Dustless Blasting

I strip my outer body panels with stripping pads on a 4 1/2" angle grinder.

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I'll will follow that up with 80 grit on a D/A before I spray it with epoxy primer.

I blast everywhere that can't be done with a stripping disc like the door jambs, floor, underbody and etc.
I do all my blasting using a pot blaster and Black Diamond coal slag media.

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how many stripping disks you go through?

those little pot blasters are handy!
 
I think I used about 7 or so discs to strip this GTO. I'd figure about 10 for car with a top. If you keep them flat as possible and don't put too much pressure on them, you can get much better life. But if you start using the edges, they will wear out much quicker.

I like this pot blaster but they are finicky. With patience and practice, you can make them work really well.
 
Had a local guy dry blast my 49 Pontiac frame and body. He used copper slag media and he called it dustless blasting.
You can see the dark media on the concrete. I think he used a total of 600 pounds.
Body came out great and the big hood with very little bracing had no warping I could see after spraying black SPI epoxy on everything.

Some info I found on the copper slag:

Sharpshot Copper Slag​

  • Among the lowest cost per square foot abrasive
  • New and coated steel
  • Environmentally Friendly Abrasive
  • Extremely low dust
  • Very low consumption rate on new steel (~ 1 to 2 lbs/sq. ft. at 110psi Nozzle)
  • Low embedment
  • Recycle 2 to 3 times
  • Available in 75 lb bags, 3000 & 4000 lb Bulk Bags, Bulk & Rail
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Ill admit I was skeptical using the rig. But taking a car down to metal, you can use aircraft stripper....Ill never do that again. The chemicals, fumes, and cleanup are bad.

The other option is sanding. If you are planning to take the car down to metal, this is not a good option.

Only other option is blasting with some sort of media. My interest here isn't to argue or persuade people, its to put out the facts. People are going to do what makes sense to them, which is highly subjective.

All I can say is that the Dustless blasting rig, if used correctly, does not warp metal. And yes the biggest benefit of dustless blasting is the water carries off most of the air contamination. Not all of it, I still wore a respirator, full union suit, and rubber boots. It absolutely, 100% makes a mess.

Id agree that a lot of the people buying these rigs are retired, or small business owners, or generally people who will not be operating the machines themselves.

Id suggest if you do contract with a owner of a dustless blaster rig, you require a few things.
1. some sort of insurance on work in case they do mess something up.
2. ask what kind of media(they should be using the dustless blasting supplied media) and rust inhibitor(waterborne is best IMO) they are using.
3. make sure they do a full cleanup when done.
4. be prepared to clean, prep, and epoxy immediately after blasting.
What rust inhibitor do you like? Are you just using holdtite 102 or something else?
Thanks!
 
What rust inhibitor do you like? Are you just using holdtite 102 or something else?
Thanks!
I used their brand waterborne, which I believe is just a relabeled holdtite. We used a higher concentration than they suggested to give me more time on putting my first layer of epoxy primer down.
 
I used their brand waterborne, which I believe is just a relabeled holdtite. We used a higher concentration than they suggested to give me more time on putting my first layer of epoxy primer down.
Oh thats THEIR inhouse brand. Ok, right on. Yeah. I figure the holdtight secret sauce must have a good mark up on it and have wondered why somebody doesn't make a knock-off of it yet. Thanks!
 
Oh thats THEIR inhouse brand. Ok, right on. Yeah. I figure the holdtight secret sauce must have a good mark up on it and have wondered why somebody doesn't make a knock-off of it yet. Thanks!
Yea, they have their own media, and rust inhibitor. Not sure if they engineered them, or just rebranded. I'll say this, I got about 2 weeks of sitting blasted(inside garage) without any surface rust. We applied it more concentrated than instructions required. Afterwards I hit entire car with 80 grit lightly before epoxy.
 
Holdtight 102 isn't acidic, but I don't know about the generic stuff. I thought Barry had tested Holdtight or was considering doing so. It's mostly a kind of soap and corrosion inhibitor.
 
Soda blasted metal un-neutralized will have epoxy peeling off in sheets. I’d be cautious of this stuff doing the same.
 
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