What Is Soda Blasting?

Soda blasting is a revolutionary process that can remove paint,grease, and neutralize rust without damaging metal, glass, chrome orwarp thin sheet metal.  Our process uses pure granular sodiumbicarbonate (baking soda) delivered efficiently and effectively throughour Stripco Soda Blaster by using a large volume of compressed air.

Partial List of Uses

Removes Paint Graffiti Removes Grease Tile / Rocks Neutralizes Rust Condensing Coils Cleans Soot Vent-A-Hoods Cleans Molds Printer’s Ink Bottom Paint on Boats

(To watch this video, press the play button twice)

Characteristics

• Won’t Damage Glass
• Remove Paint from Fiberglass
• Won’t Damage Chrome
• Water Soluble
• No Pitting
• Works Quickly
• No Warping
• Non-Toxic
• Removes Grease
• Non-Hazardous
• Neutralizes Surface Rust

Soda Blasting: A Brief History

When we first discovered blasting with baking soda, the methods werevery crude. The only available blasters were traditional sandblasterspainted a different color and called Sodablasters. They put bearingvibrators on the sandblasters to try to make the soda flow more likesand, but it was far from successful. When we tried these blasters theywere very frustrating as there was no good way to regulate the sodaconsumption and they were plagued with clogging issues. The flowcharacteristics of Soda and Sand are different making it nearimpossible to utilize the same technology for both substances.

Compounding the problem was the standard soda used for blasting atthe time was a USP No. 5 granular which was relatively cheap but inspite of its granular name, contained a lot of powder. The No. 5 sodadid little to remove paint, created excessive dust, compounded the sodaregulation problem, and ultimately was not cost effective to use. In aneffort to address this problem, Soda manufacturers added “flowadditives” like tri-calcium phosphate to the UPS No.5 in an attempt tomake it flow better out of the Sandblasters. Keep in mind, the sodamanufacturers goal was to sell as much of their soda as possiblewithout having to change the processes significantly to produce agranular soda large enough and consistent enough not to requireadditives. While the flow additives were effective to some degree inmaking the existing soda flow better, they did nothing to address theother concerns. The introduction of flow additives created moreproblems due to the fact that while baking soda is water soluble,tri-calcium phosphate is not.

We got tired very quickly of paying for soda by the bag only to findout much of it was powder. Not only did we have to deal with theadditional dust the powder created, we had to pay for the product byweight. Since freight was a significant cost, it was senseless to payadditional freight for the privilege of having all that dust flyingaround. It was not until a few years ago that a specialty sodiumbicarbonate manufacturer began producing a soda granule significantlylarger and consistent in size. We were actually able to reduce ourcosts while increasing our production simply by using the larger sodagranule. The decrease in dust produced was also immediately noticeable.

Produced for Stripco® by Natrium, a specialty manufacturer of SodiumBicarbonate, the formula 260 has made a world of difference. When usedin conjunction with a blaster designed specifically for the largergranule of soda, the results are remarkable. Stripco® manufactures amobile Sodablaster that not only solves the moisture problem, it veryfinely regulates the flow of soda achieving much greater effectivenessthan previously realized. Our Sodablasters use a large amount of airand very little soda to achieve remarkable results. People withconverted sandblasters come to us and buy soda. Our soda certainlyworks better than the product they had been using, but they are amazedat the ease of regulation they experience when they see our machines inoperation. There were some sandblast pot manufacturer’s in Houston,Texas that took traditional sandblast pots, made some minormodifications to them, slapped on bearing vibrators, painted them whiteand called them Sodablasters. The unsuspecting public had no idea theywere paying double and triple for modified sandblasters painted white.It is no wonder these companies, plagued with lawsuits from pastcustomers have continually changed names to try and outrun theirreputation.