Pre-blasting prep work guidance

[manders]

Hello to all!

I'm about a week away from getting my entire truck blasted. I found a company whose facility can handle an M923 ***and*** they do "slurry" blasting, which is a mixture of water and abrasive media, which is very helpful for keeping the dust down to a minimum (which I've been told is a good thing with CARC).

As I will be driving to the site (and back again!!!), from those of y'all who have experience with blasting intricate and "delicate" equipment, is there any particular areas on these trucks I need to warn the guy about? (He regularly does work on trucks, so I'm pretty confident he knows not to shoot up the engine compartment, boots, seals, etc. .)

Also, do you attempt to tape-off and/or bag any specific areas, or just avoid them?

Thanks for the guidance. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

MAnders.

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

Is the paint and body so bad that it requires blasting? I personally would not unless it's a rust bucket....that CARC paint is hard as ****....my blast shop hates it when I bring stuff in. You are better off applying standard auto body sanding and prepping practices and just repainting. I always try and preserve the original paint if and when I can....CARC application is a system, it's not just spayed on. They have entire TM's on just CARC paint application.

What ever time you blaster thinks it will take to do the job....double it.

 

[glcaines]

[QUOTE
What ever time you blaster thinks it will take to do the job....double it.[/QUOTE]

Ditto! Blast the rusty parts and sand the rest.

 

[Karl kostman]

It has been my experience in the past to only blast the parts that REALLY need it, sand the rest, CARC when its sanded makes for a terrific base for your new paint to stick to!
KK

 

[manders]

I also have heard that completely removing CARC is a fools' mission, and since only in my dreams am I made of money , I'll probably end up doing heavy blasting on the spots that really need it and then "softening" up the surface for good paint adhesion in the rest of the places.

Stay tuned, I'll post pix!

Thanks for the guidance.

 

[98G]

I went all out full overkill on my m923a2. Had it blasted down to bare steel throughout, then Reshot with Milspec carc. On my m925 I took a much more relaxed approach and spot blasted it where needed and then rattlecanned it all over, following the pattern of the carc.

Can't beat it for the price. Cosmetically fine. If I scratch it up I'll spend 10 min and fix it. And I still have the protection of the carc underneath on 99% of the truck.

Carc is tough stuff. I can lightly sandblast the rattlecan off without harming the underlying carc.

 

[61sleepercab]

Blasting thin body metal can be destroyed by heat of air sand blasting. Friend was trying to straighten 1930's Chevy truck door skins who looked like a wash board from aggressive sand blasting. Be careful. Mark

 

[98G]

These trucks are thick enough that warpage from sandblasting is a minimal risk. Not saying it can't be done, but you'd really have to try.

 

[manders]

... but you'd really have to try.

Well, with my luck, it'll happen!!!

Thanks to everyone for the advice and guidance, I hope to have an update (with pix!) in about 10 days.