Soda Blasting????

[Mike Hunter]

Anybody here have experience with soda blasting? I’m looking at it, but not a whole lot of info on the type of finish it leaves on wood/metal.
Would like to talk with someone that does it.

Thanks

Mike

[spongerich]

I've used it on a small scale a few times. I soda blasted some motorcycle carburetors using a simple siphon setup. They came out looking great. The process doesn't really seem to affect the overall finish, they just came up completely clean. I did it outdoors and it does make quite a mess, but it's easily cleaned up and non toxic.

[Rustybolt]

Talk to your dentist. They use it for cleaning teeth.

[Black Forest]

We did lots of soda blasting on oil field equipment and on cars. What exactly do you want to know?

[PTSideshow]

They now have a mixture of grit and soda for removing light rust. The straight soda is good for gently cleaning items. It will leave a coating that needs to be removed before any painting. It really doesn't remove material like the other medias blasting.

To remove the coating you can wash it off and dry the item.

By the larger style can blaster with a large filler opening. I have the one with the small filler opening. It is a pain to fill and remove the soda after each use.
The soda attracts moisture like a sponge and cakes up if left in the tank in between uses may or may not loosen up with the blast gizmo on the unit.

Check out eastwoods info section as that is the best source of info and the forum they have.

Most of the car forums are filled with people that don't like eastwood and add a lot of BS to the discussion.

You might fight that a regular siphon blaster and corn cob or walnut shells will work faster and better.
You can use them in the standard small blast cabinet.

Again it will only clean,dirt curd off not remove layers of paint or rust.

The bags of soda from Harbor Fright, are the same brand as they sell every where else for more money unless you buy in bulk.

I all haven't noticed much difference in the two grades that they sell.

Glass beads will leave little surface markings on items that it is used on. most of the auto machine shops around here use glass bead on engine parts heads or pistons etc.

[Black Forest]

We use a pressure pot specially built for soda. You can't use a sand pot for soda. Soda is better for taking off grease and grime than sand or black beauty but soda is not so good for heavy rust. Soda will take paint off quite well.

[Mike Hunter]

What type of finish do you get with soda blasting? Say you had a mirror finish on steel, and soda blasted it, will you still have a mirror finish or something else like slightly matted?

[Black Forest]

What size soda blaster are you thinking of using?

We would blast control panels with soda because it would not cloud the glass on the instruments and gauges.

Soda does not dull chrome finish but I don't know if it would dull a mirror finish on plain steel.

The soda doesn't create as much heat as normal sand blasting so it is better for car bodies but it takes much longer.