Budget Soda Blaster

The only way to use salt safely would be to neutralize it with sodium bicarbonate afterwards.

briliant ,simply cheap and briliant!!!

Brown Bear wrote: cgi.ebay.co.uk/ECOSTRIP-SODIUM-BICARBONA...&hash=item53e3ba3efa

i found this. taken a while. if i got to machine mart and that its more money and u get less in amount for blasting material..

will this do for the carbs and so on.

You really don't need that much, that's why I never bought a 25# bag and only use the large boxes from the grocery store. I've bought maybe 6 large boxes and did a complete 1994 KX250 (engine, carb, forks, calipers, hubs, shock, any other aluminum bracket or part) and went over the engine in my Z. I still have 1 1/2 boxes left. One box is like $3. The main thing is the parts is free of grease/dirt and is as clean as it can get. The soda will just refinish and remove stains, not clean.

-"The main thing is the parts is free of grease/dirt and is as clean as it can get". Thanks Kidkawie,
I think you just explained why I wasn't impressed with my attempt at soda blasting. I thought it was an "all in one" cleanup type tool. Whenever I see a home made soda blaster being shown on any forum, you usually see 2 or 3 pics showing what the part looked like before, after, and the blaster itself. They always leave out the part about pre-cleaning...

What sort of compressors are you guys using to run these soda blasters? I have one rated at about 2.8 cfm at 90psi. According to the required specs on the soda blasters you can buy, this simply won't cut it (they need > 10cfm at 90psi), but will it still be usable, just in short bursts?

Thanks!

This may sound kinda crazy ... but has anyone tried using sugar (as in sucrose) as blasting media? I found a few websites that said using sugar was a misinterpretation of "sugar blasting" which is sandblasting with very fine (around 320 grit) sand. But I figure for a cheap backyard blaster normal sugar may work.

Pros:
- Coarser than baking soda
- Crystals are stronger I believe
- Sugar is cheaper then baking soda
- Technically you could recover the sugar by dissolving it in water, straining out the paint and rust and recrystallising the sugar
- Minimal residue on the parts (solubility of baking soda is about 96g/L at 20degC, sugar is way up at 2000g/L)
- No toxicity or silicosis risks

Cons:
- Any moisture in your air supply will quickly gum up the system (but if using the plastic-tube-DIY blaster, this shouldn't be a problem to clean)
- Fine sugar everywhere if you don't contain it ... sticky, ants, etc. etc.


So what do you all think ... am I really THAT crazy?

Degrease your parts and make them squeaky clean, up your pressure to 120, wear a dust mask.

The idea behind using soda is to restore, not resurface parts. Be my guest if you want to recover it, IMO the wind and rain take care of that.

This is an awesome post. I will try it out without a doubt. I have used a polishing wheel (mounted on a drill) with great success. I have somewhat restored my points cover and polished up my carbs (attaching before and after pictures). However, my question is: What do you do once the part is cleaned and polished? Should I spray it with a clear coat? The carbs seem to be dulling and getting a dark residue again. The points cover is ok so far. I have purchased some Rust-oleum clear coat engine enamel. Figured it would be the best for higher temp applications. But I am worried it will yellow after a year or so. So I haven't decided if I will use it. I don't mind not clear coating it and just wax it to keep the luster. As long as that will work. When I tried that with the carbs, (Maguire's ultimate qik wax) it seemed to have darkened it again. What is recommended?

.

This technique worked great on my carbs, but just remember, ear protection isn't just for loud noises! This stuff gets EVERYWHERE!

Here is a product Eastwood sells to spray on metal to seal it. Says it will keep luster.

Item #12499 Z

search.eastwood.com/search?p=R&srid=S1%2...sort=score&view=grid

Thanks for the info. Don't really want to paint the carbs. Trying to keep the bike as close to original as possible without going overboard. It looks to me like the Eastwood product is to protect the metal (sort of like armor all would do to rubber) and not an actual clear coat paint. They say it lasts 3 months. This may be a good option as long as there is no elbow grease required at every 3 month application.