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Posted by: synthesisdv Jul 6 2006, 09:33 AM

Need to blast lots of steel parts for the house, old lights, iron scrolls, so its a perfect excuse to get a blasting cabinet.

For small and infrequent jobs like this, are the cabinets from harbour freight in the $300 to $400 any good? Anything I should look for feature wise?

Also, do they all recycle the media or is that a special feature?

Posted by: Mueller Jul 6 2006, 09:59 AM

I have one of the $300 or so cabinets from HF, only complaints are that it's hard to see inside with the light supplied, when I used mine I turned off the lights in the room in order to see better.

Proper ventalation of the cabinet is a must, I used a shop vac which ended up sucking up quite a bit of the media, it can be reclaimed.

Try to install it far from any place that you don't want fine gritty abrasive dust to cover

Posted by: jonwatts Jul 6 2006, 10:19 AM

I keep thinking it should be possible to make a collapsible bead blaster tent using one of the pressurized blasters and a heavy tarp to capture and funnel the media down to a collector where it can be reused. The top could be open or made out of a clear shower curtain to let in more light. It wouldn't be automatic, you'd have to stop and reload the blaster when it emptied; but it would be better than open-air blasting and you should be able to accomodate larger pieces.



Crazy or genius, you decide

Posted by: 914forme Jul 6 2006, 10:21 AM

I built my own, used parts found in this http://www.tptools.com/product.asp?base%5Fno=6525%2DKITS&str%5Fbase%5Fno=1636%2C6011%2DFILTER%2C6102%2D02%2C6120%2DDEF%2C6120%2DMAT%2C6120%2DSTATIC%2C6120%2DTRAY%2C6203%2DTRAP%2C6325%2D00%2C6525%2DKITS%2C6525%2DTG%2C6600%2D00%2C7461%2D88%2C8001%2DSPARK%2C8036%2D150%2C8036%2D155%2C8036%2DFORM%2C8036T%2DDOLLIES%2C8038%2DADHESIVE%2C8038%2DSTR%2C&header%5Ftitle=Keyword+Search&page%5Fname=search%2Fkeyword%5Fresults%2Easp&search%5Ftype=Build&size1=&size2=&gender=&ShowImages=yes&sq=0&cont=1&intPgNo=1&mscssid=QUP93DMNEEAS8MX9VB11P3H8WCSHFAM9 It works fine, you need a vent port or else you will suck the gloves right into the cabinet. Shop vac works, but will be some what short lived. Add an intermediate step in-between to drop some of the big media back out and you are done.

Easy, built to the size you want need or desire, and performance is flawless.

Posted by: Travis Neff Jul 6 2006, 10:26 AM

The biggest limitation will be the size. I have a medium-small unit from HF. I put a flourescent light in it with a switch and covered the light bulb with a clear plastic sheath. Do yourself a favor and seal up all the joints in the cabinet, the HF units will leak a little.

Posted by: Mueller Jul 6 2006, 10:34 AM

oh good, I'm not the only one to have the gloves sucked into the cabinet freaked me out and it took me a couple of minutes to figure what the he// just happened....

Jon,

TonyC did what you mentioned when he was blasting his car at his shop.

Posted by: morphenspectra Jul 6 2006, 10:44 AM

i had to put a better light in mine from HF,i also had to pull it apart and seal it cause it leaked alittle
james

Posted by: swl Jul 6 2006, 11:26 AM

I wonder if something like this might work for media reclamation. It would save the shopvac from a lot of the grit.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=30282&cat=1,42401

Posted by: synthesisdv Jul 6 2006, 11:30 AM

ok, thanks guys.

which media works better for steel vs aluminum?

for the old steel parts i'll be mostly stripping ancient paint

for aluminum part just looking for a uniform matte finish.



also, do you need some kind of inline dryer for the air feed?

northern tool has one for $279 that is polyethylene with built in lighting
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200103074_200103074

my local store has it in stock too.

Posted by: Travis Neff Jul 6 2006, 12:03 PM

I used a water/air separator but that was not enough. Once you drain the tank down a few times the water that is created from the compressor is more than the separator can catch. A dryer would be a great addition. Make sure your compressor is up to the task (SCFM and capacity)

Posted by: McMark Jul 6 2006, 12:56 PM

BIG COMPRESSOR if you don't want to blast for 1 minute, rest for 5.

Posted by: Brian_Boss Jul 6 2006, 05:32 PM

I use garnet for steel and glass beads or Al.

The garnet is cheaper than Aluminum Oxide and produces a good finish for painting.

Posted by: JOHNMAN Jul 7 2006, 11:23 AM

That is virtually the same cabinet that I have had for the last 8-9 years. I like the fact that it won't rust, but I hate the fact that it is not as rigid as a sheet metal unit.

The large flat surfaces tend to bow. The large plastic window is OK, but it tends to leak due to the bowing of the top. I solved this issue on mine by attaching some angle iron to the inside of the unit to stiffen the flange.

It is about time for me to revamp mine (replace seals, replace gloves, replace gun, suction hose and tubes, rework my dust collection, etc.)

I would suggest that you buy some ceramic or better nozzles. The steel nozzles do not last long. The ceramic are better, and I hear that there are better nozzles out there (better than ceramic).

Good luck to you.