Bead Vs. Sand Vs. Walnut Blasting vs. Other media

[Wuudie]

Anyone have any opinion or preferance on what's preferred method of cleaning the rust off

Heavily pitted wheels?
Light Rusted Running board /Fender Supports?
Bumpers? (to have em chromed)

Seeing if anyone has any preference or guidance they use for parts.

I heard some use Bead/Glass/Sand for heavy items only to cover with Powder Coated.

Walnut for Painted items.

[Roadster62]

Well worth a phone call to American Dry Strippers in Milford, Ct. they do all my blasting and most of the restoration shops in the tri state area. They even pick up your projects in an enclosed trailer & van.http://www.amerstrip.com/

[peters180a/170b]

Around here i can not find 00 sand anymore which i really liked for years. Found a lumber yard that carries Black beauty[black slag] in 4 sizes. ultra fine ,fine ,Med and corse. Right now i am only using fine. does not clog my nozzle which Med. did. To me fine is the all around size to use. Works well on sheet metal at a low pressure of 40 lb. or a frame/wheels at 80 lb. Heavy pitting i don't know about but i would guess more pressure will work. Never did heavy pits. I'll look for a better part. Roadster62 [American Dry Strippers] are nice people "BUT""""" Their prices are over the top. When i was about to start my restoration i asked about a price on a Model "A" frame only and wheels [5] .For their price i bought a New twin cycle air compressor and a new 80 lb. sand blaster tank with 50 feet of hose. And at the end of the day i still own the blaster and compressor to finish the rest of the car. Both units are like new and they are paid for and so for my next car i will still be ahead. Cheaper to do it yourself [if you have the spot.. I bought a GAS compressor so i can go anywhere with it.

[Tom Wesenberg]

I use Black Beauty from Menards for almost all my blasting. It does a great job at about 40 # pressure in my cabinet.

[Keith True]

With Black Beauty fine is a coarse as you want to go.I use fine on dump bodies,rubbish packers,any heavy iron.The local brickyard won't even carry the medium.They sell a lot of sand and nobody uses it here.The power plant where they make it is about 20 miles from me so I buy it by the pallet there.The local plant has been bought out,so it is no longer called Black Beauty here any more.It is now called Patriot blast.Same stuff,coal slag.I like it because it is not harmful like silica.The warnings on the bags are all zeros.It states,treat as a nuisance dust.Mechanical irritation may occur.I hope so,the new management at the plant says in reviewing past customers said I have bought over 300 tons of it starting about 1980. 200 pallets in 30 years.

[peters180a/170b]

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Keith ,For years i had a "YELLOW" sandy beach in my back yard. Then it turned into a "PINK" beach [that stuff from Australia]which was pretty good.Now i am looking at "TAR" beach. l.o.l.

[Frank Miller]

What a black sand beach looks like. Gotta love that tree. Taken on the Big Island of Hawaii about 4 years ago.

[Kevin in NJ]

I think outside the box on this these days.

It depends on the part and how fast I need the project done.

Electrolytic rust removal will remove rust and some paint. It takes time and will remove the rust at the bottom of the pits. The tank is just up to your imagination and I have seen great results from large tanks made up of plastic and some wood doing large body sections. I did not do it, but the pictures are pretty impressive.

Paint removal on reasonably flat none rusty surfaces are more efficiently removed with a Norton 80 grit hook and loop. This is based on comments from body shops, i have not done this yet, but my next big project will be done with this.

I have sand blasted 4 whole cars. I did it with a model A engine smiths compressor head. Done at 40 lbs pressure and the media valve open just enough to let media out. I have not warped any metal. It is important to get rid of the dark spot on the bottoms of the pits. This will allow rust to start even if treated heavily with various rust stop chemical like PickleX.

BTW, PickleX is a great direct to metal treatment for parts that you need to do extensive body work and do not want to prime with epoxy.

An example of how I worked my wheels.

I first let the wheel set in my electrolytic rust removal tank. This got rid of or loosened the paint in the many nooks and crannies. I did not have much in the line of deep pits, but I did have some surface rust. I scrapped off some of the paint that I knew would take longer in the bead blast booth. Then bead blasted the wheel. The bead blasting finished taking off paint and gives the powder coat (or paint) something to grab.

My testing found that the electrolytic rust removal saves at least half the time in the glass bead booth. It is way more expensive to run my real 5 HP compressor and you do not break up the media as fast.

So be creative and learn about the different options. Each has its pluses and minuses.

[Wuudie]

Electrolytic rust removal is the Arm and hammer and some voltage correct?

Positive to Water/Arm &Hammer, negative to Metal you want Paint/Rust rmoved- correct?

I've seen this done and have a hankering to give er a whirl before Powder Coating.

Now what if I'm use a vibrating bin instead of blasting? I have some small equip that I can do small peices, but I'm worried if I use the vibrating drum, it will take the rust/paint off and even errod the metal to the point where the part is no longer useful. SHould I stick to Plastic media?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Kevin's right about using what works best. This was my first, and so far my only time using washing soda and electricity to remove paint and rust. It did a great job on my Cub Cadet wheel and I could do other things while it worked. I started out with a sandblaster on the rim, but soon decided there had to be a much better way. Someone had used calcium cloride in the inner tube and it ate the valve and leaked inside the rim and cause fairly deep rust. After a few days in the soda electrolisis I rinsed the rim in hot water then gave it a light blast with Black Beauty, then set it on top of a 2 litter pop bottle and primered and painted it. It sure save me and my compressor a lot of work.

P.S. Don't use your wife's laundry tub!

[Doug in NJ]

A hint for black beauty: Blast your frame with the fine grade (which is actually coarse, for our purposes). Sweep up the used material (which has just been turned into extra-fine), and re-use it for the body.

I tried using black beauty in my cabinet, but it gets the inside rather dark and dirty compared to glass beads.

One last hint: Not all glass beads are created equal. I had a tub of cheapo beads from Tractor Supply, and when it poured it into the cabinet, a cloud of dust rose up. After that I bought a box of beads from TP Tools, and when I poured it in, there was no dust- it was like pouring granulated sugar. Obviously they have a better manufacturing process...

Doug

[MrTube]

how much voltage should you use for that? I would assume 12-25V DC and fairly low current?

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by MrTube

how much voltage should you use for that? I would assume 12-25V DC and fairly low current?

I used my 6 amp 6/12 volt battery charger. I don't recall if I had it set to 6 or to 12 volts. You can see how the steel rods take on a coating of junk. I would scrape it off every day. I used 4 rods bent to form a U so I had 8 rods around the wheel for even coverage.

[wrndln]

Tom,
How much washing soda did you use per gallon of water - 1 Tablespoon or more?
Rusty

[Big D]

Originally Posted by wrndln

Tom,
How much washing soda did you use per gallon of water - 1 Tablespoon or more?
Rusty

OK You guys have my interest... where would you buy this "Washing Soda" at? I have a perfect 28vdc power supply that would work perfect for this (an old heavy mil surplus). Any more hints/process steps?

thanks, D

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by wrndln

Tom,
How much washing soda did you use per gallon of water - 1 Tablespoon or more?
Rusty

I don't recall, but I'd guess it was about 1 tablespoon per gallon of water. I just ran hot water into the laundry tub until the wheel was covered then dumped in a half cup or so of washing soda.

Washing soda can be found in the grocery stores near the laundry supplies.

Big D, I wouldn't use that much voltage. 6 or 12 would be plenty. You'll be getting a shock with more voltage. It's the current that's doing the work, not the voltage. I don't recall if I set the charger on 6 or 12 volts, but I had 2 or 3 amps. As the anodes get coated the amps will drop some, but I'd clean the steel rods each day.

[Ross/Kzoo]

I went to the LARGE grocery store and asked the clerk where the washing soda was. He showed me some liquid "stuff" but didn't have any granular. On the way home I went to the local store and there it was on the shelf. You have to look a while to find it but it's worth it.

[Wuudie]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Kevin's right about using what works best. This was my first, and so far my only time using washing soda and electricity to remove paint and rust. It did a great job on my Cub Cadet wheel and I could do other things while it worked. I started out with a sandblaster on the rim, but soon decided there had to be a much better way. Someone had used calcium cloride in the inner tube and it ate the valve and leaked inside the rim and cause fairly deep rust. After a few days in the soda electrolisis I rinsed the rim in hot water then gave it a light blast with Black Beauty, then set it on top of a 2 litter pop bottle and primered and painted it. It sure save me and my compressor a lot of work.

P.S. Don't use your wife's laundry tub!

How long did you leave it in the Tub? Couple days, does it all depend on how heavy the rust and pitting is?

[Jazzjr]

I have been using the Electrolytic rust removal process for about a month now, after reading about it here on the Forum It works Great, here is a link I saved about it,

http://www.davidbradley.net/ERR.html

In my area, I had trouble finding Arm & Hammer Washing Soda, which I add 1 cup to 10 gals of water. I found it at Ace Hardware stores, but not all carry it, if not they can order it. I run the charger for about 6-8 hrs, take out the part and then use a Water Pressure Blaster to blow off the Rust and Paint, then back in the washing soda again till it comes clean. After I coat with Phoursforic Acid (sp) also sold at Ace, to stop the rust, before I sand blast.
I had 3 19in wheels that cleaned up great in the Bath, Sandblasted them, then I Powder Coated them my self. Still some pits show, but now they are usable again.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Wuudie

How long did you leave it in the Tub? Couple days, does it all depend on how heavy the rust and pitting is?

The rust was pretty heavy in spots, so I had it in the solution for about 2 or 3 days. It did an excellent job of removing the rust and paint.