soda blaster

Hi guys,
I've been removing paint to the metal on my 66 Fairlane and was wondering what you guys thought about the Eastwood Soda Blaster. Eastwood Soda Blaster - Soda Blasting Machine

I have a 3.5 HP 11 galon air compressor. Would that be big enough to use?
Also when watching the vid it looks like it takes a long time to remove paint. That means alot of soda correct?
It just seems like it would be easier to strip to the metal inside the car including the trunk and engine bay by using soda. I may be wrong though... lol
Not that i'm lazy... Just looking to get more done in less time. I want to get my baby in primer and on the road.

Or should I just continue using my power sanders with 80 and 120 grit?

Thanks

I have a soda blaster

Eastwood Soda Blaster - Soda Blasting Machine

had it for a couple months now. Only problem is I'm waiting on a compressor large enough for the largest nozzle which takes 15cfm. Shipping that plus other goodies and 300lbs of soda(lasts a little over 3 hours with the big one) was close to $400 it hurt. Mine had damaged threads on the abrasive blasting conversion part(that would be the part by the wheel in the pic) that I need to fix. Other than that I can't tell you, cause I haven't used it yet.

Can your compressor keep up with 7 cfm at 80psi? Is it rated to run continuously? It's going to suck if you have to stop all the time and wait for the compressor and it's going to suck even more it the motor burns out. You will still have to prep the metal after blasting with soda.

Have you considered chemical strippers?

Edit: 300lbs of soda last a little over 4hrs with 1/8 tip

Your little compressor will last about 11 seconds before the motor comes back on and the entire tank would be empty in about 30-50 seconds....

You need a capacity of about 80 gallon's or more in order to run ANY blaster in my opinion.

I have that SAME model in my garage, i bought it at a yard sale for $8 bucks, Complete with spare tips and funnels and all the hoopla.

Still haven't used it

we have an industrial soda blaster at work. Run it off a industrial compressor like you see on the trailer on the side of the highway. It keeps up, thats all I can say about it.
They will NOT remove rust of any kind, hurt rubber,chrome, windows, or filler.
It works ok in my opinion, but dont like the clean up, the surface rust that you get after you neutralize it with vinegar etc. And the dust flies 1000X worse than a sand blaster.

With that said I like to use our regular blaster with crushed dress shirt buttons. Works better than silica, NO dust at all and no health hazards.

Where do you get crushed shirt buttons?

Know some paint companies like PPG recommend against soda blasting because if its not neutralized/cleaned properly afterward, it leads to adhesion problems. never heard of crushed shirts buttons either. I used a combination of black diamond (available at tractor supply) and filtered play sand and even tried a little bit of garnet that I had lying around and wore a respirator. For the record, blasting is fun for about the first 5 minutes, after that its AWFUL. Big compressor with very dry air are both quite necessary. Mine is an ingersol rand 80 gallon unit 5 horse that makes 17 cfm at 90 psi. filter drier set-up is a sharpe dry air membrane system. blaster was a cheapo harbor freight unit.....works but takes quite a bit of fiddling with.

Northern abrasive I think out of Minnesota

Thanks guys. It looks like i'll keep using my sanders. I may use some kind of chemical stripper.. I don't want to spend money on a new compressor because i'm saving for a welder.
Thanks guys! Great info as always!