dustless blasting

[Burdar]

I found a guy who does dustless blasting near by.  He gave me a quote of $185 to blast my disassembled convertible top frame.  Sound reasonable?

[MoparLeo]

Yes if he does a thorough job.

[70 Top Banana]

Yep, agree

[anlauto]

Yea sure if it works....that stuff usually doesn't tackle rust so well, but does a good job on paint 

[Burdar]

So what's the consensus on having a convertible top frame blasted?  Some say absolutely NOT.  Sand will get into the joints.  Although I read on here that opening and closing the mechanisms a few times will clear out any sand that gets in.(Maybe the water/blast media combination would make this worse?)  Others say the only way to do it is have it dipped.  Then I've read where someone had theirs dipped and it came back ruined.  THey said some of the links are aluminum and they were eaten away.  I'm confused.

I thought water blasting would make quick work of it and leave it ready for me to paint.

[FE5CUDA]

So what's the consensus on having a convertible top frame blasted?  Some say absolutely NOT.  Sand will get into the joints.  Although I read on here that opening and closing the mechanisms a few times will clear out any sand that gets in.(Maybe the water/blast media combination would make this worse?)  Others say the only way to do it is have it dipped.  Then I've read where someone had theirs dipped and it came back ruined.  THey said some of the links are aluminum and they were eaten away.  I'm confused.

I thought water blasting would make quick work of it and leave it ready for me to paint.

A friend of mine has a dustless water blasting business and travels around to all the shops in is big truck, the idea using water is there isn't any heat generated so the metal will not warp.  Yes, if your guy is using crushed glass with the water (in my factual opinion ) will clean any of the rust on your frame and will be paint ready.  $185? absolutely.

[Burdar]

Thanks for the information but I think I'm going to pass.  I don't want to take the chance that the mechanisms will get full of media and/or the media will destroy the nylon bushings.

My plan now is to build a couple boxes out of plywood, line the inside with plastic and dip them in a rust remover.  My initial thought was to use vinigar but the top frame has one aluminum piece on it.  I'm not going to take the chance with that either.  I just found that Walmart sells 3.5 gallon buckets of EvapoRust.  Online price was $46.44 with free shipping.  I ordered 3 buckets.  That came to $150...cheaper then the blasting and I won't have to worry about it hurting anything.  I can soak the header this way and completely clean out the inside that has the heavy rust scale on it. 

The original paint isn't horrible.  Once it's completely clean of rust, I can sand out any of the most visible areas before repainting.  I'm probably being overly cautious but...

Now we will just see if Walmart actually delivers or if they cancel the order.