CJ Tub replacement

(Right in Grand Junction) This is a DIY operation, but you're going to get sand all over the place. You want to remove EVERYTHING from your work area first. We used one to strip paint in an old house once, and they are great if you like the textured woodwork effect. ;o)

Earle

You're the man Earle! I'll call em and get a price.

Hopefully I'll be able to use a wash bay at work to do it (so I won't have to get my garage all dirty). Should be pretty easy right? We have a glass bead machine at work (that you put your arms into gloves in a box) and I've cleaned up a bunch of parts that way. Too bad my tub won't fit in there!

Getting lots of snow? I had to go to our Aspen office yesterday and they got dumped on pretty good.

Better read Bill's post and go light with the stuff. If they have glass beads that would be better. Remember you don't have to get all the paint off with sand, just the loose stuff and rust. The woodwork in that house I mentioned wound up looking a bit like driftwood. I think Bill's chemical dip approach would be better, but I don't know if there is anything around here. Maybe a gel type paint remover would be good to use after a light sanding. Lots of snow in Silverton, but I spend the week days here in Junction.

Earle

sandblasted.

Thanks for the suggestion Bill. I'll check into that as well.

I sent you an email. We have to get together one of these days while your in town.

message

Kevin, while you're at it, if you find a place that does the dipping, you might as well check into what is called e-coat. This is basically a plating process and it results in very high corrosion resistance. You can read a little about it here:

Chris

sandblasted.

Hey Bill,

Many moons ago I used to blast for a living. We did everything from trucks, tankers (inside/outside), barges, cars etc. Using a 4" hose and 600 psi at the nozzle, you'd be surprised how nice a finish you can get if you're patient. I frequently grit blasted 22 gauge sheet metal without distortion and the pitting was easily overcome with a quality primer... or 3 coats of rattle can primer. It was a dream booth, room enough for 2 tractor trailers or train cars side by side... no shovelling, grated floor with recovery system. Blasting inside tanks was always fun.... two guys, one on the hose, one on the vacuum.

Bead blasting, or better yet "black beauty" is almost foolproof, sand can be tricky but it's cheap. The trick is taking your time... multiple passes using a brush blast technique. If I was still in the business I would charge

2 hrs @ $100/hr with no prep.. roll it in, roll it out.

If there was a hot tank in town big enough I wonder what they would charge. I used to pay $60 for a block (two dips), $10/head and $10 for the intake... about 15 years ago!

-Brian

: >

(Right in Grand Junction): >

: > This is a DIY operation, but you're going to get sand all over the place. : > You want to remove EVERYTHING from your work area first. We used one to : > strip paint in an old house once, and they are great if you like the : > textured woodwork effect. ;o) : >

: > Earle : >

: > > I guess my options are sand the entire tub down or have it sandblasted. : > > Keep in mind I want to do the exterior and underside as well. : > >

: > > Question: : > >

: > > Any idea what I could expect to pay to have it sandblasted? : > >

: > > Do rental places rent sandblasters? Is it pretty easy to do yourself? : > >

: > >

Yes, and they are pretty easy but as others have noted it's not a very good way to strip a whole paint job off. Use blasting for rust spots, if you have a big compressor (4hp or more) you can buy a pressurized tank blaster from harbor freight for around 75 to 150 bucks that will do just fine for spots.

Use an orbital or palm sander for scuffing the old paint, it's easy enough and striping all the old paint off is a bad idea anyway (think of the old paint as multiple layer rust protection. Should the new paint get scratched you'll have something under it besides bare metal.

Also old original paint is usually going to be harder than just about any paint you can apply.

For that carpet glue, get yourself a gallon of xylol, wipe a spot... wait a few seconds and hit the same area again. Then get to scrapping. It should come off pretty easy with a nice sharpened putty knife. Xylol melts the crap out of carpet glue. It'll take a while but sand blasting wont do s**t to it. This applies on the underside too... built up grease old undercoating etc. is going to have to be removed with chemicals or elbow grease, or some combination of both. I would degrease the underside with engine degreaser, and then scrape heavy stuff, and finally sand.

And for all of this, get yourself a good respirator rated for chemicals xylol is potent stuff, and sand silicosis can be lethal.

They were new... blast off the surface rust and prep for linings.

-Brian

Blast suit/helmet, imported air.. not respirators. I'd be naive to suggest that a prolonged career in blasting wouldn't take it's toll on one's health but I believe the company I worked for spared no expense to provide a safe environment. I have sympathy for others in the field wearing no more than paper masks and painters suits.

How is this for irony; Smoking in the blast booth was strictly prohibited and grounds for disciplinary actions. Why, you ask? Because the air in the booth was contaminated from blasting and could result in respiratory problems... we were encouraged to smoke in the lunch room.

I sleep well at night knowing that any damage to lungs from blasting has been thoroughly masked by 20+ years of smoking.

-Brian