Sodablasting Crankcases?

hey forum!

i split the cases yesterday of my 2 smoke and now im in th middle of cleaning everything,getting rif of old seal gook and rust.
since i just bought a sodablasting device...is it ok to blast the cases with soda?

i know that sodablasting is great cuz it quite a "mild" tool to make metal clean again,but i´m afraid that it will make the mating surfaces of the seals crooked and the seal will leak...??
or am i just paranoid?

i´ll use just normal soda with 3,5 bar pressure on my sandblasting gun.

Soda is fine on the outside of the cases, but Personally I would not blast the bearing lands or other gasket/mating surfaces.
I do those with chemicals like brake cleaner and elbow grease.


After blasting, hot soapy water wash and rinse everything at least twice.


Cheers!

+1 Only the outside of the cases with the soda.

cklamer said:

+1 Only the outside of the cases with the soda.

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so you guys won´t use it on the sealing surfaces?

is there a special method you guys get rid of that effin seal gook?its so hard to get it off without scratching the surfaces....

Soda will not hurt mating surfaces. especially on the case halves that are going to get a liquid gasket sealer anyway.
Blast away.

Theoretically you can blast the bearing races as well but I don't. Brake cleaner and some scrubbing will get that out.

you can CAREFULLY use a razor blade to get the goop off but it can shave alloy too so need to be gental.

Maritime said:

you can CAREFULLY use a razor blade to get the goop off but it can shave alloy too so need to be gental.

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Yep.
Personally I would rather take the chance that you somehow, contrary to physics, manage to remove .000000001 from the cases using soda than taking a big ass chunk out with a razor blade.

SONIC. said:

Soda will not hurt mating surfaces. especially on the case halves that are going to get a liquid gasket sealer anyway.
Blast away.

Theoretically you can blast the bearing races as well but I don't. Brake cleaner and some scrubbing will get that out.

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i wont blast the bearing surfaces...what about the cylinder foot surfaces with the greenish seal stuff?can i blast that?

SONIC. said:

Yep.
Personally I would rather take the chance that you somehow, contrary to physics, manage to remove .000000001 from the cases using soda than taking a big ass chunk out with a razor blade.

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yep I would too if I had a blaster, unfortunately razor blades and patience cost $1.99 and a compressor, blaster etc. a little more.

Yeah it won't hurt it.
Make sure youre using pure soda, and no recycling. Once soda hits its done and shouldn't be reused.
The only way you could damage anything metal with soda blasting is if you had something else mixed in there (aka you recycled the media, or you used your sandblaster without cleaning it well, etc)

SONIC. said:

Yeah it won't hurt it.
Make sure youre using pure soda, and no recycling. Once soda hits its done and shouldn't be reused.
The only way you could damage anything metal with soda blasting is if you had something else mixed in there (aka you recycled the media, or you used your sandblaster without cleaning it well, etc)

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bought the sodablaster for 30 euros from a shop...lets see if it cam do anything.

i think too that its impossible that soda can hurt alum surfaces at this low pressure lvls.

which kind of soda shall i buy?normal one that one can eat ?

my soda blaster has a sack on half way of the tool which will collect soda that wont get trough the jet,can i reuse this soda?

You might consider having the cases vapor blasted if budget allows. It leaves an incredible finish if you don't want to paint them.

Tim said:

You might consider having the cases vapor blasted if budget allows. It leaves an incredible finish if you don't want to paint them.

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what kind of material is used for vapour blasting tim?i might be able to fill into my blasting device and use it instead of soda!

UPS!

just read that vapour blasting is done with detergents and fluid components..not possible with my blaster.

Ryan Stecken said:

what kind of material is used for vapour blasting tim?i might be able to fill into my blasting device and use it instead of soda!

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heres some info on it

http://www.vaporblastingequipment.com/wet-blasting/what-wetblasting-guide-vapor-blasting-process

gonna stick to the sodablasting,its just cheap and i have the tools for it.

you guys think that i will get rid of that rust on that threaded cyl bolt?
do i need to pretreat it with smthing?

I glass bead my cases, because I paint them. Unless you use brand new correct size beads, the finish is rough and gets grimy if left bare. I don't know of any vapor blasting near me. Soda blasting should be smoother. I do not mask 2 stroke cases, though on a plain (shell) bearing engine I do, because I prefer not to disturb the bearing points and I block off the oil galleries. I have never had an issue with tolerances or sealing surfaces on two stroke cases, even with very coarse media ( I am not sandblasting here). Cleaning after requires dedication to remove 100% of the grit from passageways and threads, but I prefer the trade off of getting a really nice uniform surface. Very important to get the case really clean before you blast so you do not drive contaminants into the surface, and also not contaminate the media (not so much with soda). Be sure to clean the oil galleries that gravity feed the mains on the RD cases. After bead blasting, I clean with compressed air with a nozzle that goes to the bottom of threaded holes, then run a tap through them and air blast again. I wash several times with very hot water and detergent. Air blast again and paint, usually with engine paint and bake a couple of times for an hour at less than 170 degrees, allowing to cool completely in between. On cases like your RD, I usually put the case halves together with a bolt or two and paint without masking, but do avoid as much as possible where I don't need paint. The overspray seems to be unimportant, as I see it unscathed on motors I have built when taken apart after many thousands of miles. Looks like the day I assembled it. I paint the studs too, even if I removed them (which I invariably do) because the plating is bad after many years, and commonly rusts, often badly after you put the motor together,and can be a nightmare to get back apart. You'd be amazed how moisture gets in there! There are two alignment dowels (sleeves) between the case halves on that RD. Don't loose or forget to put them back!