Make your own Soda Blaster

[vern401]

Looking around on other forums I have seen allot about soda blasting parts.
Here are some links on how to make your own soda blaster.

http://www.aircooledtech.com/tools-on-the-cheap/soda_blaster/

http://www.garagenight.tv/diy-soda-blasting-build-your-own-rig-cheap/

Enjoy

[mitchberry]

NIIIICE!!!  

Not sure why the hell i didn't think of this...  

i'm definitely going to do this....  i'll post results!

[vern401]

This should also work as a sand balster too. If you use a container around the work peace linke sand blasters do you can in my opinion re use the sand/soda a few times before replacing it due to contamination.

[wvhardtail]

I have a home sand blaster and I do reuse the sand. I run it through a sifter after each use. Not sure about the soda blaster but I would think you can.

[mitchberry]

agreed.....   but i was thinking about salt rather than sand... still dissolves...

That may get some of the harder stuff off and it's generally the right consistancy, but it would be much more expensive i guess...

then sand for super caked on rust n corrosion...   i'm going to try this out this weekend.. i'll try to post pics.

[wvhardtail]

Let us know how it works. Make sure you clean it off good afterwords as salt will speed up rust.

[mitchberry]

hmm... yeah i forgot about that... living in Texas, that's not something i think much about (the salt speeding up rust i mean)..

but i figure i'll take my carbs off, take pics, soda blast them, salt blast the hard stuff, wash them off, then take a dremel to it and see if i can get a decent polish on them, then spray some clear on them so i can try to keep the luster for as long as possible..  we'll see exactly how much of that i can actually accomplish this weekend. lol.

 i have 5 bikes sitting in my garage right now, one is my daily rider (busa) and 4 of them need fixing.   one of those isn't mine (06-07 or so triumph daytona 955I), and one of them runs, rides, is inspected insured and what not, but the fiberglass gas tank lining started peeling off and got in my carbs n made the bike crap out on me. (69 suzuki T500), then the others (69 suz T125 and 78 CB750) need work... the cb needs a complete ground up overhaul aside from the motor which (so the guy i bought it from says) runs.. but it would be good to rebuild it anyhow.

fyi, if you're making a cafe racer, it's worth the trouble of fixing your metal tank buying one in the style you want in metal, or getting someone to do the metal fab work for you for the knee  cutouts... glass tanks suck for that reason. (totally off topic i know).  My lining was fine for over a year, then i went to a shell station and pumped some kind of gas that must have been well over 30% ethanol because the lining started peeling pretty much right before my eyes.....  when i dumped the gas out it was pretty much clear.. most gas is yellowish. anyway, it clogged up my carbs and probably got into my motor.. 2 strokes are finicky as is.. it got me home though... barely... thank god i had decent inline filters on the thing or it would have gummed up completely.

as for the soda blasting... yeah... i'll put some pics up!

[wvhardtail]

The other thing to think about is how soft the metal on the carbs are. The salt might pit them up. I just hung mine from the clothes line and went through several cans of carb cleaner. Takes a while but it got 90% of the 30 some years of gunk off.

[mitchberry]

yeah maybe so....   in truth though, my entire bike looks like crap right now, so, there's plenty of area to experiment on aside from the carbs..   i need to strip my triple tree, and i think salt just may do the trick..

With that said, i'm not hell bent on using salt... i just.. don't want to use sand or aircraft remover.. i hate that stuff..  used some the other day and ended up peeling the coating off my garage floor and burning the crap outa myself.. and that's me being CAREFUL... and i'm not a very clumsy person...

and carb cleaner works for sure... that's what i typically do.. carb cleaner, fine steel wool, and maybe a dremel polishing wheel or 20 if i feel like taking the time to do it...

fine or extra fine steel wool works wonders, but can put metal shards in the carb if someone is careless... and i think a lot of people tend to be..   idk...