Blasting question(s)

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440A-body

I have a couple of questions about blasting media and knew this was the place for straight answers.

Here is a little background. Friend has a '68 Chevelle that is in need of a quarter panel and some other rust repair in the truck area, lower rear window channel. That is the easy part. The hard part...it is painted with what I can only describe as silly putty. When you touch it with any kind of abrasive to remove it just smears, and gums up the paper, disc, or what ever you put against it. Even tried the fiber type stripping discs (as well as 3M green corp 80 grit)on my buffer at low speed with the same results.

So with that being said I am considering using walnut shell as my blasting media. What are the pro and cons? I know that any media can warp panels, and that some medias(soda in particular)are a nightmare to neutralize. I really don't want to use a chemical stripper as they can come back and bite a guy in the butt also. Not to mention the mess, disposal and repeated washing to only wonder if I got it all out of the cracks and crevices.

Next question. Will it work in a conventional pressure pot type blaster. If not, what size tip do I need? Also what grit does a guy use, just for paint removal? Not looking for rust and corrosion removal. Will do that after the paint is gone.

Thanks for the advice in advance, an if there is a better way, then I'm all for it!
 
Tried that. Works, but would take forever. Would like a quicker less flammable method.
 
Heat gun and a ton of razor blades. plus patience. worth a try imo. use this method
alot on older single stage jobs that gum up.
 
What the blasting question I originally asked...I have dons both of the previously mentioned ways and take way too much time. Looking for something that will take off the paint somewhat quickly without damage to the substrate.
 
walnut shells work ok on fiberglass. little slow. blasting is not really easy . you can damage panels pretty easy. the trick is to always blast at 45 degrees of the panel. if you shoot straight at it you will stretch the panel i promise. even with soft media. small blasters usually do the worst damage because they are slow . i can strip one with a razor blade pretty quick .
 
I have seen soft gummy surfaces that won't blast. The media just bounces off since it can't "fracture" the paint and remove it. If you have a small spot blaster try a little atea with it before,you go to far.

John.
 
Sounds like heavy lacquer to me, chemical stripper still works or a razor blade and heat gun will also do most of it.
 
Of these two fenders, the gold one was a pain. It has a very tough gummy snotty paint on it. With 80 da, it gummed up in 30 seconds. With heat gun and razor blade, it turned to silly putty and hardened on the blade before you could make another pass. I ended up using a grinder with wire wheel and dust mask. The silver fender must have had maaco paint. It razored off in sheets without the heat gun, then 80 da got it to bare metal in no time.
 
The original GM lacquer will gum up paper like that. I'm glad we don't deal with it very much anymore.
 
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