Sandblasting???? Paint

I need to prep my bike for paint and plan to sandblast everything to strip everything. What material should I use to blast and why, I am new to all this stuff. Can you blast chrome down to a bare metal then paint and what about plastic can you sandblast plastic to take the paint off? What steps should I take after everything has been blasted and cleaned up and ready for paint? Should I sand everything what grits and etc? Any tricks you can give me to help this paint process go, along smoothly would be greatly appreciated Thank you for any insight on first paint jobs what to do and what not to do Thanks

 

First - don't sandblast plastic covers !! There have been people here that sandblast the gas tank, but I wouldn't. Depending on the pressure and grit size, you can possibly distort sheet metal. Mainstand and frame OK.
If you blast the rims, you "ruin" the fine milled grooves in the machined areas.

Chrome can be de-greased and hand-sanded to 320 grit, then a bonding primer, 600 grit, 3 coats of paint, 1000 grit, clear coat (from the SAME brand as the paint) 1500 grit, polish to a flawless finish. Peeling chrome or pits need more attention or actual filling.

Buy some Aircraft Remover ! Eye protection, chemical gloves, chip brushes, scrapers, and newspaper and start stripping.

Look into Baking Soda blasting too.

 

I saw on TV just yesterday and have accidental experiance that brake flluid will remove paint no problem.

The TV show was Muscle Car on Spike. They removed paint from a plastic grill by placing it in a tub with brake fluid.

 

So its a bad idea to sandblast the frame and everything else? What kind of materials are used to sandblast my gun says up to a 14grit material can be used ? I. Was really on hoping to use this sandblasting gun any suggestions

 

sand would be ok for the frame. Thinner metals you may want to look at glass beads, walnuts, etc. The sand would heat the metal too much and could cause warping.

 

You can use soda blasting for the carb bodies, outside of the body ONLY

If you want to keep the process somewhat clean you need a blasting cabinet

Different blasting media, i.e. soda, wlanuts, sand, glass beads, will give you different results.

I think the media of choice for the motor is glass beads, but I'm not an expert so if I'm wrong someone will be along shortly to correct me.

BUT, I do know that if you are going to blast the motor, common sense dictates that ANY and ALL openings need to be completely sealed.

 

Where is a good place to buy blasting media soda, walnuts, glassbeads? I will blast the frame for sure but not sure yet on the fenders tank and plastic soda maybe? Thank you

 

Tractor Supply, Harbour Freight, Home Repo, flip thru your yellow pages.

Warning on the walnut media - - the Allies would sneak a little of this walnut dust into the Nazi motor pools at night. The trucks would run about 20 miles and start siezing engines.

 

I've been spending a lot of time experimenting with different medias and pressures. For anything aluminuim I use either glass beads (#80@ HF) or soda. BE SURE TO WEAR A RESPIRATOR AND VERY GOOD EYE PROTECTION!! I had glass beads in one of my eyes for 3 days after they bounced off my work and got behind a set of safety glasses. Not fun!

Soda @ 90psi or glass at 75-80psi will remove anything that needs removing in order to paint. Anything that remains, isn't coming off. Stay away from the brake fluid idea because you have to get every single atom off or your new paint will not stick longer then a week. It works, but it's not worth the effort required post use.

When I did that 2 day restoration a few weeks ago I went to the local paint supply house and selected a nice color out of their Import book and they injected it into rattle cans for me. The creme de la creme` was the clear coat I used, a 2 part uretheyne that comes in a rattle can. You take a button off the top, place it on the bottom and press to pierce the inner bladder to mix the 2 parts. It comes out like liquid glass and is gasoline resistant too!! It's called SprayMax Rapid cut-in and at 19 bucks a can, well worth every dime! You will need three cans of color and 2 cans of clear to do a nice job to a tank, 2 side covers and a tailpiece.

The aircraft stuff mentioned earlier contains oxilic acid, treat accordingly (safely) you will also find that phosphoric acid found in Concrete Etcher at Lowes works great on steel, use the Oxilic on aluminum but be careful with both. At full strength they will start bubbling immediately so 8-10 seconds then rinse in plenty of cold water. Oxilic also works great form removing rust from chrome without harming the chrome. I use it in my restorations as a "wet wipe" to remove the rust that forms in the deeper valley's of a flat surface. Then rinse and wipe down with a soft, clean terry cloth or clean tee. It makes the chrome really pop and removes rust that you couldn't even see.

good luck!!
jeff

 

Thanks for the info I will give updates as i go.

 

Stay away from sand. It creates silica dust which will cause lung damage.