sandblasting a frame ?

Has anyone here done it ? I have a lot of compressor power at work so I contemplated buying a sand or soda blaster to strip paint/clean up a few items including a Daccordi Columbus SL frame , a Silca pump and some cast alloy pedals (Look Deltas and TBT times) any advice appreciated

Industrial sand/grit blasters running a lot of air don't mess about. They are designed to remove scale and rust from heavy steel. So something soft like alloy frames will need something a little gentler if you are to avoid embedding the blasting media into the metal, or blowing holes in things.

My last frame was chemically stripped and then wet blasted with glass beads in high pressure water.

Media blasting has come a long way since the concept of 'sand blasting' was born...materials can now be cleaned of most things with the proper medias and correct tools!

Paint can be removed from steel, alloy or even 'plastic' car bumpers!

Ring around and speak with the companies, tell them the metals you are looking to get cleaned.

I've had a Charge Duster Tange Prestige and Reynolds 653 frame and forks done...finisthed in powder coat and looking great.

Once 'blasted' you will need to prime the surface immediately, so the blasting actually provides a 'key' for the primer.

Remember reading ages ago someone sand blasted a 753 frame and it easily pressed in after blasting!

Becareful what you use.

i know 753 is paper thin , but SL is thicker (and heavier too) , I want to spend bugger all on this frame so will do it all myself

In that case have someone else do it for you.

Here in the UK, a basic sealey sandblasting gun is around £30, without the blasting media.

For only £55, I can get an alloy frame degreased, chemically stripped & wet blasted, AND then have all the threads masked up, & have it primed and powdercoated in any single RAL colour I fancy. The cost for simply having the same guys blast the frame clean ready for my own paint would therefore be a fraction of the cost of buying the tools to do it myself, and the job would be much better too.

There's always a sense of immense satisfaction to be had from learning a new skill, or doing something yourself, but in this case, it's quicker, easier, better and cheaper just to let a shotblasting company do it for you.

a little one is less than that here , but maybe it would be too small for a frame ? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-Air-San ... 2c91eabd5f

I think that'll be fine for small parts, like bolts, headtube badges, and maybe even pedals if you don't mind stopping to refill a few times. But use something that big on a frame and you'll a) still be doing it next month, and b) have a very uneven finish.

Something a bit bigger required I think!

I stripped this frame down by the use of new stanley blades to skim off the paint on all the tubes,
then used paint stripper on lugs/drop-outs and wire wool to clean the steel.

Cost me just £10 to do and did it over two days, about 8 hours in total.