100psi shop system.

 

[RichardH]

sorry folks - first rule - search!

 

[Wayne M.]

I had my car soda blasted to get the peeling paint off. Stripping a fiberglass body with chemical strippers is a no no and sandblasting is too abrasive. There were some issues as with any stripping process but the bottom line was positive. In areas where glass and chrome was close to the finish, they were not harmed at all. It did eat into the gel coat some but a coat of hi build primer took care of that. I had it dont by someone that had specialized soda blasting equipment. I dont think regular sandblast equipment works correctly. I did see a add-on for a glass bead cabinet that allowed the use of soda. But then again it was something adapted to a glass bead cabinet. The soda once through the blaster and hits the surface of the item breaks up into fine power/dust and is unusable to be recycled. If you do it outside be careful of plants. The change in PH could kill trees, grass or shrubs.

 

[RichardH]

From what I could find - there are not any home systems suitable for Soda. It appears the Soda systems require a large airflow and most non-professional systems just cannot supply the air flow . Pity really - it looks a good system.