Soda blasting?

[Papaw]

Considering soda blasting to derust some wrenches.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Bill Houghton]

Every time I see a reference to soda blasting, I imagine someone filling his/her mouth with his/her chosen sody pop, then spitting it all over the work to be cleaned.  Or shaking the bottle and then taking his/her finger off the neck.

[EVILDR235]

I don't know anything about soda blasters, but I did have the use of a glass bead cabinet at work for many years and a Storm Vulcan parts washer. The glass bead cabinet worked good, but did leave some pits in badly rusted tools. I blasted hundreds of tools and small car parts over the years. Many of the parts never re-rusted. I didn't coat the items with anything, they just never rusted. When I get the room in the garage, I will buy my own blast cabinet. I will not use it on rare or valuable tools. I now have many small gas engine parts to clean before painting. I had some success using a vibrator tumbler with walnut shells and lots of tacks to vibrate parts to clean and  de-rust them. The tumbler was made for cleaning brass pistol and rifle cases. I tried making a tumbler using a BBQ spit motor, but the motor kept overheating. One thing I really liked about the glass bead method was cleaning the inside of sockets.

EvilDr235

[leg17]

I have never tried dry ice blasting for rust but it works a treat on many other cleaning operations.

[amecks]

Never used it on tools or much rusty metal but it is great for cleaning aluminum or carburetor pot metal motorcycle parts.  Much smoother finish than glass beads.  If I had a cabinet I'd use soda or walnut shells in it.
Oh,  soda washes off, dissolves, where beads and walnut shells do not dissolve - they can be stuck in the cleaned part and come loose later causing problems.

[JoeCB]

Soda is very mild action, likely too mild for most rust removal. Use ONLY soda for carburetors and such that have tiny internal passages. Soda dissolves in water so will not plug up small passages as might be the case with hard media. One caution, don't use soda open near your lawn or shrubs, water+ soda= acid will kill your lawn. Don't ask how I know.

Joe B

[leg17]

....., water + soda = acid ..... Joe B

???

[JoeCB]

....., water + soda = acid ..... Joe B

???

OPPS! you got me, I meant to say alkaline. That too will kill your lawn

Joe B

[EVILDR235]

Using soda and whiskey will get nothing done.

?

[gibsontool]

But it sure tastes good.

[Papaw]

Soda/other media blasting gun arrived today. I hope to give it a trial run tomorrow.

Bought the cheap one to try out.

[bill300d]

Just make sure that your air is dry otherwise it will plug up and frustrate you every other minute.

[Papaw]

 Gave it a quick run yesterday and it looks like it will work. Might have to use walnut shells or some other fine media.

If the weather co-operates , I will do a before and after Friday or Saturday.

[Plyerman]

Well so how did it go?

[Papaw]

Life has gotten in the way a bit, I did some testing and results so far are not great. The gun uses the soda up way too quickly. The reservoir should be larger, but this is why I bought cheap.
Weather permitting, I will try again this weekend or early in the week.
I also have some other media i can try.