Pressure washer sandblasting

So, i need to take a neon down to bare metal due to paint failure and surface rust.

Car is plastic bumpers, steel everything else. 

I heard about and watched a YouTube video of a sandblasting attachment for the pressure washer. 

I know toyman had used one on Sanford, but want a bunch of feedback. 

Questions: does tne car rust after blasting due to being wet? 

Does it warp panels like regular blasting?

Does it touch body filler? Or undercoating?

Can i ise it on plastic bumpers?

I want to do engine bay, jambs, underside of hood and trunk, and undercarriage at a minimum. I can sand the outer panels if needed.....

I'm interested in this as well.

Questions: does tne car rust after blasting due to being wet? 

Does it warp panels like regular blasting?

Does it touch body filler? Or undercoating?

Can i ise it on plastic bumpers?

I want to do engine bay, jambs, underside of hood and trunk, and undercarriage at a minimum. I can sand the outer panels if needed.....

Rust.  Yes.  Instantly.  Within 5 minutes.  Fortunately, it is incredibly superficial.  You can wipe it off with a towel.  Once it's dry, just wipe any rust off.  There are two kinds of rust: Ferric and Ferous oxide.  FeO2 forms super fast and it is the orange/copper stuff you see.  Fe2O3 is the raisin-bran, brown, cancer, crusty stuff.

Warping.  I'm not sure.  It won't heat warp, but I would imagine it would peen-warp just like any other sandblasting.

It will take bondo off

Never tried it on undercoating.  I usually do hot pressure wash for that.

Never tried it on plastic.

Warps all to heck, work hardens into warped shape, too. I do not have actual experience, but I'm pretty sure. Definitely the case with sandblasting alone.

For a DIY at home, I always wanted to try soda blasting. You can just let the rain wash awaywhat's left, it's environmentally benign, etc.

I had a car bead blasted (partially). The guy said it was the same material as houshold switchplates. It left the panels nicely in shape, but the insta rust was also real. Probably just what you're going to get with bare metal, particularly in the South.

Can anyone lead me to where I can learn more about buying a blaster or building one used with a pressure washer. How many psi are required?

pirate said:

Can anyone lead me to where I can learn more about buying a blaster or building one used with a pressure washer. How many psi are required?

Go to a site named GarageJournal it has been covered ther a few times IIRC. I can't post a link here for some reason 

L5wolvesf said:

Go to a site named GarageJournal it has been covered ther a few times IIRC. I can't post a link here for some reason 

And when you go there heavens to Betsy do a search first.  

In reply to pirate :

It seems that the wands don't specify what pressure washer you need. Id ASSUME that the little ones won't be enough. Im wondering if my 2.5gpm 3100psi will do it.

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

........ I always wanted to try soda blasting. You can just let the rain wash away what's left, it's environmentally benign, etc.

What other industries use soda blasting or CO2 blasting  maybe with a mobile trailer , 

I may be getting a car that had an engine fire and  would need to blast the engine bay ......

I am definitely interested in how to use a pressure washer.  I used the HF sandblaster on my stripped Midget, and it makes a hell of a mess.

They wanted like $4,000 to do my Nomad when I asked about stripped it at the commercial place.  My Willys Panel project is coming up

and its all surface rusted or worse, and I am thinking this pressure washing approach is best.  I have a good strong pressure washer.

californiamilleghia said:

wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) said:

........ I always wanted to try soda blasting. You can just let the rain wash away what's left, it's environmentally benign, etc.

What other industries use soda blasting or CO2 blasting  maybe with a mobile trailer , 

I may be getting a car that had an engine fire and  would need to blast the engine bay ......

I really don't know, other than a good blasting shop, where you could get this done. My thought was, being finer, baking soda would be easier on tips, use less air, etc. Of course, it would take longer to clean the work.

As to the water blasting, we need Toyman1.

I just checked out this video, this guy has some really great videos, my kind of low-budgeteer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ3fHsg9Z6A

I used one of these devices on my Camaro and it did a really nice job of removing paint and POR15 but I ran out of sand, and by the time I went and bought some to complete the job, the car was rusty. CLIK FOR VIDEO OF THE DISASTER

In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :

I love soda blasting for home use. The way I look at it, going to bare metal in a lot of cases is a waste of effort. if the paint is hard for you to remove, then it is probably a good base for the next coat.

I tried soda blasting for free on some motorcycle carbs. You don't want to blast carbs or engines with a media that is going to get into every crevice and cause issues. I used a air compressor gun and some tubing and used the baking soda from my basement fridge and freezer. came out great. just make sure to use something to protect your eyes and a good dust mask.

I then bought a harbor freight sand blast can and the soda blast nozzles and used it on a lot of other parts including some motorcycle engines that I was going to paint.

Next I want to try the vapor blast mod to my harbor freight blast cabinet.