Sandblast the chassis at home?

Is it possible to do my own sandblasting of the chassis for a speedster? I read an interesting article on some kits (from places like Harbor Freight) that are available that will provide a small tank for media and the gun. Hooked up to a modest air compressor, you can actually do your own sandblasting. Has anyone tried this before? How do the costs compare to taking it to a sandblasting shop?

The key term here is: "Hooked up to a modest air compressor"

Sand and or media blasters consume HUGE amounts of air. Even the cheap, gravity feed jobs from Harbor Freight consume huge amounts of air - far more than the "normal" home shop compressor can provide. You'll start off getting a decent stream of media/sand onto your work piece. That lasts for about a minute and then you run out of volume and pressure so you stop and wait for the compressor to catch up - that can take up to 5 minutes until you start over and then get about 1 minute of useful pressure out of it.

You'll need to research the pressure and air volume needs of the blaster you're looking at and then find a compressor that can supply that volume. Don't be surprised if it calls for a two-stage, 15 cfm, minimum 90 gallon air supply.

Gordon's right. I've got a 3 hp single-stage, belt-drive, pressure lubricated 10 cfm Ingersoll/Rand upright with a 60 gal tank, and it'll barely keep up with a blast cabinet. A small pressure feed sandblaster will drop me to about 40 psi in 15 seconds or so.

They rent jack-hammer air compressors that you trailer behind a truck for stuff like you are taking about. They cost about $100/ day to rent. Save yourself 12 hours of frustration, and break even on money- just pay somebody to do the blasting for you.

Like Stan I have a large compressor and I also have a small sandblasting set up as well as a sandblasting cabinet. It would take days and more electricity than I care to think about to sandblast a chassis with what I have. I cut down my chassis, aligned it, welded it up, and delivered it to my friendly commercial powdercoater. They sandblasted it, then powdercoated it for me. I had it back in 3 days and the total cost was $350...and that was this summer in the Houston TX area.

The cost of having your project sand blasted will probably not equal the expense of the equipment needed to "do it at home"....Not to mention the prep, clean up and general aggravation.....Like most of us I have a small compressor which I use to blow Weber jets into hidden places.....It's nice, but not adequate......I'm just saying... ;>)

You may also want to re-consider sandblasting in general.

Not really sure what kind of build your going for (ie: el-cheapo, good quality, show stopper), but I have cleaned the chasss with a wire brush (cheap....and time consuming....but did I say cheap?), treated the entire chassis with a rust neutralizer, and then used a nice truck bedliner coating (like Herculiner) to seal everything up.

Here is a picture of a chassis I did that process to.

Then there is the mess. Did a '49 Jeep 'bout 20 years ago. Am still finding blaster residual hiding places in the building. You will never get it all removed. It will show up when you least want it - like when the paint spray gun is fired up. Go commercial

I'm with Jeff. I just finished stripping and re-finishing my latest pan. Stripped it all with several wire brushes: One really moosey one on an angle grinder for doing large areas, and several smaller ones of different shapes on an electric drill to get at hard-to-reach places. Had the entire pan (minus the front beam which will be replaced) striped in less than a day. Only got bit by the moosey brush a coule of times (looked like gravel rash). 8>(

Then used Rustoleum primer and Rustoleum semi-gloss and then coated all the wear areas with truck bedliner - The entire bottom of the pan, with extra coats in high wear areas. Looks great and will probably outlast powdercoat in the high wear areas (like forward/aft of the wheels). BTW: Powder coatings, while quite hard and durable, can also be a bit brittle and can suffer chips from objects thrown at it. Truck bedliners, otoh, tend to be of a softer composition and can absorb a lot of impact before they chip off.

This will not provide a mirror-finish, 100-point, show-quality finish to your pan, but it's pretty damn good.

Also remember that there is some experience needed in dealing not so much with taking off the old finish with sand or media blasting, but with getting all of the media out of the pan/chassis after the blasting is done. The pros are really good at that, while you and I will surely miss a few places and that stuff can get you farther down the road.

gn

OK, OK, I get the hint :) I'll take it to the local pros.

Many of you ask great questions about the chassis (and give good ideas). My current plan is to strip it down and then use POR-15 primer with a high-temp (Yellow!) paint after that. I'll be doing both of those coats myself.

Not sure that I'm going for "show quality" but I am looking for something "above average" and I always thought that a black chassis was so boring! I'm painting the body blue and the chassis, engine block and some other things will be yellow. It's not an art project, but I do want something different.

I tried a very similiar process with several dunebuggies I have done in the past.

I came to realize that the basic VW pan is not that pretty. Once painted most look even worse because they aren't flat, have casting marks, and are realy rough in overall construction. Things like the beam, which is not as smooth as you may think, get painted with a bright color, all those dimples, scratches, gouges, etc just pop right out. It takes hours and hours of sanding, filling, and priming (and more sanding!) to make any part of a VW pan look good. The more I hid...the more I liked it.

Thats not saying that there aren't alot of nice details that can be accentuated (sp?). Heck, I just finished spraying all those little axle boot bolt bracket thingies red on my most recent project!

Here was one chassis that I did some level of detailing to. Again, not to the level your considering but my taste is a little more subdued.

Thats what makes assembling these things so great.....your free to do what YOU want to do!

Nice picture. Those side rails on your frame don't look stock and they're interesting. Purchase info? Custom?

1x2" rectangular steel tube. I made relief cuts to follow the contour of the buggy I was building then welded them closed. I also replaced the rear angled piece with some 1x1 square stock, and modified the rear of the lip on the tunnel so the floor was perfectly flat.

That gives me some additional headroom (well head below the windshield room)and allows the seat to be pushed back a little further.

Beauty, Jeff. Nice work.

Look into having it soda-blasted professionally. I think they advertise in Hemmings. Cost is reasonable & some companies will come to your place with a portable unit. But then you have to deal with the mess.

Yeah, Jeff - VERY nice job!

Here are a couple of shots of mine from two weeks ago:

Detail of the master cylinder area (shot for someone else on the SOC)

http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt14/speedstahguy/DSC03057.jpg

and a shot from the rear. I'll be replacing the beam with one from a Karman Ghia once I get back South to work on it again, but will be undergoing some surgery in January which may slow the build down a bit this Spring.

http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt14/speedstahguy/DSC03058.jpg

DS:

Poke around in the photos section and look for "shambly" He did a detailed paint job on his pan and components that sounds like what you want to do. Kinda like this:

https://www.speedsterowners.com/files/view.asp?sf=shambly&f=chassis%2Ejpg

(you may have to cut and paste into your browser window to see this).

Gordon & Cory,

Thanks for the kind words.

Working on the chassis for the Avenger now. Its not much in this picture but has come a long way in the past few weeks.

You've got a long way toofo on the Avenger, Jeff.
Keep us posted!

I know I have harped on this , And PLEASE INDULDGE ME.

But look at the rear Y part of the tunnel Would it not be easier for seat selection If it was straight tunnel all the way back to the K and both the fork sections were square plated up at the K .

You would have much more floor space .Then 3/8 plates wielded around the K tube that run 2 ft back up into the tunnel that are zigzag welded to the tunnel side walls. You can also add plates on the forks that are welded around the K. that would be more than strong enough.

I have solved the brake cable problem to and it was easier than I though it would be. I plumb new pipes over the K from the brake handle back and they will just clear the throttle tube and clutch cable tube. The shift coupler will be very close. but I think if I bow the pipes some it will clear.

The new brake cable pipes will be Y-ing out just above the trans right at the K frame..That's even a nicer fit with Rear disc brakes, because the cables come off the calipers on the top side making them a straight shot to the brake handle It would be a lot more like a real 356

Barry- you are 100% correct. The back of the tunnel is a problem- your solution would make it much better.

Thank you! Stan , and Merry Christmas.

The only thing left is to redesign the shift coupler cover and opening. That will now be much smaller.

Your not going to have much room to install the coupler.

I need to improve that. I hate things you can't work on..