I plan on repainting my new to me D5G. I can save a few $$$ by prepping it for blasting myself. What do i mask with to resist sand blasting?
GLASS For sure!! I have seen one with blasted windows and trust me you dont want that!! Also be careful of the rad and the wiring and any thing that looks flimsy enough to break of!! Aiden
Mask your gauges, sight glass, exhaust outlet, air inlet, be gentle around the cylinder rods...some sandblasters can take the chrome off!, lights. Thats pretty much all I can think of
I don't know what our paint shop uses but rubber would work. They do remove lights, radiator grill and basic parts like mirrors, pre cleaner. They paint black some black or leave alone. Mask the hoses, they always look better not painted IMHO. With an open ROPS machine i would remove the seat and unscrew the knobs on the levers. If the engine is need of painting then remove the access covers. We always service the machines after getting them painted, at least the filters if not the oils.
I've done a little bit of blasting. It takes a long time and is not much fun. I use paint strippers now before blasting and it speeds things up a lot. FWIW.
I have spent about 10 years in the sandblasting/painting industry so I'll add my 2 cents. Good advice. Anything glass that gets blasted will be wrecked. If you can get at the back of the dash easily some gauges will come right out with a single screw but leave them hooked up. Sandblasting will damage cylinder rods. We take plastic pipe and slit it lengthwise and snap it over the rods to protect them. For windows, rubber blast mask is the best but very pricey. We use cardboard and masking tape. The cardboard is cutout to just fit the glass and then we tape it to the rubber moulding around the window. Use multiple layers of duct tape and not just cheap duct tape either. Cardboard does not stand up to a direct blast on it but it saves the glass should you brush across it. I don't know what kind of coatings you're removing but more pressure or a bigger unit probably would be able to make strippers redundant. Some guys I know were each blasting a Cat D7G and were having a race. Each machine was OROPS with a ripper. The first one finished in 45 min. I usually spend an hour on a complete strip. Well not quite complete because I don't do the belly pan. Some more thoughts. Use proper sand size. Each sand has a purpose and they don't all do a good job on everything. 50-100 (aka #1) Blast profile is approx 1 mil. We use this sand for taking off the finish of log houses, mill scale removal on new steel, or stripping paint where we want a low blast profile. Will remove surface rust but slow on rust buildup. We also use it on lighter sheet metal where we are concerned about warping. 30-50 (aka #4) Blast profile is approx 2-4 mil. The best all around sand. We use it for just about everything. Stripping paint, blasting new steel, and blasting rust. 12-50 (aka #7) Blast profile is approx 6-7 mil) The industry is seems to be moving away from this one. Used to remove large buildups of rust or paint. Ok I'll get off my soap box now. These are some of the things that work for us but everyone has their own method.
Abscraperguy, How big a compressor do you use, what size nozzle, and what psi do you run at? How wide a 'swath' do you get with your set up?
Our compressor size is 375 cfm at 100 psi. I forget the nozzle size. It's about the biggest we can run with our compressor. Something tells me its a 3/8 or 7/16 but don't know for sure. We are gonna be upgrading out compressor here shortly. Probably stay around 375-400 cfm but go to 150 psi.
How did it all turn out? I'm having trouble with a similar task...trying to sandblast some powder coat paint but with little progress. Any advice?