Thread: Would like to revisit 'Bicarb Soda Blasting'...........

Originally Posted by Evanism

Its amazing. It cleans, rips and removes everything without pitting. Its almost inconceivable people are still using old media.

Actually, no. It won't, for example, remove tightly adherent mill scale or tightly adherent epoxy paint as typically found on marine equipment. Well, not in any commercially sensible time frame anyway.

It's a light duty blasting medium that certainly has its place, but there's no way now or ever it'll replace the denser and more aggressive media for a lot of purposes.

I've got a 120 cfm compressor and even coarse garnet is damn slow on some jobs.

PDW

On sale here in Canada now are Portable Soda Blasters. The 15 lb. size is C$99.99, the 40 lb. size is C$149.99, and the 100 lb. size is C$249.99. The media is C$49.99 for 50. lb of 260 grit of Sodium Bicarbonate. Asian made units naturally and it is the first time I've seen them advertised here. If similar units are not being sold in Australia then it's likely they soon will be. I haven't got a use for one at the moment and won't be rushing out to get one. Looks like it will only be a matter of time when they are in lots of home shops.

Sorry Gentlemen, I haven't been able to connect here to forum for quite a few days - our NBN connection just aint performing via the satellite - just aint gettin' me monies worth so may have to post a thread on here to see if we can get one built to replace that which is in use currently.
While this soda blasting might not be a big deal currently to replace other forms of blasting - I still feel that for the backyard shed dweller such as myself there is a use for it. Is something that I'm slowly gathering information on when I can get internet open.
Hope to post all I find eventually.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

Originally Posted by KJL1951 aka Kev

Sorry Gentlemen, I haven't been able to connect here to forum for quite a few days - our NBN connection just aint performing via the satellite - just aint gettin' me monies worth so may have to post a thread on here to see if we can get one built to replace that which is in use currently.
While this soda blasting might not be a big deal currently to replace other forms of blasting - I still feel that for the backyard shed dweller such as myself there is a use for it. Is something that I'm slowly gathering information on when I can get internet open.
Hope to post all I find eventually.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

They certainly have their place for light soiling, light rust and jobs similar to one I had years ago, which involved the refurbishment of a large plate heat exchanger. For those not familiar with plate heat exchangers, they generally consist of a pack of stainless steel plates with a pressed in set of ripples, giving a textures look, and more importantly, channels for the fluids to flow through with more surface area and increased rigidity to maintain their shape when subjected to hydraulic pressure. The plates have rubber seals around the edges, and also around transfer ports, so that each alternate space between plates has one of the materials being heated or cooled, and the spaces between carry the coolant or hot medium depending on whether the unit is being used as a cooler or heater. The stack of plates together with manifolding is clamped between thick steel plates, by long fine thread bolts or studs. This may explain it better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv5p7o-7Pms
As we dissembled the plates, many of the rubber seals stuck and tore, so we had to remove the remnants of seal and the contact adhesive, as well as the material which had been partially blocking the passages. A pressure cleaner removed that blockage material but didn't touch the rubber or contact adhesive. The soda blaster did, and we got the stainless plates back looking like brand new product, with a nice polished surface. Had we used a sandblaster, we would have received clean plates, but with a coarser, pitted finish.
However as PDW said above, if you need to clean badly corroded steel of rust, or heavy mill scale, soda blasting is not really up to the job. A bit like using a tack hammer to drive in a 6" nail into hard wood, - you might eventually get there, but not in any feasable time frame.
Rob.

Originally Posted by Ropetangler

However as PDW said above, if you need to clean badly corroded steel of rust, or heavy mill scale, soda blasting is not really up to the job. A bit like using a tack hammer to drive in a 6" nail into hard wood, - you might eventually get there, but not in any feasable time frame.
Rob.

Hey thanks Rob very interesting read - like all cleaning methods there are the for and against - thus far I've just been looking unto a method that will help me with little cleaning projects around me backyard shed where I tinker mainly with woodworking. Today after taking into consideration some diy youtube videos on common household Bicarb soda blasting inventions I managed to build meself a soda blaster - I made it up outa some garden polly watering connections - some aluminium tubing - some clear plastic tubing - all which was built around me little air gun.

Me 20 year old little compressor is only capable of putting out 80/90 psi - with all attached and some household soda in a container I was able to clean up a little better some aluminium that belongs to my old table saw I'm currently restoring. Yes this type of soda blasting method isn't going to remove rust and other heavy crap - but after removing much of the dirt and grime from the parts first the soda blaster did remove that which tired fingers can't get at.

Now household grade bicarb soda cost me $24 Aus for 8kgs - came in 4kg bags and cost $3 Aus a kg - pretty expensive considering how fast this little thing I've made races thru it. I rang me local farm produce centre and can obtain 25kg bags of bicarb soda for $27-50 Aus a bag - now that appears to be better considering the amount that me little blaster is gunna go thru it - $1-10 Aus a kg against $3 Aus a kg aint gunna hurt the pocket too much.

I'll try and do up some sort of drawing on how I built my little blaster and maybe someone might be able to improve on it - but the main thing I'm getting from all I've read on it - a good solid compressor air supply is required and that I aint got with me old girl. What I did find today was a piece of vanished old timber I hit with it came up looking pretty darn good. Like I stated before - Nothing Ventured Nothing Gain - and its keeping me amused if nothing else.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

Well here is me attempt at building a soda blaster.
Blaster 03.jpgIts under gone some changes since my first attempt - from stuff I found in me shed from that 'Cant throw it away cause it may come in handy one day' rubbish this attempt does work a little better. The following is what I've used. an old spray gun paint container - some short lengths of 16mm od alum tubing - a couple of small clamps - clear plastic tubing 15mm od - some stainless steel 5mm od tubing - and me old air gun. Whoops cant forget the 16mm poly garden watering joiners I nicked from wife's garden shed.
Air Gun.jpgThe first thing was to drill out the nozzle end of me air gun to take the 5mm tube - this is where I should have paid more attention when at school during mathematics - the length of this 5mm tubing has a lot to do with what soda is drawn from the container - plus my old air compressor is suffering from a bad case of emphysema and that also didn't help - But I eventually found that 100mm was suitable.
Blaster 01.jpg(A) I took a 55mm length of alum tubing and pressed it into the bottom of the poly 'T' - (B) another 55mm length of alum tubing I pressed onto the 'T' at the top. (C) Next a 54mm length of clear plastic tubing I pushed onto the other end of the poly 'T' - placing the other end of the clear plastic tubing into boiling water to soften I worked the air gun into place making sure the end of the poly 'T' fitted tightly against the nozzle of the gun - then held it in place with two clamps. (E)(D) pressed the other two poly joiners into the alum tubing.

Blaster 02.jpgNow for the fun part - (F) I took a 110mm length of clear plastic tubing - soaked it in boiling water and hand forced it up the alum tubing - when I soaked the other end of the tubing in boiling water - using my waiting time to promise not to use the Lords name in vain when I forced it by hand down the tapered shaft of the paint container - again making sure I had the poly joiner fitting tightly into the paint container shart. (G) looking into the end I now had the stainless steel about 22mm from the end of the poly joiner. (H) the soda pickup inside the container I made sure was facing forward so that when tilting the gun I could still get a flow of soda when it began to get low.

So that's it - a crude, rude horrible looking thing that I can soda blast with plain old household bi-carb soda and my old emphysema infected air compressor - I have the following results - and I didn't use to much bi-carb soda either.
Alum Box.jpgBit of dirty alum box. Timber.jpgPiece of pine timber with paint over spray on it.

During the week I'll be in our nearby city and will buy a bag of that cheaper bi-carb soda from the Landmark Store. Me mate has a tyre business down there so will take this thing down and see what happens when connected to a real air compressor. So when your next outside at night and you see a small object with a soda like tail racing across the sky - then ya never know - could be my soda blaster. Has been fun - nothing ventured, nothing gained - and have learned a lot along the way.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

Well got a bag of Stock Feed Bi-carb Soda - no different than household bi-carb from Supermarket - just cheaper. Had another idea come to mind so I took that blaster I made and turned it into a Gravity Fed setup - just pulled the bottom paint container off - drilled out shaft on top of pot to 16mm - pulled everything off on bottom of (T) - tipped it upside down and old emphysema infected compressor did the rest.
Before......Blasted.jpg............After......Blasted 1.jpg

Fuel Tank off Garden Tractor..Fuel Tank.JPG Blasted area..........Fuel Tank 2.jpg Not good enough to remove large paint run. Is not most economical way to clean large items up - but for small delicate machined items on me metal lathe rebuild - 'It'll Do Me'!!!!!!

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

Kev, let me say at the start that I have no practical experience in using soda blasting, other than a job which I was involved with which was farmed out to be soda blasted. In other words, I didn't even see the blasting being done, but I worked on the gear before and after it was blasted. I have been told and have since read that the soda crystals "explode on impact with the workpiece" and that energy is what cleans that workpiece. When I saw that you were trying kitchen grade soda, and later stockfeed grade, I wondered if it was really the right stuff for blasting. According to this link kitchen grade is not suitable as it has too small a crystal size, no mention of stockfeed grade so who knows what it is like. I would suggest that it might pay you to get a bag of blasting grade soda and try that. I imagine that suppliers of grit blasting equipment would have it, and possibly some free advice for you as well as to what is required for a good setup. Here is a link which will give you some info, the company is American, but I'm sure that if you did a Google search you will find local sources of info and supplies as well. Good luck with your project, you have already had some success, but perhaps there is some room for improvement at little or no extra expense.
Rob
http://www.armex.com/faqs#n109

Originally Posted by Ropetangler

but perhaps there is some room for improvement at little or no extra expense.
Rob
http://www.armex.com/faqs#n109

You're not wrong Rob - its all been seat of the pants stuff thus far - and boy I certainly do need some improvement - but its been fun - one thing I did learn today was that not only is a face mask and eye protection required - but a good sweat band is required - sweat running into ones eyes after you have finished does carry some soda dust into eyes and boy is very unpleasant - like you I'm eager to find out more and more about this soda blasting - but thus far most importantly I have found a good steady compressed air supply is certainly a must - that sadly until my old girl tosses in the towel (compressor that is ) then she'll have to do - is a bugger when you really want something to toss in the towel so that you can justify a new replacement to your better half - amazes me just how long that old gear will hang in there.

That's the next step to see if I can get me hands on a proper bi-carb soda medium at a reasonable price in my area - have found an outfit about an hour and a half drive south of me in the yellow pages so be giving them a tingle tomorrow. I've started to have some thoughts about another setup - so when I get me brain cells unscrambled I'll see what transpires. Thanks for the link I'll check it out.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

Hey Rob, didn't recognise the link - but have been there read all their info - I have a problem with them saying 'NO' to the question 'Can I Use regular soda like I see in the grocery store'. for the type of work they are on about with their product - 'NO' grocery store brought bi-carb wouldn't work - but to say 'NO' to the question they post - well I've shown that it does work in some areas.
I guess when pushing a product they'll say what ever is needed to get people to buy it.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

Hi Kev,
I bought a Soda Blaster off Australia Soda Blasters and bought their 25kg Blasting Media.
Their unit can take either Soda or Sand so is versatile.
I have used it once to clean up a Bench Grinder and it works well.
I would paste a link to their site but the Forum wont let me do this so just google it to see their stuff.


Keith_W

Thanks Keith, Finally some one who has brought a soda blaster - hope you don't mind but have some questions - which one did you buy ? - looking at the 6.5kg blaster it would be around an ideal size - have you experimented with other other things such as - scrap of rusty steel, paint removal off other metal surfaces ? - since starting this thread you are the first who actually owns such a device and who'll be able to tell us what you truly think of it - maybe you could show us some image/images of you blasted bench grinder - not putting the pressure on you but very interested in more comments from you.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.

Hi Kev,
I bought the 100lb unit but at this stage only used it the once.
I cleaned up two Bench Grinder side guards, using the bicarb soda I bought with the unit. I have a good compressor and used a desiccant filter from the compressor to the units pressure regulator so to not have any moisture or contaminates. I ran the unit at 100psi as per recommendations and can adjust the flow via a valve. You need to do the cleaning out in the open as the bicarb goes every where, ended up having to have a shower after to get rid of the bicarb.
I don't have any pictures and not tried it on other surfaces as yet. I will be using it on jobs as they come along s will be in a better position to comment then.

Keith_W.

Originally Posted by Keith_W

I have a good compressor and used a desiccant filter from the compressor to the units pressure regulator so to not have any moisture or contaminates.
Keith_W.

Thanks Keith, Yep a good compressor is a must - when playing with my little set ups I found that moisture is a problem - doesn't take much to make bi-carb damp - the little 6.5 unit on that site interests me - because I'm really only interested in little things to clean up - I played around out in the open at front of me shed - there was no breeze so I thought and was surprised where the bi-carb dust eventually got to.

Started looking at old threads here in regards to air compressors - Oh Boyyyyyyy - much of what I read goes straight over me head in this regard - and the lingo used - again it all comes down to mathematics and I fail miserably in that department.
Again thanks for your comments and please keep in touch and lets us know of your progress with bi-carb blasting - when all said and done - he who uses that which I'm interested can add to my knowledge better than he who does not.

Hooroo
KJL1951 aka Kev.