Soda Blaster

Has anyone bought one of these?

www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=1408&itemType=CONTENT&path=32

I'm thinking about buying one to use around the garage and to remove bottom paint on the sailboat. Would appreciate any comments + or -.

Bruce, I've heard nothing but good things. No practical experience, but it's the big brother to the thing the dentist uses on your teeth.

Cory,

That's not the "big brother" to the thing the dentist uses. It IS the thing the dentist uses. They mask off your lips and they give you a stainless steel shot glass to put in your mouth to protect your tongue!

Mmmm ... that just-from-the-dentist CLEAN feeling!

it would take a year and a day to blast a car with that soda machine. it's super slow (the one in the video anyway)

it'd be nice to have a cabinet, but for me - it's all about garage floor space.

Take a look at Jay Leno's site....... he just tested everything in the cleaning world.......

On one of those TV car fabrication shows that air every Saturday morning, they highly praised the soda blaster for having less damaging effect on older body panels. Also, soda is much easier to remove than sand or other abrasives when you're ready for a cleanup. Anyway, it's what they said?

I'm with Paul on this one - I used something similar on my '46 Coupe (although it was a gravity feed, not a pressure feed) and it would take off a stripe of, maybe, 1/4"-3/8" at a time. Not exactly time efficient, especially for a boat hull. I would think a good, safe chemical stripper would be far more efficient for your boat.

Another thing to remember is that these typically take a continuous volume of air. Unless you've got a dual-cylinder air compressor capable of LOTS of continuous CFM, you'll blast for a few minutes, then have to wait while the compressor catches up, then blast for another few minutes. The listed consumption of 7 cfm sounds a tad low (probably because it's a pressure feed) but it still is continuous and you'll need a compressor that can keep up.

When I did my Speedster bits, I used someone else's blast booth with either soda or glass beads. It was coupled to a HUGE compressor on a 200 gallon tank and you could blast away continuously - big difference.

gn