Cleaning with dry ice

[RC70SCoupe]

Has anyone used, knows anything about dry ice for cleaning engine, transmission or suspension?

http://www.imgrum.net/media/12771291...570_2528616063

[HughH]

Ray. One of the guys is doing it here in Australia with excellent results - not cheap though. Can cut dirt and grease as well as overspray or paint layer by layer (depending on preparation when it was applied) back to factory finish. There are a couple of threads on the Australian typ901 board but unless you are a member you won't be able to see the pictures which are truely impressive

[RC70SCoupe]

Thanks Hugh,

I am looking at a place close to me, in San Diego..Cryo-Werks
About $250.00 an hour. Like you said, not cheap. However, INCREDIBLE results, without the mess of chemicals and shop rags, or a pressure washer.

Another place, opposite side of US.

http://cryodetail.tunersmall.com

[majordad]

Vapour blasting would be as good and cheaper.

[uai]

Vapour blasting would be as good and cheaper.

I think dry ice is better. I has the effect that when it hits the surface it "explodes" (sublimation from solid to gas and thus expanding it's volume).
Another effect is that to remove e.g. Wax it cools down the surface making stuff more brittle.

[blucille]

I know the guys running cryo-Werks and they definitely get it. Nice guys, they do good work and great attention to detail. They really know these cars. I can't help but think they will be very busy.

[HughH]

here are a couple of the photos from the TYP901 board

[Marek]

I use Ice blasting alot on cars we make

But it depends on the car, Ice blast is good ,if you want to clean the hole car , not just part of it
the good thing is you dont have to take any thing apart , it can cause minor damage to areas where the paint is allready a bit loose

But I would say IF your engine / gear is out , and good hot water high pressure jet ..thing forgot the english word for it :-) can do the job on your engine

here is a before and after on a vw type2 van yep same car 6 hours later

for the pricing I pay 100 EURO an hour in Berlin

M

[911kiwi]

Marek, is the above picture an example of ice blasting or hot water pressure blasting? It's amazing!

[VintageExcellen]

I have been looking mostly into stripping more than just cleaning because most old unrestored Porsches today are so far gone they can't just be cleaned. This changes starting with late 70s big bumper cars as they are so well built they don't rust everywhere so cleaning is fine.

The dry ice blasting machines start at around $18,000US for the small ones then you need a device to feed the dry ice to the machine in a broken down form. So a do it yourself is out of the question unless you want to start offering a service. The dry ice explodes on contact and that energy removes the dirt, the cold temperature helps solidify and remove many oils/grease, cosmoline and even undercoating If you need that intensity. It is sensitive enough that it won't remove zinc plating or paint marks if you dial down the machine. Also the media evaporates into CO2 so you don't have to ever clean up the media all you have to clean up is the material that was just removed so it is much cleaner and can be done in a closed garage. The process works perfect for large commercial machinery cleaning such as printing presses and commercial bakeries where left over media on the cleaned item is not acceptable. This seems like the best process overall for our cars as the machine can simply clean while the car is together or it can also strip if you are restoring, I think it depends on the machine and setting for how much work it does.

Dustless blasting uses extreme air volume with a little bit of water and the crushed bottle glass as the media. The water makes it so you can blast indoors without a big mess, the operator does not get very dirty either. The mass of the water, air, and abrasive bottle glass knocks off just about anything. Dustless blasting machines start at $5000 for a pot that will work for 15 min of blasting, then a 15-20 refill cycle. Whole car will take 4-6 hours of blasting. You will need a 185cfm compressor to run the dustless blasting pot which costs around $15k and will make more noise than a very large wood chipper (compressor can be rented for $200/day). So the manufacturer of the dustless blaster is not quick to say you will be there all day refilling your pot unless you buy the BIG pot, the compressor is much bigger and louder than you ever dreamed and the up front costs seem less until you get the compressor (and no a home or shop compressor will not power the pot ever for a minute as they only produce 25cfm for a huge pro shop type, you need a tow behind construction compressor such as a Sullair 185, those things are loud and expensive). A concern with dustless blasting is the water used to push the media and the interaction with the bare metal it creates, you rinse with an anti rust agent on the bare metal after the job but you must paint the bare metal asap or rust will start fast and any amount of rust on the surface where paint is applied will grow and ruin your paint. So dustless is a questionable process for me at this time. Water and bare metal is so troublesome that you can not take someone else's opinion as fact and I don't nessecarily trust the manufacturers claim that the rust inhibitors work 100% after the final rinse off.

Both machines will remove paint with no problem but the best part is when you turn the car over it will remove all undercoat as well, even thick SKS. Neither is cheap but they both work. I am in San Diego and have a number of cars that need stripping, doing a business overhaul and shop remodel at the moment but will soon most likely try the dry ice route.

For comparison I have sandblasted my cars thus far with great results. Trouble with sand is it gets everywhere and metal can be damaged if the guy operating the equipment does not know what he is doing (although my guy knows how to do it and I have never had any metal warping from the blasting process). The cost to totally strip the outside of the car to bare metal with all panels is around $1000-1500 but maybe a little more if something needs special attention. That number does not cover the undercarriage as the sand will only smear undercoat as heat builds so it is not effective for undercoat removal. Finally I put the chassis on the rotisserie and blow out all the leftover media, turn the car and blow again, repeat about 6 times turning the car a little to get different angles, finally a water rinse to get the fine dust out but only after epoxy priming so we get no water on bare metal - this clean up process adds 4-6 hours of additional work. When I clean the car up like this after blasting I have never had a problem with sand pouring out of cavities on a completed car although I have bought numerous cars someone else blasted and painted that then leaked sand in all kinds of odd places due to the poor cleanup even 10 years after the restoration.

Maybe I am rambling on a cleaning thread, sitting in an airport waiting for a plane, I have looked into many cleaning methods and it's all a major learning process that must be adjusted to each car and condition of the substrate.