Dustless Blasting Experiences

Looking for feedback from anyone who's done dustless blasting to a car. My car underbody, engine compartment, and trunk was painted (the wrong color) and I had planned to just scuff with 320 on a DA and repaint. However progress has been significantly slower than I anticipated due to the detail work and I'd hate for it to still have areas of concern.

Suncoast rents a mobile unit for $700+tax and id assume + media, which I'm contemplating. Figured I'd ask the Mopar faithful for insight.

Works great however do it on grass or a dirt lot. Makes a big mess and when it dries on asphalt it has the consistency of cement.

Car is on a tip over jig currently but I'll make a point to put a tarp down, appreciate the info. Thankfully my driveway is flat, so hopefully the tarp keeps things somewhat manageable for cleanup if I go this route.

Before considering Dustless Blasting, YOU MUST WATCH THIS!

Eye opening…..good information.

https://youtu.be/HKBpU20cR-M

Yikes! Thanks for posting

First off, everything I've read about dustless blasting says to use ground glass, not sand. Would it make a difference? Don't know but that is one thing I picked up on. And then to start blasting with everything installed like door latches and window regulators? Really? And to make statements like "if you didn't know it was there", you'd have to be brain dead to think that the abrasive isn't going to get into every nook and cranny if you are careless. I look at that video as nothing more than a hit piece.

What about the dry ice blasting I have heard about a time or two?

If your trying to bare metal it again 3M paint removal discs in a drill are pretty fast for the open areas.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40070710/

Tight spots can be done with sticky back 80-120 grit on wood paint stir sticks or popsicle sticks. Having a Dremel tool with the right bits is also handy to dig paint out of corners and seams.

If you are going to replace a panel/floor helps to remove it first so you can blast the interior rust. Same goes true with regular blasting. At least with dry blasting you can blow out most of the media. Dustlessblasting is just a pressure washer with a media blast nozzle and high price tag.

i own two dustless set ups for my media blasting business. Dustless blasting guys claim all kind of stuff but the ONLY thing that dustless does is keep the dust down. there are zero advantages to using a dustless blaster despite what the "keyboard experts" on the internet say, dustless makes mud in places you cant get to. you use a product called hold tight 102 to add to your water tank and that holds off rust for 72 hours. you have 72 hours to try to figure out how to get the mud out. pressure wash? good plan. more water. Dont use it.
i will not ever blast wet on a car or metal for any price. No need. No point. graffiti, sailboats in ship yards, statues and concrete are all great candidates for wet blasting. not car stuff

dont fall for the hype. its great marketing is all it is. waste of money. just get yourself a good dry blast guy and you will be way farther ahead.

Do not mean to hijack thread but I noticed you added “weld in” frame stiffeners. Are they “U.S Tool” stiffeners? Did you weld them in on the rotisserie or before everything (weight) was removed from body. Thanks.

My youngest brother sells and repairs very large and very expensive German built +30,000 psi water dustless blasters used to prep US Navy warships and commercial Cruise ships for barnacle removal and external hull repainting.

First installation is at Portland OR dry dock but US Navy wants them everywhere to get rid of slag dust exposure to workforce and its costly much more rapid decrease in steel hull thickness. Especially submarines.

Great for big boats, but does not seem right for automobile undersides.

What chemical supply company makes “Hold Tight 102”

Hold Tight Solutions ?

Have to agree to keep water off a car. I have both pressure washer blaster and dry pressure blaster made from an old compressor tank. Each have their uses depending on what you are blasting. The one i built has wheels and i didn't use brass/copper where the sand passes through. Not a good idea!

yes. its $500+ for 5 gallons around here. its a good product for removing soda blast residue as well.

I have restored several complete cars that needed stripped. I am near Cincinnati Ohio and there is a place called American Metal Cleaners. I took a 1940 Plymouth body to them and all 4 doors, 2 piece hood, trunk and 4 fenders. When I got them back it was spotless. I DA everything with 40 grit and epoxyed it. Looked brand new and no sand. I took a Duster to another place that baked the paint off and then blasted with real fine black media. It was a mess and they tweaked the A-pillars from what I thought was moving the body around. Birdtracker

Dennis Gage recommends dustless blasting, so it's gotta be good, right? lol

What about dry ice or laser? Would those work.

I have used them also. Was just there about a week or so ago. It does work very well and is relatively affordable.

Wow definitely glad I asked, I appreciate everyone's insight. Maybe just getting a small traditional dry setup and doing sections would be best. Car being tipped will make it easy, and probably won't take too much material.

You might consider a dry blaster with a built-in vacuum. We used to have a big one in work.

Dry blast or wet blast, do it on a rotisserie wash-air blow to get the seams and crannys cleaned out, rotate 90* each way then spray down with ospho, that takes care of rust and it’s ready to prime.

With Evaporust liquid shifting my thoughts, I wonder about the downside of removing “good metal.”

US Navy is concerned about that.

if your using the proper media you wont remove any more metal vs sanding will do. Lots of people only think there is one grit of media in the blasting world.

Find a vat big enough for a car 50 50 mix of Lye water, paint peels off but doesn’t hurt the metal. Think old time hot tank.