"Sand" blast cabinet & modifications

[pacer 3,160]

Been a lot of interest in blast cabinets, so I thought I would get some pics of my set up on a Harbor Frt cabinet with some 'customized' improvements. The cabinet as comes will function pretty well, but typically, with you tube and and the many mods --- well, it can be drastically improved.

 

First off, I mentioned that the cabinet would function as is .... but, without a dust collector system (vacuum) pretty quickly dust will be so thick inside the cabinet that you cannot see your part, so that is the first 'mod' you will need to address. Here again, you tube to the rescue, there are many vids of methods guys have come up with. Second is the media, regular  'play sand' sand from Home depot is NOT to be used, the dust will get into lungs and  ... its bad news! There are many other media choices - coal slag is probably the most common (Black Beauty fine grit in 50lb bag from TSC is great) glass bead and a few other choices, but coal slag for our purposes is best choice. Next, would point out that in order to get best results you will need a LOT of air to take advantage of blasting. Ideally you need a compressor that will put out around 15cfm - or more! - at around 80-100psi or more - (CFM - cubic feet minute) 

 

This is my cabinet with the several mods I have added, the black barrel shaped thing on the left side with the hose attached is the - purchased separately -dust recovery vacuum, Its plugged into a combo switch (to turn it and the light on) and a plug receptor .....further down I'll show some of the other mods. The door - on mine - had .. pockets? cast into the cover and they would catch media and when I opened the door a hand full of media would fall out of them, so a put a piece of plexiglass over them.

 

 

This is a water trap and pressure regulator.

 

 

This is a foot pedal instead of the trigger on the guns - I have 'arthur' in my hands and holding a trigger long term .......

 

These next 2 pics are the top mods I have done - huge benefits and well worth the effort. First, and pretty involved is inside the cabinet, lowering the screen some 3-4 inches giving quite a bit more room inside, allowing larger pieces. The screen has to be cut apart and rails/support pieces shortened and rewelded to allow it to drop the 3-4" The tray? in there is boxed screen to allow small pieces to be cleaned with out falling thru the larger screen (I use that a LOT!!)

 

 

This is a mod to allow the media to be picked up from the bottom instead of pulling it up from inside the cabinet. It eliminates having to add a large amount of media in the cavity to only needing a couple coffee cans of media. It also just works all around better, smoother feed, less clogging, etc. And this mod is pretty simple, and inexpensive -- of coarse got all this stuff off you tube!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[squonk 39,032]

TP tools has all the stuff needed to build a cabinet out side of the wood. Lenses, gaskets,  gloves bottom funnels and vacs. A regular shop vac will destroy itself in short order when blasting.

 

https://www.tptools.com/Sandblast-Cabinet-Parts-and-Supplies.html

[pfrederi 17,173]

Mike I am getting a dust collector for my Scat Blast (TP Tools) cabinet for Christmas.  However I have had tha cabinet for several years and have used a ShopVac all that time with a variety of blast media no problem.  i use the paper bags in the shop vac and its normal filter.

[formariz 11,865]

2 hours ago, squonk said:

TP tools has all the stuff needed to build a cabinet out side of the wood. Lenses, gaskets,  gloves bottom funnels and vacs. A regular shop vac will destroy itself in short order when blasting.

 

https://www.tptools.com/Sandblast-Cabinet-Parts-and-Supplies.html

A cyclone will prevent 99% of stuff going to filter.

[ri702bill 7,387]

2 hours ago, squonk said:

A regular shop vac will destroy itself in short order when blasting

And it will - UNLESS you use a water seperator in between to "filter" out the heavy grit - look at youtube - built one out of a 5 gallon pail & cover with a few PVC parts and an extra ShopVac hose - used it for the last 4 years - NO issues.

[ebinmaine 63,346]

Very cool. Thanks for posting this.  

[ri702bill 7,387]

@ebinmaine google it - there are different but all similar versions...

Bill

[Maxwell-8 4,271]

13 hours ago, pfrederi said:

Mike I am getting a dust collector for my Scat Blast (TP Tools) cabinet for Christmas.  However I have had tha cabinet for several years and have used a ShopVac all that time with a variety of blast media no problem.  i use the paper bags in the shop vac and its normal filter.

Would their be problems if I put my vac 8' high? Gravity will drop most of the particle's back down no? 

 

Because those dust collectors are expensif, (here 250$)  and cyclone's can't be bought.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Maxwell-8

[ebinmaine 63,346]

1 hour ago, Maxwell-8 said:

Would their be problems if I put my vac 8' high? Gravity will drop most of the particle's back down no? 

 

Because those dust collectors are expensif, (here 250$)  and cyclone's can't be bought.

 

A fair vacuum would still pull too hard at 8 ft high. 

 

Best bet is to make a home made dust collector. 

Something like this might suffice:

 

 

 

 

 

[Maxwell-8 4,271]

2 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

A fair vacuum would still pull too hard at 8 ft high. 

 

Best bet is to make a home made dust collector. 

Something like this might suffice:

thanks! The nosepick in the beginning of the video 

[squonk 39,032]

18 hours ago, pfrederi said:

Mike I am getting a dust collector for my Scat Blast (TP Tools) cabinet for Christmas.  However I have had tha cabinet for several years and have used a ShopVac all that time with a variety of blast media no problem.  i use the paper bags in the shop vac and its normal filter.

You must have gotten a good vac. The average shop vac usually dies a short death with blasting. That TP dust collector is a good one. I had built a cabinet with all TP parts. It was awesome but took up too much room in my limited space.

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Another option is this "Blast Cabinet Reclaimer Kit" $150 from HF again. I have this one on a bench mount cabinet. It works really well and hanging off the side of the cabinet it doesnt need much space.

 

I agree on the 'shop vac' being hooked up straight, it would almost certainly fail. The 'water in a bucket' is good alternate.

 

 

[ineedanother 1,366]

BLOT - My question is about blasting media for various applications

 

I've recently acquired one of the HF bench-top cabinets off CL and I have another syphon gun and a pressurized barrel of some sort that I used some time ago but I got these for certain tasks and really need to figure out the best way to use them for what's on my list now.

 

I need to clean heavy angle (frame), cast (gear box, motor), and tins (hood and motor). I'll have a filter on my compressor this weekend knowing that moisture can be an issue and will be getting some media while I'm at it. I have couple grades of coal and some steel but know those won't be right for all of what I'm looking to do. Any advice on what to use where would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thanks, my apologies if this is in another thread but I just didn't see it with a search. I think a pinned, specific thread on this from the gurus might be useful to many of us.

 

Randy