Norcal Media Blasting

[Z-Noob]

With the extensiveness of builds growing and growing, the use of media blasters seems to be expanding as well. I chose to use a media blaster to give my project a great starting point as well.

 

I went with

 

Precision Stripping & Coating

921 E Vine St, #921, Lodi, CA 95240

(209) 333-1212

 

and they did a great job. Pictures can be seen in my build thread here:

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=157707

 

I paid $600 for the blasting and $500 for the bake on primer. (Your price may vary!!)

 

I dont have ANY connection to the business I just wanted to share my experience with a business.

[rbpowered280z]

there is a cryoblaster up in santa rosa. ive been looking into it only because my Z is super clean minus like 3 spots and the floor boards. ive only looked into it because it wont hurt anything while being blasted, no friction=no heat=no warpage=awsomeness.

 

Lloyd

[Dan Juday]

Thanks for the info. They're close by too.

 

I have a pair of hood hinges I want done. Do you know if they do small stuff too?

[Z-Noob]

Thanks for the info. They're close by too.

 

I have a pair of hood hinges I want done. Do you know if they do small stuff too?

 

Im pretty sure they will do them. Give them a call.

[z-ya]

That's a good deal. I paid $800 to have my car soda blasted. Did they use soda?

[ncfisher]

did they do the bottom also?

[Tony D]

For the small stuff, if you have a 5 HP low pressure (125psi) compressor, consider the Harbor Freight Soda Blaster (15# model).

 

The smaller unit I had first, and it used MORE AIR than the larger one did (odd, huh?)

 

In any case, with full on blasting my 5 HP Crapbox Devilbis Oil Free compressor cycles on and off and I was going with the valve full on at 45psi. Plenty of rest period for my old compressor. Really surprised me that it would 'catch up' as with siphon guns it pretty much runs continuously.

 

Anyway, the soda blasting took paint off like nothing. Cleaned rubber, and did not mar the windows in the component I was stripping (pulled a layer of red paint off the inside of an originally mist-blue hatch). I did the small hinges, all sorts of stuff that was laying around and was really impressed. For $129 (not on sale) it worked admirably, and was easy enoguh to clean up afterwards.

 

Remember, it's the BIG one (15#) -- originally I used the 10#, but returned it on pretense in exchange for the larger unit. I'd bought the 10# machine as it was on sale for something like $70 and clearly read it used more air... but I'm shocked at how much less the larger unit uses. For the physical size difference (nil) don't waste your time on the smaller machine, just get the 15# unit.

 

I didn't have any great success removing heavy rust with it (hey, I experimented) for that I'm thinking beads or regular abrasive. But the way it stripped paint at only 35-40# was impressive.

 

Oh, and have a good moisture trap if you are in high humidity area. I can see this clogging with moisture due to the small orifice sizes used...but I did NOT have this issue personally.

 

A list of small crap I did:

linkages, hinges, plastic emblems, bumper rubbers, plastic previously painted over, carb body, intake manifold underside and baked on grunge, head of the car with plugs and wires still installed (shhh!)

 

Everything went back to bare, clean metal, and I could not see any metal deformation at all. Nice looking finish. And like I said, even up to 55# I was not seeing any glass etching at all when directing the flow at windshield or hatch rubber to clean it off.

 

Cheers!

[z-ya]

Tony, what did you clean with before paint?

 

The guy that soda blasted my car normally does log cabin restorations. The gun has probably a 2" tip, and a 4 cylinder diesel compressor on a trailer. He had to clean up a few spots while I waited to pick it up so I got to see it in action. It basically makes a 2" swath through paint and bondo without affecting the metal. The panels looked like they just came out of the press, no abrasion at all.

[audandash]

Tony did you get the soda from Harbor Freight as well? How much did you use just out of curiosity? I recently purchased a 240 that needs to be cleaned badly. it has been sitting under a tree for who knows how long and has nice green funk on it. the car is supposed to be white lol.

[Evan Purple240zt]

^ If your not looking to strip to bare metal, don't sodablast.

[DavyZ]

...Oh, and have a good moisture trap if you are in high humidity area. I can see this clogging with moisture due to the small orifice sizes used...but I did NOT have this issue personally....

 

 

Good to know. Here in NC it gets stupidly humid during the summer months. I'll invest in a good moisture trap before stripping anything. Yes, I did buy one of the HF units and a huge bag of soda from them too; can't wait to use it too! Apparently soda is also available at Sam's Club in bulk, but I do not know if it is 'blaster grade' or what.

 

 

 

Davy

[scottkell]

Tony did you get the soda from Harbor Freight as well? How much did you use just out of curiosity? I recently purchased a 240 that needs to be cleaned badly. it has been sitting under a tree for who knows how long and has nice green funk on it. the car is supposed to be white lol.

 

 

You might as well call me if your going to strip an entire car with soda. The little HF unit would take weeks for an entire car. I can strip a Z for around $800.00 and it only takes a day.

I go all over the Southeast.

Scott 706 897 0316