NA. Who sandblasted? How difficult and messy is it?

Huckster79

Huckster79

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Huckster79
I’m going to be custom painting sone kitchen appliances, they are stainless so like out birds they don’t love being painted… going to use good epoxy primer to get a professional looking diy job… but wondering about sandblasting them instead of sanding.

HF has some equipment likely good enough for a hobbyist… who does it? Is it difficult to do right? Is it messy as heck?
 
Huckster79 said:
I’m going to be custom painting sone kitchen appliances, they are stainless so like out birds they don’t love being painted… going to use good epoxy primer to get a professional looking diy job… but wondering about sandblasting them instead of sanding.

HF has some equipment likely good enough for a hobbyist… who does it? Is it difficult to do right? Is it messy as heck?
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Don't do it. Yes it is messy. It will get everywhere and cause trouble. Parts must be stripped bare if you are going blast them.

Don't be fooled by the cheap blasters at HF. You need a large compressor with lot's of volume to do it.

I have my own tow behind diesel compressor, pressure pot blaster and painting equipment. I have done lot's over the years, very labor intensive job to say the least.
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This below was not blasted here, it was painted here. Like said blasting makes a mess.

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The gold 71 challenger, I used plastic media on it.
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Yes, unless you have a large enclosure to spray in blast media goes everywhere. However, I've done it outside in the yard and the blast media just disappears in the grass. Pick a calm wind day. I was using silicone bead media, but there are other choices. No idea what blasting stainless steel will do, though. Blasting is usually done to strip paint or rust.
 
They quit selling silica media/sand many years ago, at the supplier I use. Been using coal slag for 20+ now. Much safer than silica. I use a pressurized air system to breath.
 
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Messy. I mean messy. Do it out doors and in calm wind otherwise the neighbors might not be happy with everything they own covered with what ever media you use. Cover and seal everything you don't want the media to get into.

Gary Ward is dead on about air pressure. It takes a lot. Pressure plus volume.

Did I mention messy.?? Whatever media you use it will get everywhere, including in yore under britches. A covid/dust mask will not work. It is worth it to use a pressurized breathing system. I have seen folks use a bandana to cover their nose and mouth and glasses for the eyes and just suffer.

Before I forget to mention it, it is messy.

Morgan3820 said:
Harbor freight just came out with a surface conditioner.
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I think I would try this first if it is designed to work with stainless.

Back when I did stuff like this I would take it to the pros and pay them just to not have to deal with the mess.
 
Outside.
Stuff gets everywhere
Set up tarps to somewhat contain the mess
Stuff gets everywhere
Your compressor will not keep up - you have to blast, wait, blast, wait...
Stuff gets everywhere
Ever get sand in your bathing suit at the beach? You ain't seen nuttin yet.
Wear a full Tyvec suit with a hood
Stuff will still get everywhere
Silica exposure is an occupational hazard

Personally, given that appliances are mostly flat surfaces, I would just sand the stuff.
 
There is a franchise that does wet ground glass blasting; it used to cost about a grand for a car on a spit. They just leave the offal on the ground.
But for large flat surfaces, sand blasting can warp the snot out of it. Sand it by hand.
 
Thanks guys! Yup I’ll either get that new HF unit or just use my ol craftsman sander… sounds like more trouble than just sanding it and wiping it down good w alcohol!

it’s just really to help give the primer more bite so it’s not like I need to remove paint.

plus if I’m not able to remove the panel off the front doesn’t sound like an appliance friendly process!
 
You need massive volumes of air. If you don't have it, you blast for a minute and wait for five. The little HF handheld blasters do a fairly good job, but I wouldn't want to do an entire refrigerator with it.
 
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I blasted the interior stone wall (8ftx25ft) of my living room in order to get rid of the multiple layers of paint (blood red) that the previous owner had applied to the natural stone. I created a blast room with plastic drop cloths and tarps while blocking off the fireplace openings and electrical outlets. I rented a tow-behind air compressor, air-fed blast hood, and blast pot in order to do it. Hell of a mess, and I could only blast for about 10 minutes at a time because the amount of dust made it impossible to see 2' in front of my face. I used a fine slag media called Black Beauty because it could be reused a few times and didn't involve potentially breathing silica. I had tried multiple paint strippers and wire wheels but nothing was working with any effectiveness. If I had to do it over again, I would have paid a company to do the blasting with dry ice instead. Much easier cleanup and less destructive overall.

The media will end up EVERYWHERE in your appliances, so unless you are pulling off all exterior panels to do it, I'd just skip it and hand sand.
 
Can't say I've ever sandblasted stainless. I did spend several weeks completely stripping and sandblasting a fire engine once. It's messy work. I was getting blast medium out of my hair for hours after a session (and yes I was wearing a hat).
 
I've done sandblasting, years ago. We used to use aluminum oxide, as it was safer than silica sand. Still dangerous. The resultant dust is much, much finer than the original media. HEPA filter is a good idea, but you'll still breath a little. It's dangerous. Sandblasting cuts through granite. It's go through skin to the bone in an instant. Above posts are correct on the compressor required. For field work, we used a 33 CFM compressor in the back of a truck, 12 HP Wisconsin engine I believe, and 3/4" air lines. Noisy as all get out.

All that said, sandblasting is great prep for carbon steel. You have to paint it immediately, or it'll rust. But for stainless? I don't know if that's the right prep at all for stainless. Normally, as I understand it, most stainless is corrosion resistant when it's passive, meaning it has a protective oxide coating on the outside. It is subject to corrosion, even accelerated corrosion, if it's left in it's active, or non-oxidized state.

I'd suggest some kind of chemical process to get a primer to stick to it. Maybe all it takes is de-greasing it.
 
ignoring the cost for OP question, but for the experts on here, I have seen a process that uses water as the propellant. Thought the machine was relatively inexpensive, $15k. I might be getting into the process of builidng and painting large metal crates, 8'x8'x2'. Just high level researching.
 
Easier to just polish the stainless. Wife likes the stuff, so its all over rite kitchen. Had I known what a pain it is keeping the stuff clean I'd have said no. Even so I'd never paint it.
 
steingar said:
Easier to just polish the stainless. Wife likes the stuff, so its all over rite kitchen. Had I known what a pain it is keeping the stuff clean I'd have said no. Even so I'd never paint it.
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yea neither of us like the look of stainless and we have 7 kids so keeping fingerprints off would never end. We are both really handy and doing a bunch to cut costs and look awesome. So we are ordering an Ilve nostalgia range, they are ya d crafted iris Liam stoves but theor color options are RAL colors, so the codes are obtainable. I won’t be rattle canning them, I’ll get automotive paint so I can get a professional looking job. The range will be a real pretty gun metal grey/blue with brass knobs and burners so I’ll paint the fridge and dishwasher to match and then going to brass the handles on them to match.

I experimented brassing metal yesterday- so cool! Soldering torch to heat the metal and then brush it with a brass bristled brush! That’s it! Repeat till it’s brassy enough! Crazy simple and then looks genuine instead of painted… I like real brass I’m not a fan of brass paint or fake coating…
 
For the kind of money an Ilve costs, I’d be hard pressed to refinish them out of the box.
 
TCABM said:
For the kind of money an Ilve costs, I’d be hard pressed to refinish them out of the box.
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For sure! I’m not painting the Ilve I’m painting a dishwasher and fridge to match the Ilve- being the Ilve will be the focal point of the kitchen remodel. I can do it because ilve’s paint codes are obtainable.

we bought scratch n dent kitchenaid fridge and dishwasher and Viking range hood that I’ll be painting. I won’t be altering the Ilve.
 
Huckster79 said:
For sure! I’m not painting the Ilve I’m painting a dishwasher and fridge to match the Ilve- being the Ilve will be the focal point of the kitchen remodel. I can do it because ilve’s paint codes are obtainable.

we bought scratch n dent kitchenaid fridge and dishwasher and Viking range hood that I’ll be painting. I won’t be altering the Ilve.
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Q: have you thought about a vinyl wrap for the kitchenaid appliances?
 
TCABM said:
Q: have you thought about a vinyl wrap for the kitchenaid appliances?
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no, because I couldn’t get exact color match. I’ve painted full interior of my airplane and a chunk of the fuselage and gear. I’m not an old pro but my paint projects turned out to where I’m confident i can do it well. I would think a good autopaint would hold up better than vynly too. All that black stainless is is a vinyl wrap over regular stainless and it scratches through really easy…

but I always like ideas like that! :)
 
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