soda blasting

[Guest]

To all of you who have done your own soda blasting,
How much did you use approximately to clean your engine, or whatever else?

I have just started testing, and seem to be using a lot. I have changed nozzles and put a restrictor on the intake, but i havent started to actually clean the engine yet as i need to rig up some tarps due to the mess.
Also did you use food grade soda?
Thanks for any input.

[Dreef1999]

Blasting soda has larger grains so i would imagine it 'blasts' better. I haven't compared the two though.

[hampshirehog]

I used around 2 gallons in volume, food grade as it was easy to get hold of. The proper stuff would have been better but the stuff I bought was cheap.
I blasted on my driveway and just hosed down all the spent soda so no mess.
Wear a hat is my tip. I got the stuff in my scalp and it itched like mad for the next few hours.

[landshark]

I used around 2 gallons in volume, food grade as it was easy to get hold of. The proper stuff would have been better but the stuff I bought was cheap.
I blasted on my driveway and just hosed down all the spent soda so no mess.
Wear a hat is my tip. I got the stuff in my scalp and it itched like mad for the next few hours.

I have about 25 kilos, i think that is more than 2 gallons?
Anyway, it will be a week or so before i get time to do it. I will post some results if anyone is interested.

[dr_fosg8]

Of course we are interested in the results!

[argonsagas]

Soda blasting sounds interesting. I would normally just use water in a high pressure jet.

Now I am wondering if Pepsi or Coke might be better.......

[Hammered]

I use mine dry in the small Harbour Freight blast cab. Gotta run the pressure a little higher but the results are very nice. I use this instead of sand because the dust is less harmful and its easy to dispose of. Here I can get a box for about $2 so its roughly the same as playsand.

[BV1]

I used Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash, Washing Soda) to perform electolysis on my gas tank, it works great. Not to be confused with Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda).

This was $5 for 3kg:


This is what I used it for:


I was warned that sodium carb would eat aluminum though? I assume soda blasting it still not a problem as its not wet and doesn't stay on the surface for long. Not to mention the lack of electricty.

[landshark]

That looks great.
I am using sodium bicarbonate, but i am learning as i go.
Thanks for the info everyone.
BV1,
Is that some sort of electrolosis thing you have rigged up on your tank?

[Beaker]

Very interested to hear how you progress landshark as I will be doing this once my 850 is back together.

[BV1]

That looks great.
I am using sodium bicarbonate, but i am learning as i go.
Thanks for the info everyone.
BV1,
Is that some sort of electrolosis thing you have rigged up on your tank?

Yes it worked well, went from a rusty tank:



To this after:



No rust left, you could call it electro soda blasting, works well, but will eat aluminum. There is a write up on what I did in my restoral thread: http://www.katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=98595

Right now I am getting my valve cover soda blasted and then powder coated.

[landshark]

That is a good job, and the whole thread looks great. cant wait to ee you finished bike!
I used mollasses to clean my tank. It worked really well.

Yes it worked well, went from a rusty tank:



To this after:



No rust left, you could call it electro soda blasting, works well, but will eat aluminum. There is a write up on what I did in my restoral thread: http://www.katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=98595

Right now I am getting my valve cover soda blasted and then powder coated.

[cyclefvr2]

Yes it worked well, went from a rusty tank:



To this after:



No rust left, you could call it electro soda blasting, works well, but will eat aluminum. There is a write up on what I did in my restoral thread: http://www.katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=98595

Right now I am getting my valve cover soda blasted and then powder coated.

wow great work, i wish they would come out with a ( sprayable teflon for coating tanks) it would keep them from rusting,again