What is sandblasting Ive read about how people sandblast their manifolds and I want to know what that is?
Well the name is fairly self explanitory. It's where they blast little pieces of ground up glass, sand, silicone, ect. at it with compressed air with a special gun and it blasts the rust right off. I'm sure there is alot more stuff they can use to do it. I have heard of ground up walnut shells and all kinds of stuff, I guess it depends on what you are blasting. I know that generally you want the metal to be more dull looking when your done and not shiney. Don't remember why though.
We used to use ground up walnut shells when blasting the old Hydro generators. Messy stuff, got in places you would'nt think possible. Good description Jamie. clint
We use baking soda and high pressure water at work.. Environmentally friendly, (Food processing plant go figure ).. Basically as Jamie said sandblasting or beadblasting a.k.a. glassbeading is commonly used to remove dirt, paint, bondo, or just about anything from metal parts. Beadblasting works really good for old grungy aluminum intake manifolds and they stay "new" looking if you clear coat them when they're done..just my I blast everything I can and clean thouroughly before painting. As a note of CAUTION be very careful around glass!!! it will etch glass very easily (permanant damage)
yea and if your gonna do it on a fender or something that is not to thick dont hold it in one point too long. It will warp the metal.
If your sand blasting the intake manifold make sure you cap off all the port holes so the sand will not get into them. The glass beads can embed themselves in the metal. Clean the manifold good when your finished.