I beleive the baking soda is blasted wet with a hi pressure stream of water/soda mix. I have actually added baking soda to wall paint on request by a client because they were allergic to the chemicals in latex paint. The baking soda absorbed the offensive odors and it didn't cause too much of a change in the paint texture.

I would have to see baking soda blasted wet to believe it. I am sure it is another type of dry blasting media. Several years ago (maybe more than several) feed grade bicarb was around $250/ton in 50# bags. Might be fairly cheap compared to other blasting media?

CC, nope, it's blasted wet here. The city has mobile soda blasters for removing graffitti. Big tanks of water and the soda is injected into the line. Kinda like the sand injectors you can get for a pressure washer.

Ground walnut shells are used as an agent as well.
Sand will work it way into everything on a complete machine and be impossible to clean.
The shells are not near as damaging to seals and tight spots.

"ag-mike" wrote:

what media has any of you guys used to remove the heat stains when welding stainless steel. as many know i built a truck bed out of it last spring and stainless wire cups wouldn't do the job. when home in a couple weeks i'm going to blast all of it, so it looks the same. its 1/8 thick and i was going to use silica sand. any thoughts?? tanks.

I do a bit of s/s repair in restaurants on occasion, and I use a flap disc, small cylinders on a die grinder, or a large round polishing/ fine grit sanding wheel on an electric drill. If you can't get to it, get some 3-M Scotch Brite scouring pads at your local restaurant supply store, and with a bit of elbow grease, and some scouring powder, you can remove the black from the finish. I do hope you used Argon, as this reduces the problem greatly.
Ed

thanks ed, no to argon, used stick, as this were heavier stuff. 12gauge steel to 1/8 s/s diamond plate. none of the stick welds show, the heat stain did come thru to the face side. tanks.

Soda balating can be done both wet and dry. It takes a different hopper than sand (more sloped) so the soda will flow down easier in ther hopper. It will not damage glass or chrome, and does not abrade (pit the metal, so it does not rust as fast as sand blasting. It takes a little longer to remove paint, and does not work well to remove major rust. plastic media works much in the same way, but is easier to clean up before painting.

Ag Mike

Sand is very dangerous to use and illegal. We stock coal slag, AL-OX, and glass bead. I have been blasting some stainless tanks for a fab shop to remove weld smoke and burn marks and have used both AL-OX and coal slag dust with good results. Leaves a matte finish. Real smooth too.



Bill