Sandblast Cabinet

Bought a sand blast cabinet from hf . I am looking forward to using it without sand going all over my shop. Any advice on usage.? Who owns a sand blast suit and where did you get it? Right now using rain coat and motorcycle helmet. My roll around blaster does a good job. But for small parts, i believe the cabinet will excell.

 

I bought a HF cabinet a while ago and just hook my shop vac to the hole provided and no mess at all.

 

Use something like aluminum oxide instead of sand for steel parts. The sand creates a lot of heat and can warp sheet metal parts, not to mention the silica dust produced is not good for you.

Make sure your compressor is up to the task. I killed an oilless 60 gallon compressor from sears with my blast cabinet. Mine used a lot of air volume and the the compressor had to run A LOT to keep up.

 

harbor freight black aluminum oxide, shop vac, leave the door cracked a pinch to eliminate the vacuum, and wear a dust mask....go to town

 

I've used the Black Diamond fine from Tractor Supply with good results, 40 or 50 lbs for $8. Glass beads work well too depending on the application...not cheap though.

Look on Google or YouTube and you can find instructions for a simple water trap that will pre-filter the fine dust and keep your shop vac from clogging so fast. You'll need an intake vent of some kind on the cabinet to break the vacuum as baldjosh mentioned; otherwise the gloves blow up like balloons.

Blast cabinet has been one of best tools for cleaning and restoring old parts.

 

almost forgot...get a dryer for the air...im just using an 8 dollar disposable from my FLAPs but it works fine. without it the gun started to clog up with wet media after some time

 

Your shop floor will still get media on it. I have the HF cabinet and media seeps out the seams and door, even with the foam strips installed between the seams. But it's at least all by the cabinet itself. Gloves are real tight for my hands so be careful how much you 'push' your hands into them as they will either rip or slip off the round clamp holding them. Great for smaller jobs.

 

I've got a commercial TrinMec cabinet, and it still leaks a little dust from the doors. The vacuum can't keep up with the volumn of air, so it pressurizes the cabinet.
I use glass beads mostly, but also walnut shells, and garnet. It all depend on what the part is you're working on.
-Donny

 

Watch these videos and see what it can become.



I sourced out the parts online and did it as described. My HF cabinet works wonderfully on 3-4 CUPS of media. I'm very happy with the upgrades.