Rust Repair – Sandblasting Makes it Easy
Rust Repair – How to Remove Rust
Let’s face it, rust is everywhere. It’s a fact of life for iron based items. Without an in depth science lesson, rust occurs on iron and certain steel in the presence of water and oxygen. It’s not just a nuisance, it can cause real damage. For auto rust repair, DIY rust repair, and more a sandblasting cabinet can make quick work of rust. Even tough rust on truck wheel wells, classic car rust repair, and underbody rust can be efficiently removed with sandblasting.
This piece of untreated steel rusted in a short time just sitting in the shop. Below we’ll blast this fish and show the results.
Car Rust Repair
It sounds pretty simple. Just get a sandblaster, an old rusty item, and blast away. Well, for the most part it can be. However, there is a bit more to think about. For instance, if you wonder how to remove rust from a car, take a look at the classic car to the left. It’s in pretty bad shape. Rusty panels, rusty wheels, and a rusty car frame.
Surface Rust Removal
Remember that when something rusts, a tiny layer of the metal is basically detached from the underlying metal. This is why you can often flake off pieces of the rust. This is amazingly important when you want to remove rust from a car like this. A sandblaster is a powerful tool. It can actually do damage to the surface of a metal if the metal is weak or too thin.
Rust Repair Panels
Most parts of a car can be sandblasted to remove auto rust. If you try to remove the rust from a car body or the quarter panels you’ll need one of two types of sandblasters. The size and shape of the panels dictate the choice. If the panels are really big, you may need a portable sandblaster. This type allows you to blast the pieces outside a cabinet. This however, tends to be messy if you’re not setup correctly. The abrasive media and resulting dust created in the process can scatter creating a mess and health risk.
Sandblast Cabinet Sizes
There are many large sandblasting cabinets available from Cyclone that can accommodate a quarter panel, door, or other large car parts. Choosing an abrasive blast cabinet is not a one-size fits all decision. It’s personal and depends on what you are going to blast, today and tomorrow. Call us (269-782-9670) for help in deciding what size cabinet may be best suited for your project.
Model DW-7335 – WIDE Large Abrasive Blast Cabinet
Surface Rust Removal
It tends to be that auto rust removal and auto body repair rust removal dominates the results when searching for how to remove surface rust. While it does hold true that auto body rust removal is an ideal problem for a sandblasting solution, there are others too. Let’s return to our decorative steel largemouth bass from above. This piece of art sat in our shop for about a year or two. In the presence of moisture and oxygen, surface rust made itself known. We took to task with our E100 P benchtop sandblaster. This size unit is perfect for DIY sandblasting, hobby sandblaster applications, and without a doubt commercial environments too.
Before. Rusty and dull.
The “after” photo. Notice that there are still patches of rust we intend to remove.
Watch the blasting process in this short YouTube video.
E100 P Benchtop Sandblaster – The E100 Series comes in a 14 CFM, 5 CFM and 1.5 CFM configuration.
Abrasive Media for Rust Removal
We cover abrasive media choices in depth here: Choosing the Right Abrasive. How you want the metal to appear after blasting is an important decision. When we blasted our “bass” we used brown aluminum oxide just to test. We are working on a new video that will demonstrate the effects of various abrasives on various surfaces!
Sandblasting Cabinets are Great for Rust Removal
Today’s Internet will debate anything. We’ll stand behind the fact that our sandblasting cabinets are some of the best available for removing rust. Whether you’re preparing the surface for painting, removing surface debris, or doing general cleaning – a sandblaster is an ideal tool. Despite the choices out there, we believe our offerings are the best. We have years of experience and a full catalog of sandblasting equipment.
Made in USA
We manufacture our blast cabinets in Dowagiac, Michigan and ship throughout the world. Members of our local community proudly design, manufacture, assemble and paint each cabinet and sandblast dust collector.
Fully Assembled
Our cabinets are solid. We assemble them in our own shop starting with solid welded steel and ending with a quality check prior to shipping. Don’t settle for having to spend time assembling a cabinet when it arrives. Unbox, attach air, and get blasting.
Affordable
It is possible to own a high quality abrasive blast cabinet that is also affordable. Cyclone sandblasters are designed from the ground up to be efficient and affordable.
Our products and prices are listed with each cabinet. With a call, click or email we can quote shipping costs. We look forward to helping you.
269-782-9670
info@cycloneblasters.com