I've been reading Marc Beullers thread on his 51 and Danny Gabbard mentioned about not using sand to blast with. Over on Restowagenuk.com, Trent is having all sorts of problems after having his car dipped and e-coated. I need to remove a load of paint and bondo from the back end of my Karmann cab project and have been looking into soda blasting it myself. DKK Fred blasted his Flat Four BRMs, which looked pretty cool.

So I thought it would be a good idea to put a thread together about using the different methods for getting back to bare metal - anyone care to share?

I've used that before, Nitromors or a cheaper brand called Mangers (not Magners cider!). Best stuff I found was Syn-Strip, which I got in a 5 litre tub from my local paint supplier. Problem is it's messy and not that reliable.

I 've used star strip bought from a paint suppiers and its a generic brand of product like nitromors.

just be a bit carefull, as it burns like f@#K if you get it on your skin

I found the best way was o put on two coats allowing he first to dry then take off the remaining with a rotary wire bush

I have always used Aircraft stripper made by Kleen Strip is is Messy but a few cheap drop cloth's laid down first take care of that I use masking tape to tape over all the seams the key is not to rush the stripper let it do the work I do a panel at a time use a plastic scraper to remore the old bubbled paint you might have to recoat some areas wipe down with lacquer thinner or acetone peal the tape off of the seams and sand the edges and seams  the reason for taping the seams is to kept the stripper out of the seams if done without tapping you could have some leftover residue that will ruin your new paint job  if you use Paint stripper and you run in to Bondo or Body filler it will all have to be removed..

In my time doing metal work things have changed in the years. Now when I start a project, First locate all rust and bondo and remove. I take a propane torch and heat the back side of metal in question about 7-8 inch area at a time, Wait till slite blistering and take puttey knife that I have ground a curve into and round corners, just so It does not dig in, And now remove the bondo. This way It keeps the dust down and It doest look like a snow storm in my shop.Now I go around and cut all metal off that needs repaired And start soaking all the sheams with metalprep, Its a acid that start eating on the red iron you see as rust. Now off to the blaster. Soda is real nice for cars that need just paint removed. Wallnut with a little glass bead is a little more aggresive and will get rid of some deep pitting. If I have any real deep rust, I lay paper towels on the areas and pore the metal prep in to the paper towel and keep it soaked for a few days this keeps the stuff from going on the floor. That will get the rust to kind of brake loose so the blaster will not have to use a lot of preasure to blast the area. I also strip all large flat panels with aircraft stripper so blaster all so will not need to use alot of preasure to blast. Thats were the blaster will get into trouble. And never use sand, Like what was mentioned, It shot peens the surface and makes it real hard. When I am metalfinishing something I use a vixon file to slide over surface and that will let me locate all my highs and lows and then work to that. Well if the surface is hard the file just slides and does not cut into surface and makes my job very hard. Now if you are doing a mig and bondo type repair do not worry about what I have wrote on surface harding. I hope that helps with anybodies project. If any body has any question feel free to ask. Hopefully this summer I might start haveing shop class's on Beginer welding and rust patch panel repair and fab in my shop.

so are you saying "run a bar of soap over it and send her over?"

Forty years ago we used one of these on F4 Phantoms to remove paint and corrosion. It worked well on
small areas without a lot of mess or prep. It might be an alternative to the "fire hose" method employed
by most sandblasters? [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] The junior dry honer blasts and vacs at the same time.

was just about to suggest this! a friend taught me this a while ago

paint stripper, and wrap it in plastic , keeps it moist and doesnt dry out!

I'm certainly no expert on this subject but I've done a few cars and I may not know what is right but I know what works for me.  if the car is a total restore I take every bolt off the car and have it media blasted. The place I take it to does antique cars, race cars, show cars.......and my cars. The media is strong enough to remove all the paint, bondo and uncover all kinds of nasty surprises that just sanding or chemical paint removal would not reveal. I assume from what I'm reading here from people who know more than I on the subject, that my blaster guy must be using the right stuff as I've experienced no after effects.
My current project, the '51 split, has several shoddy repairs done in it's past that I was not aware of until blasting and could have caused me grief in the future.
The down side to media blasting is it's cost. Each of the last 2 cars I had done cost in the neighborhood of $1000 ($85 an hour). Another reason for not media blasting is if I know the history of the car and know it's sound and/or want to save the headliner (I hate doing headliners) or previous bodywork known to be good, etc.
I once chemically stripped a bug that had so many different layers of paint that the car weighed 26 pounds lighter when I was done......what a mess, but it was going to be a race car and didn't warrant media blasting.



Marc

Something else, When you get something wallnut shell blasted, Make sure to clean metal real good with thinner. It can leave slight oil film

Paint reactions, rust coming through the seams.  The car is awesome, but what a headache.

I've had two cars walnut shell blasted and highly recommend it, but with a caveat.  On the first one, I had the entire car done.  On the second, I had them leave the seams alone.  I think there is merit to leaving the original paint in the seams and not disturbing that "seal". 
The walnut shell blasting did not warp, distort or pit the metal.  My cars did not have rust issues, but with a car with rust issues, I would spot blast these areas separately, as the shell blasting does not remove heavy rust or thick bondo.

Neil,

We had our car Media blasted and it came out fine. We had it done in Coventry at Marrawise. It cost £100 and that included it being painted in primer before being returned.

No issues, no regrets

Adele