Build your own soda blaster cheap

that looks just great! I will see where I can find that large amounts of Soda and give it a try in my cabinet soon, too...

Thanks for the pics and feedback, Paul, much appreciated!
 
Hi Lothar

I still haven't tried the sodium bicarbonate in my small blast cabinet yet. I have been working outside, with a small gravity drop/siphon blaster not designed for soda, but working acceptably well. I would really love to try a purpose built soda blaster, as even my non purpose built unit is works so well, but with occasional soda supply issues requiring a kick of the bucket and a stir of the contents from time to time...... As we have had our first couple of snows, and a series of heavy frosts, working outside in the "brisk" air encourages me to work as quickly as possible..... ;)

the big attraction is that the soda doesn't seem to harm surfaces, not even rubber seals, but takes everything OFF the surface given enough time. I just had another look at my crankcase photo and realized I missed a few spots under ledges and that sort of thing, but that lump of an engine was beyond filthy when I started. It does make the cleaning process go faster by knocking off as much of the big chunks of dirt and grease before hand, same as any other type of cleaning. Take a close look at the area around the front drive sprocket, as an example. The entire area was coated with a thiick layer of chain lube grime, but the soda cleaned it all off and brought it up looking like shiny new!

Paul LeClair
 
Paul, impressive results.
It seems the ideal solution. Takes everything off, does not put a false sheen on the metal and does not harm rubber seals. And the best bit, just rinse in water and it disappears.

What sort of mess does it make outside? I would think it was pretty damaging to flora and potentially fauna that came around it as it is quite alkaline.
Do you use a mask? It would definitely irritate the respiratory tract.

 
Hi Grant

when using soda for blasting I am using the deeply gravelled dog run that extends the full length of one side of my house. The adjoining neighbour has a poured concrete sidewalk down that side of the house, so zero flora to worry about. I just wash down the area with a hose when I am done, and hopefully the roughly 75 pounds or so of soda I have sprayed out there so far and then watered down into the gravel will keep down the persistent weeds I have to keep pulling out of there each year.

while I have been working barehanded, I am wearing a proper set of full coverage goggles for eye protection, and I am wearing a really high quality dual inlet respiratory mask with two stage filters, same mask that I use when spray painting. The soda powder gets everywhere, including into your ears, so I have been wearing earplugs, and I take a thorough shower after each blasting session.....

my compressor is working its lungs out trying to keep enough volume and pressure going, although I am draining the compressor tank of build up water after each session, the water builds up fairly quickly so that after spraying say 25 pounds of soda enough water has built up in the compressor tank it starts spraying water with the air, so I have to stop and drain the compressor of water.

I would love to get a chance to use purpose specific soda blasting equipment, I am am sure it would be a real pleasure to use

Paul LeClair
 
I don't know if you are already doing it that way, but I found it safes some air volume not to keep on spraying but to pull the trigger just very shortly but with high frequency. That in addition gives an even sharper air-stream that helps to get rid of really sticky things faster, safes blasting material and air.

HTH
 
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