sandblasting a UC mk 2

[Piper]

I am wondering if anyone has "sent out" their UC for sand blasting. The group of us are pretty good about doing most of the work on our carrier but when it comes to a total blasting job we don't have the equipment. I'm wondering too about cost for this process. If anyone has done a total or near total blasting job could you please chime in?

Cameron

[rob love]

I do all my own sandblasting. If you are only doing a single project, you are best off just paying a jobber to do it. $300 to 500 later, you just pick it up and it's done.

There are those tempted to buy one of the Princess auto sandblasters and do it yourself. Here are a few considerations:

-Pressure pot vs siphon feed and the vacuum type blasters. The latter two are fine for a few square inches, but are a joke when it comes to trying to do a complete hull, or even a frame or a fender. They are like painting a barn with a 1/4" artists brush. You must go pressure pot if you are serious about blasting.

-air supply: lots. You will not run any sandblaster on a modern 5hp single stage compressor.

-sand: if you are going to be buying those little bags of sand, expect to end up paying as much as the jobber will charge you to do the whole job. And if you have ideas about shovelling up the sand and re-using it, it is not as simple as that. The sand must be absolutely dry and not have any small stones, sticks or leaves which will clog the hose or nozzle and aggravate you to no end. Also, 75% of the sand blows away when you use it; even in a shed it will be everywhere but on the ground.

-SAFETY: long term and short term. The sand will cut you in half if it hits you directly. The splash back from individual grains of sand feel like bee stings. The dust will kill you in the long term, and when you are finished, you will have a big mess to clean up. Add to that, it is hot and extremely dusty work. Ideally you will have a second compressor supplying you filtered air to your helmet, but I have found that a respirator will suit the job.

I use a larger pressure pot, and for a compressor I have an old Ingersoll Rand 105 cfm air compressor trailer (a cmp trailer from around 1944). I live in prairie desert, so I am able to use sand I dig out of the back 40, sift any small impurities out of it, and because I have a shed, I can recycle a certain amount of it by re-sifting it. I keep about 4 garbage cans full on hand. If it rains out, I will have to wait 3 or 4 sunny days before I can harvest more. I use a full hood with respirator at all times, along with coveralls and combat boots. As a result, I am able to blast my projects for the price of fuel. A 5 gallon jerry can costs about $22 to fill, and gets me about 3 hours of compressor time. Each pot gets me about 1/2 hour of blasting. But to strip something as big as a carrier hull, I would expect a full day or so of blasting time. On the plus side, it is stripped to the level I like it, and not to the whim of the sandblast company.

To sum up, if you are just dong one project, call in the jobber. They can actually come right to your location and do it, or you can bring it to them. Either way, it will cost about the same.

Another tip if you are going to get your project sandblasted: Be prepared to paint immediately afterwards. An epoxy primer/sealer is ideal. Otherwise, the rusting starts immediately, and if you are in a humid climate, 2 or 3 days later the project will turn red. Sheet metal parts will disintegrate after only a few months.

[alleramilitaria]

i have had 3 carriers blasted and it will save money in the long run. the best thing to do is to strip the carrier down to hull and running gear (motor / track / fuel tanks etc removed). remove the front plate over the drivers feet are. then you can hang the carrier up nose down useing the rear lifting mounts to make the job easy. just lift it up, spray it down, sweep it out then spray it out with air to get rid of the extra sand. you and a friend can field strip the carrier sand blast it, paint it, and have it all together again in a week.

also find someone who thinks the carrier is "neat" and has never done one before. that way you can sneak up on him and get a better price

[horsa]

You also need to consider what will come off the carrier and where it will end up. Maybe not a big issue if you have a lot of land but doing one in your backyard might be a problem with neighbors, kids and livestock due to the rust and lead paint residue that will be all over the place.

The other issue is being able to wipe the striped metal down and get it primed before exposure starts surface rust going again. Probably not an issue if you have the facilities to bring everything back inside right away and get it sealed up until you can paint.

[alleramilitaria]

also the dust gets EVERYPLACE. remember to take the data plats off, the SB will chew them up.

[Piper]

so this sounds like the idea we have of "farming it out" is a good one. Assuming that we get our UC to a place that can blast it for us and all that needs to be done is the blasting (ie: they don't need to do any prep work removing parts etc) would it be reasonable to think $500?

Cameron

[Gunner]

Hi Cameron:

All the advice you received so far is good stuff. I do a sand blasting day every summer at the S&P Museum (www.calnan.com/swords) and, as we have 40 acres, we call a mobile unit in. People involved in the museum who want something blasted are contacted and the deal is you pay for the sand you use plus a share of the time used. Comes to $1000 to 1500 for a full day (7 hours+1) of blasting (we end up paying the travel time as well and he is 1/2 an hour from us). I usually manage to get the museum stuff done for the cost of the sand by offering the extra time to all the other guys who need big things like frames and rims done. Two years ago we did a complete Alligator, a complete M135, two truck frames, several axles, a dozen rims and a whole pile of sheet metal and the cost to the museum at the end of the day was $550 as the other guys picked up most of the $1500 tab.

We prep everything in the days before he arrives so that everything is stripped to the appropriate degree, masking is in place where needed (heavy cardboard and duct tape will withstand the blast) and the team is ready to move stuff for the blaster. By us doing the prep, he focusses on blasting and filling the hopper (and sucking down a lot of cold lemonade... it is hot in one of those suits!). He appreciates the help and the guys get to see the results as he is going along so they can ask for more work where needed.

The sand mostly ends up on the growing beach beside one of our frog ponds and the stuff is hauled away from the blasting site and primed right away by the crew with the paint spray guns about 100 metres away!

My point is: let the pro do the dirty work for you... as someone else mentioned he can strip a tank in an hour or so and we would take a week just doing the turret!

Buy your volunteers the white throwaway paintsuits (tape up the ankles and wrists), good sturdy work gloves, safety googles and paint masks so that any dust they are exposed to is negligible and make sure you have several coolers filled with ice cold lemonade (leave the beer for after the dangerous work is done)!

Good luck! Mike