does anyone soda blast?

[graffian]

Iwondered if anyone on here uses soda.
how much do you pay for it, whats it like in use?

 

[graffian]

Doesn't look like any one does.
Got a price from demon pressure washers £26 fer 25kilos.
I might get a bag and try it.

 

[rtbcomp]

Sounds expensive, is it re-usable?

 

[bigbadbugga]

Doesn't look like any one does.
Got a price from demon pressure washers £26 fer 25kilos.
I might get a bag and try it.

you can buy it in tesco for about 80p for a 1kg box of bicarb.

I tried it in my aldi spot blast gun with quite good results, no pics though sorry.

oh, it is very messy and not re-usable, and wear a dust mask cos it tastes awful too

I'm gonna test it out on an engine block soon, but will be using my pressure pot blaster. It is supposedly very good for cleaning ali engine blocks because it just dissolves in water, so can't get stuck in oil ways and ruin your bearings etc.

 

[Shox Dr]

Isn't soda, when used for blasting, in pellet form

 

[graffian]

I have probably bought 50 quids worth of bead[in twenty years] so the soda is expensive, but there is no way I would bead engine parts for my own bikes. I hate cleaning stuff and don't want the extra hassle so the soda might well be quite a good buy.

 

[bigbadbugga]

Isn't soda, when used for blasting, in pellet form

I think you are right, all I know is that the tesco stuff I use does the job I want.

 

[rtbcomp]

I paid £40.00 inc VAT for 25 Kg of glass beads, so soda could work out cheaper, but I do re-use the beads a few times.

It can't be in pellet form surely? It needs to be granular to get through the nozzle. Washing soda and caustic soda come in pellets.

 

[breezer]

seen something one one forum or another about using ordinary baking soda to clean carbs etc. gets rid of all that scale you get on ally parts after any length of time.

Should work just as well on engine casings, think it is supposed to be less abrasive than other blasting media.

the link I saw it was rigged up directly from the box (supermarket stuff) to an air blow gun rather than any kind of blast gun.

 

[bigbadbugga]

soda works by 'exploding' on contact rather than abrasing. You can buy it by the pallet load but it still works out at nearly £1 a kilo,
Arm and Hammer make several grades specially for blasting, some with other abrasives mixed in.

http://www.armex.com/

 

[Shox Dr]

It can't be in pellet form surely? It needs to be granular to get through the nozzle. Washing soda and caustic soda come in pellets.

From what I know it is in pellet form, and as Bigbadbugga said it explodes on contact, it is used for delicate materials and is used extensively in restoration of Buildings, removing paint from woodwork and plaster because it does very little damage to the substrate.

And it's a one time only media

 

[minniethemoocher]

Hi new to the forum and only came across it as I Googled Soda Blasting funny enough. I'm thinking of buying an Eastwood Dual Blaster http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail....aster&catID=&frostCat=&frostSubCat=&subCatID= . Saw a programme a while back about an American Hot Rod Club who Sopda Blast their Hot Rods. They reckon it is cheaper and mentioned buying Baking Soda a Bakery Retailers. Alsofound the Armex site saying about their Soda blast material.But Bicarbonate Soda is a natural substance so why would their's be any better than the stuff Bakeries use.A bit like Asda beans are half the price of Heinz baked beans.Also Frost have a price for the Dual Blaster @ £379 + p+p. 2 weeks ago I got a quote from Eastwood in the States for £341.16 delivered. And have found a company from Blackpool who would deliver 1 Ton for £500 to my door on a pallet. Hope this help's.

 

[bigbadbugga]

The pressure pots like frost and eastwood sell are available on ebay for a fraction of the cost,

 

[graffian]

There is a site that mentions the mods to the blokes pressure blaster to get the armex flowing. So it sounds like you can just knock up a pressure pot.
The soda is treated, they mention anti clumping and grannular?
Another site I came across mentions they don't use armex they use "something or other" natron as it's lots better?

Several places quoted me on 25kg, I only wanted 25kg to experiment with
and I think demon pressure washer quoted best on that qty.

 

[Omniata]

If you want to soda blast head towards aluminium oxide or alternatively "cryolite"...


If you contact an aluminium refining plant they'll have shed loads in 25kg bags and will be able to offer pallet quantities at discount

Half a pallet will keep you going quite a while and will be a good enough mixture of coarse and fine to give a good finish...



Just to note there used to be a massive aluminium manufacturing plant off Holyhead in north Wales that was driven by the Wilfa powerstation, if it's still running I'd give their stock department a call


Edit: I'd avoid baking soda as a matter of course, it may be abrasive but once it's powdered to a flour consistency and absorbs the moisture from the compressor, and air, it's useless...

 

[brightspark]

The pressure pots like frost and eastwood sell are available on ebay for a fraction of the cost,

just buy one of them about 95 quid get a tungsten carbide jet for it from pk trading about 14 quid use a 14cfm compressor minimum get sum j blast fine expendable and away u go any other abrasives to fine or slow

 

[Pete.]

Just to note there used to be a massive aluminium manufacturing plant off Holyhead in north Wales that was driven by the Wilfa powerstation, if it's still running I'd give their stock department a call

Anglesea Aluminium. If they are powered from Wylfa they better stock-up on PP9's coz Wylfa is about to be de-comissioned.

 

[pedrobedro]

There's an article on VW forum about using soda and a cheap blow gun to make a small soda blasting setup which works on syphon principle. It looks easy enough and seems to do the job.

 

[wyn]

I'm sure Anglesey Aluminium closed down in the last month or two due to the high cost of electric.

 

[Omniata]

Anglesea Aluminium. If they are powered from Wylfa they better stock-up on PP9's coz Wylfa is about to be de-comissioned.

I'm sure Anglesey Aluminium closed down in the last month or two due to the high cost of electric.

I haven't been quite up to speed on things outside "the village" recently sorry lol...