I am using a Craftsman random orbit sander and I have been through three boxes of 60 coarse paper, Home depot does not carry a 40 course for this sander, I am going through one every five minutes and it's driving me crazy, there has to be a 40.. can someone tell me what the best sander is out there, so I am not sanding on this for the next two months..


Tanks..

sandblaster-professionally, otherwise,there is no easy way, our powdercoater charges about two hours to strip and sandblast a chassis for powdercoat, the hourly rate is $60. That might just work out to be cheaper than sandpaper. Later

Well that's half what the only sandbalster in Yuma quoted me to do my chassis. And he wouldn't commit to a finish time either. The powder shops here in town didn't want to talk to me unless I was also doing powder at the same time.

Having stripped my buggy twice though I can say the best method by far is to ditch the sandpaper until the final step.

Get a knotted wire wheel brush on a 4.5" angle grinder and you'll be done in a few hours. Your arms will be numb but it goes quick. You can get a grinder for $20 or less at Harbor freight and a wheel for a couple bucks more.

The trick is to let the brush do the work. Don't use a lot of pressure. Just let it glide over until it bites and started pulling the paint off then work that exposed edge with very light pressure. The rest goes really quick.

Then get out the sandpaper for the tight corners the brush can't reach and finish up with the finer grain sandpaper if you want. I skipped the sandpaper and just sprayed right on the brushed surface and my rattle can paint held up to more abuse than the auto enamel we used on my friends rail (but on his we didn't strip all the old paint off, just spent about 20 minutes roughing it up a little with some sandpaper.)

I did my full chassis in less than 8 hours by myself with the grinder. And that was going though two 20 year old coats of paint one two year old coat and a final one year old coat of paint.

If you try it though be sure to wear long pants and safety glasses. Yeah it sucks dressing like that in the AZ summer but if the brush starts loosing bristles you'll be glad you made the sacrafice. The first time I did it I used an old worn out brush and when I stopped my leg looked like a porcupine from all the wires sticking out. I tossed that brush and put on a new one and didn't have any more problems. But I'm always extra carefull about wearing safety glasses now!

Another option that you might consider...chemical stripper. With the round tubes, it might be easier than the sanding/brushing method. It IS messier though! Put lots of paper on the floor. Buy a small can first and a cheap disposable paint brush. Do a small section and see how it goes. Take extra care to use plenty of acetone, or whatever is called for to neutralize it when you are done..otherwise your new paint job is not going to look good.. If your happy with how it works, continue doing small sections at a time so it doesn't get away from you. I'd probably stay away from anywhere there are wiring holes though, just to make sure I didn't get any stripper inside the tubes to somehow screw up the paint later on. Also, use any recommended safety equipment, cause that stuff can be pretty nasty.

In a pinch a straight wire or crimped wire wheel will work as well. The knotted wire wheels keep their shape and have more cutting power though. You may also want to try a cup brush instead of a wheel brush, I found the cup worked better in some situations and having both a cup and a wheel to choose from made it easier to get into some areas.

(1st choice) Knotted Wire:
Wheel:
Cup:

(2nd Choice) Crimped Wire:
Wheel:
Cup:

If you do go with the wire brush be sure to check the rated RPM of both the brush and the grinder. Don't EVER run a brush in anything capable of going faster than the MSFS on the brush! Most cup brushes aren't rated for the RPM's that an angle grinder can put out. That's when you end up looking like a porcupine

Some great safety info on brushes here: http://osborn.com/safety.asp

I did try paint stripper. It worked good on the newer paint but was VERY messy and hard to work with on the tubes. I used a really thick strong stripper but even so it took a LOT more work than the wire brush. And on the 20 year old paint it did almost no good at all. In fact it was cleaning up the mess from the stripper that I found how well the brushes worked I didn't want to use sandpaper because the stripper was such nasty stuff...I figured the metal brush would hold up better than paper to the strong stripper. Happy coincidence that it worked so well for stripping the paint!

those wire brushes would be best, but they make sand paper wheels they are pretty good even if they are worn down alot, we have 1 nad it works great

A couple buggies ago i had one SANDBLASTED and PAINTED for $400 the reason for paint (as opposed to powder coat) was the beam was welded on.......sandblasting is prob the only way to go

I have a little sand blaster you can use. Kind of messy but works pretty good, get the play sand from home depot for cheap, than do a quick hand sand and your ready to paint.

Guys might wanna wear a cup with those wire wheels. I got stuck pretty good by a stray wire that got flung off our drill. Damn that hurt!

surprised both those small objects could hit each other......like finding a needle in a haystack

(drum fill)

That's about a 2 hour job at a sandblaster...Can't even think about doing it any other way....chemicals do good but very labor intensive and still expensive...and the mess...why bother....save your money and sandblast.....

I offered you my sandblaster, I bet you wish you would had taken it now.
LATER DON~~~

Those wire wheels will throw wire shrapnel (sp) everywhere. I used a crimped one a year ago and I still step on pieces of wire in the garage. They work good on the metal, but get a good pair of tweezers too. You will need them to remove all the metal from your hands and arms. Don't forget the protective eyewhere too!

Even though it might already be done, I'd definitely say use a Sandblaster (especially on the welds). My number one choice for stripping paint completely, with no questions or chemicals left over.

I sandblasted the whole body and pan of my 63 bug (when I was 16)... wasn't the cleanest but it got EVERYTHING off of the metal. Gave me a perfect base for 3 layers of wet sanded primer. Some people complain about the work however, I love it... takes it back to "like new" material.

You can get small sand blasters from Sears or the Snap On or Mac trucks. You'll also need air to power it... I'd go Husky for that. It's definitely a good investment... you'll use it for more than you think you would.

I used aircraft paint stripper when I did mine. Got it in spray cans from wal mart. Spray it on, let it sit for 1/2 hr, then take a small metal putty knife, and it comes right off. I left the sanding until I had all the tabs welded, the bondo on, and things set up. I used 100 and 150 grid on my sander to fully smooth out everything. Then hand sanded the hard areas. Look into plumbers sanding paper for copper pipe, works excellent for tight areas.

The 360 degree wire wheel will throw wire everywhere, unless you get on for shop use. I wouldn't use then except on a bench grinder, where you have a shield, and use them for polishing.

someone said they wouldnt powder coat a buggy with a welded beam on it. why not?

Just dont shave the pits for a few days and rub on it.. Should take the paint right off..

I hate these one person sanding partys... But some Hilfs were driving past and said I have seen you sanding it looks great so... it's all good.. but orders from the Royals can come in.. Im out need to buy more SAND PAPER.. but they were damm HOTT!!


SANDING PARTY EVERYDAY UNTIL THEY 11TH

Lots of Laughs on this thread so far
Harbor Freight has a sandblaster that really works.
I bought mine on sale for less than $100.
The sand is about $5.00 a 100 lb bag.
Still works great after striping 3 complete frames
I would not consider striping a frame any other way.

I also priced out the cost to sandblast the first frame here in Yuma I was quoted $400 It wasn't even hot out then.

Sure the INDUSTRIAL one will strip a frame in less than an hour...But I now have the blaster and can do a frame in about 4 hours.

Does that relate in any way to $400 an hour??

Rick is this the one you've got:



I know you've seen it sitting in my garage. If you can show me what the heck I'm doing wrong with it I'd love to find out. All I know is the thing has given me nothing but frustration. I was able to use it to strip my axle tubes but even that took nearly an hour and I almost gave up out of frustration.

I downloaded the instructions of the website to make sure the hoses were run correctly, and I have two water separators on the hose.

I've tried dune sand, I've tried play sand and I've even tried silica blasting material...but everything clogs like mad unless I have someone else constantly shaking the hopper. We did manage to strip a motorcycle frame but that took us two evenings.

If I could get this thing working correctly I'd love to use it. But for now the brushes are the easiest way I've found to do stripping.

Oh yeah....the wires in my leg from the old worn out brush were nothing compared to the nozzle that came off the blaster because the crappy Harbor Freight hose clamp stripped out. Suddenly the hose was flying all over and got my legs a couple of times before I could reach the nearest pressure shut-off.

Once I pulled the wires out my leg as fine, but after the blaster got me I was sore for a couple of days.

That's how it's hooked up Don. There's a Tee fitting where the air goes in that feeds it to the top and lets some go though to the bottom to create a venturi kind of effect. There are IIRC three different valves for adjusting how much air is allowed where, and I've yet to find any setting that works well, the settings that keep it from clogging don't let enough air though to the bottom so then the sand just kind of drizzles out. But too far the other way and the sand clogs almost instantly...in the middle it all balances out and nothing happens.

I can't be more descriptive without going out and playing with it again though, I haven't touched it in about a year so my memory about exactly what each valve did is pretty hazy. All I know is I spent hours with the thing and couldn't get it to work well. I did find out that it was hooked up all wrong when I first got it (it's on semi-permanant loan from a friend) I followed the instructions from harbor freight to reroute the lines and fittings and after that it worked a little better. But it's still a two man job to keep it from clogging.

Any concern about sandblasting streching the metal of the tubing?

Whats your point in completly stripping all the paint off...? why not feather it ?

Jason, One of my hot rod friends has one of these. He had the same clogging problem. The solution was to barely crack the sand feed handle open. Use as much air as you can. This stopped the clogging, and it is now pretty functional. When your done, turn the sand feed off first, and run some more air through to keep the hose clear.

If you haven't already, give this a try and see if that helps.

I just got a new pressure washer for Father's Day, I pretty sure it might take some paint off.