UKC

Has anyone got experience of using Soda Blasting as an alternative to grit/sand blasting?

if so, maybe you can help...my question is, if I were to hire a standard Grit Blasting set up from a national hire chain, would I be able to run Soda through it, or do I need to hire specialist equipment?

Cheers,

CB

In reply to carrot_boy (North East Wales MC):
Not soda but carbon dioxide. Not as daft as it sounds; Boeing (I think) first developed this for paint stripping aircraft without damaging the substrate.

The pelletised CO2 (ie solid) is propelled by air (as in grit blasting) and tends to penetrate the material to be removed (ie the paint or surface contamination in other situations) then sublimes from solid to gas and the massive increase in volume strips the paint etc from the substrate.
The big advantage of this process is that there is only gas and the stripped material to dispose of, not tonnes of grit, sand, soda or crushed walnut shell (one of the more exotic media that we looked at when developing such systems). Google cryogenic or dry ice blasting fr more info.

I use it all the time to clean carbs, magnetos, crankcases etc,etc. I've made my own blasting gun (plastic bottle and some fuel pipe) so all you need is a compressor. No specialist gear needed but I have used it with normal blasting gear, instead of the usual mediums.
It's also good for cleaning oxidisation off old Krabs and Friends if you want to look for cracks - never found any, they just seem to bend