Sand Blasting Cabinet

[bowtiebutler956 650]

I"ve had a sand blaster for awhile now, and it works great, but makes a really big mess. Most of the time the things I want to sand blast are small, so I picked up a blast cabinet from Harbor freight today. It was on sale for $119, and I had a 20% off coupon, so I got it for less than $100. I'm out of sand at the moment, so I'll get some Monday, and try it out. I did'nt have my camera with me, and its already at my shop, so I copied a pic of it from Harbor Freight to post here, because I know what would happen if I didn't! Anyone else have one of these, if so does it work well?

Matt

[JamesBe1 82]

Looks like a great cabinet. I was half tempted to get one. I got a barrel blaster instead. I like it, but it's kinda small for my needs.

At the moment, I am taping lots of plastic drop cloth up in a small area of my barn and I got a suction feed blast gun. I am going to drag my deck shell in there and sand blast it. I have a 5 gal bucket of sand and black diamond mix. I figure after it gets empty, I will scoop it up off of the floor, strain it, and use it over until I am finished with the job. I used gorilla tape to secure the plastic to the cement floor. Seems to hold well enough. Once I get blasting will be the real test.

P.S. you might want to invest in some disposable see through covers for the glass port. They get scratched up easy, and over time it makes it hard to see through.

[bowtiebutler956 650]

Looks like a great cabinet. I was half tempted to get one. I got a barrel blaster instead. I like it, but it's kinda small for my needs.

At the moment, I am taping lots of plastic drop cloth up in a small area of my barn and I got a suction feed blast gun. I am going to drag my deck shell in there and sand blast it. I have a 5 gal bucket of sand and black diamond mix. I figure after it gets empty, I will scoop it up off of the floor, strain it, and use it over until I am finished with the job. I used gorilla tape to secure the plastic to the cement floor. Seems to hold well enough. Once I get blasting will be the real test.

P.S. you might want to invest in some disposable see through covers for the glass port. They get scratched up easy, and over time it makes it hard to see through.

The cabinet came with 3 of the disposable platic liners to protect the plexiglass window. I too have a suction feed blaster that I really like, but for small jobs this should be nice, as there will be no mess, and it catches all the sand.

Matt :flags-texas:

[squonk 41,008]

I tried one once and didn't like it. I think you really need an abrasive like black magic to work well. Sand is affected by moisture and clogs easily. I used to have a cabinet by Tip Tools. Pressure gun,vacuum, carbide nozzle ect. really worked well. You need a big compressor to blast effectively and have the proper filters and air line construction to handle moisture. I ran 3/4 galvanized pipe and on my air take offs i went up with the pipe first and then down. Moisture has a tendency to lay in the bottom of the pipe and will travel to the pipe end for draining. Get their catalog if you want to get into blasting. Lots of top notch items and tips on restoration. I have one of their HVLP turbine sprayers that is fantastic. I can paint a tractor one day and stain the fence the next!

http://www.tptools.com/

[Jake Kuhn 1,554]

That was one good deal matt. I have one of those,we now have a bigger one with a foot pedal,but that one always did a good job. You will probably want to run black beauty or some rough aluminum oxide in your cabinet. We have had trouble with the guns and tips but it was not hard to get better ones,it should make a very nice cabinet for you. Jake

[JamesBe1 82]

I tried one once and didn't like it. I think you really need an abrasive like black magic to work well. Sand is affected by moisture and clogs easily. I used to have a cabinet by Tip Tools. Pressure gun,vacuum, carbide nozzle ect. really worked well. You need a big compressor to blast effectively and have the proper filters and air line construction to handle moisture. I ran 3/4 galvanized pipe and on my air take offs i went up with the pipe first and then down. Moisture has a tendency to lay in the bottom of the pipe and will travel to the pipe end for draining. Get their catalog if you want to get into blasting. Lots of top notch items and tips on restoration. I have one of their HVLP turbine sprayers that is fantastic. I can paint a tractor one day and stain the fence the next!

http://www.tptools.com/

Yeah, a big compressor is a must. My 25gal can't keep up. I end up dropping the pressure too low to be useful after only about 5 minutes of use and have to wait for it to fill up again. I was thinking about the really large HF one. It's 65 gal I think. Should do the job.

BTW, does anyone know of any reasonably priced made in usa compressors?

[squonk 41,008]

Even a 65 gal compressor will work hard. If your serious about blasting,save up some money and buy a 2 stage unit. IR,Quincy or Champion.

[bowtiebutler956 650]

I'm using an 80 gallon that deliveres 16.8 cfm at 100psi, and it runs my sandblaster pretty well, but it does stay running the whole time I'm using it.

Matt :flags-texas:

[Fun Engineer 859]

I've been using the HF flooor model for the past year. I Love it for small parts. I did upgrade from a 6 hp 25 gallon to a new IR, 80 gallon compressor that I'm hoping will make a big difference. I still do the large parts and panels outside with tarps and a broom and shovel.

[JamesBe1 82]

I've been using the HF flooor model for the past year. I Love it for small parts. I did upgrade from a 6 hp 25 gallon to a new IR, 80 gallon compressor that I'm hoping will make a big difference. I still do the large parts and panels outside with tarps and a broom and shovel.

Do you hang the tarps vertically or some other way to catch the media? It goes pretty far in my experience. I'd love to learn a better way. I'm just experimenting with a diy temporary sandblasting booth.

[Fun Engineer 859]

I've blasted in the concrete driveway and just swept up and sifted the sand back into the tank. However the sand covers a large area. I've also built a light weight booth out of four, 1/4 inch, 4x8 sheets of plywood layed on their sides to keep the material from traveling too far. I placed these over a tarp on my then gravel driveway and just swept the sand up and refilled. I framed the plywood sheets with 2x2 and bolted them together with 1/4 carrige bolts. I left one corner open so I could get in and out. This helped to keep the sand somewhat contained. Hope this helps give you some ideas.

[Shuboxlover 478]

This might be a stupid question.....Do they make a sandblast gun that is smaller...i.e....uses less media, less air, but would obviously be used for smaller parts

[bowtiebutler956 650]

This might be a stupid question.....Do they make a sandblast gun that is smaller...i.e....uses less media, less air, but would obviously be used for smaller parts

I don't know. I'm sure someone here could answer that, just not me.

Matt :flags-texas:

[JamesBe1 82]

This might be a stupid question.....Do they make a sandblast gun that is smaller...i.e....uses less media, less air, but would obviously be used for smaller parts

I don't know. I'm sure someone here could answer that, just not me.

Matt

What kind of sandblaster do they use to decoratively etch glass? Maybe something like that?

[squonk 41,008]

Order a TIp Tools catalog and you'll have more blasting information that you'll know what to do with!

[Fun Engineer 859]

I've etched glass in by cabinet for my wife. I just turn the pressure down some and lightly brush the glass. Too much and you'll make it too rough. I'd suggest you get some scrap glass to practice on.

[grnlark 479]

I have the TP SkatBlast 850 with the vac system, foot pedal upgrade, and final filter bag. I run a 40 gallon single stage Husky (which is made by Cambell Hausfeld) and it works amazing. I used to use much lager SkatBlast cabinets years ago in a welding shop and we never had a single issue with them. I dont have one residual spec of sand anywhere. I do run two moisture traps though. One immediatly out of the compressor and one right before the cabinet itself. If I blast for a long time I need to periodically evacuate the traps but never have issues in the cabinet. They seem expensive out of the gate, but its money well spent in my opinion.

[bowtiebutler956 650]

Sounds like a very nice setup Matt.

Matt :flags-texas:

[Duff 206]

Has anyone tried the Northern Tools unit that siphons sand into the stream from a pressure washer? The principle sounds OK, and they say it runs well on cheap play sand.

Duff :thumbs:

[bowtiebutler956 650]

Has anyone tried the Northern Tools unit that siphons sand into the stream from a pressure washer? The principle sounds OK, and they say it runs well on cheap play sand.

Duff

Never heard of such a thing. I'll have to check it out. I'm loving my blast cabinet. It cleans parts great, and doesn't make a mess that takes weeks to clean up, like my sand blaster. Here are a couple pics.

Matt :flags-texas:

[squonk 41,008]

Remember to check and change your nozzles!

[bowtiebutler956 650]

Remember to check and change your nozzles!

If its working well, why would I need to change the nozzle? It came with a couple extras, but I wasn't sure why. I'm still pretty new to sandblasting.

Matt :flags-texas:

[grnlark 479]

If its working well, why would I need to change the nozzle? It came with a couple extras, but I wasn't sure why.

The abrasive coming through the gun is also abrasive on the nozzle tips. It will eventually wear the tips warranting replacement thus the reason you got extras.

[squonk 41,008]

Pull the nozzle out of the gun and compare it to a new one.If you do a lot of blasting and use the aggressive media they will wear fast. I used carbide nozzles from TP. 3 times the cost but about 10 times the life! :)

[bowtiebutler956 650]

Thanks for the info, and advice guys.

Matt :flags-texas: