I got out and did some sandblasting on the exhaust manifolds from my uncle's Chevelle yesterday and we repainted them....
What I am mainly wondering is if there is any difference between using play sand or sanding bead. I know both can be used without a problem, but does one do better than the other?

The reason I'm asking is I'm gonna take my rear bumper off shortly and sand/bead blast it, fix the dent and repaint it, so I gotta buy some bead or sand to blast with.

Thanks

 

m pretty sure bead blasting uses glass

 

It all depends on the media used. You can have course silica sand that has been milled to smooth out jagged edges, or fractured so it has the jagged edges. You can get glass beads that are again, milled or fractured. Then there is plastic media... It all depends on what you are working with. There are so many different blast medias available it'll make your head spin. Some have health concerns surrounding their use so read the fine print before you purchase if you intend to do uncontained blasting without the use of a respirator.

When I do the body on my Chevelle, I'll be using baking soda outside. This is primarily because it is good at removing the paint, but won't harm the metal surface underneith. What is left in the driveway will just wash away.

 

Generally I would say bead blasting is to clean the material, and sandblasting would profile it. We use aluminum oxide in our bead blaster at work.

 

I tried bead blasting to strip my parents patio furniture....

But my dad bought me glass finishing beads....


I ended up just sanding by hand

 

From just blasting/painting point a view differant media/blast pressures will produce differant surface profiles. Sand in general will have a more of a profile than glass. For exhaust manifolds that are cast iron and i would prefer sand. But for sheet metal on a car body I would go with Kyles method. Remove the paint without creating a surface profile. It all depends on the material being blasted, the blast media being used and the coating being used/desired. The purity of the blast media matters as well. You do not want to blast with any coorsive material that might get inbedded and cause problems for the finish coat.

 

Thanks guys for the good info. I think I'll stick with my playsand right now. I'll just get it down nearly to the bare and then hand sand it the rest of the way down.