Blast cabinet tips and tricks thread

[Evan]

I'm pretty far down the barry-modifing-his-blasting-cabinet rabbit hole. I've got one of these 220L freestanding Topmaq units.

The legs are precisely 2x 45mm pieces of framing timber to short for it to be comfortable standing in front of for long periods of time.

As everyone knows the lights in these things are terrible, my one died shortly after purchase so I ummed and ahhed about what the best (cheapest) solution was going to be while giving me the ability to replace the light (cheaply) when it dies again. Ended up buying the cheapest bayonnet light bulb socket from Mitre 10 along with the cheapest extension lead they have, cut the end off the lead and wired it to the socket, mounted that in the box. now when the bulb gives up I just throw another $4 bulb at it. (hasn't died yet and works A+)

 

Ran it without a Vacuum for awhile until I couldn't live with the misery any longer so went and bought the cheapest 20L Ozito one from Bunnings, expecting it to burn out immediately but it hasn't quit yet. make sure you run your vac with a bag in it, means you don' t block up the filter and you don' t have to use one of those separate dust extractor arrangements. Did a quick 3D print of an adapter to attach vac hose, also seam sealed the outside of the cabinet.

 

 

Its all very ugly but the only place I get noticeable leakage now is the door seal (which I've doubled up the seal on). I've also had the issue with water getting through the water trap and plugging up the gun. To sort this I've now got a 10m long hose (red one in the pic) coming out of the compressor and going into a chilly bin full of water before exiting and into a couple water traps, I've got a bunch of ice cream containers filled with water in the freezer so whenever I do some blasting/painting I drop a 2kg block of ice in the chilly bin, this cools the hot air going through the red hose straight out of the compressor so any moisture condenses before it runs through the 2 water traps (one Aliexpress one, one Toolshed one). that way the water traps are able to do their job. Have also cut the pickup in the bottom of the tank on an angle so it picks up media better.

 

Now the window eventually goes frosty from all the shit flying around hitting it. I'm not sure what other units have but these ones have a 5mm thick sheet of glass with a 1mm sheet of plastic (Acrylic?) over top, so a total thickness of 6mm. My screen ended up to the point it was like trying to peak through a frosted bathroom window. Again I wanted a cheap solution that was repeatable in future when it frosts up again, I didn't want to muck around with a glass just due to hassle of getting sheets in the correct size, so another trip to mitre 10 netted me a 1200x600 sheet of 3mm thick clear acrylic. cut this into 4x 600x300 sheets and doubled them up to get the original 6mm thickness whilst have 2 spare sheets, next time it frosts up (hasn't yet) I'll throw the inner sheet away and install a new one.

/Barry out, for now.

 

 

 

 

[moparmuppet]

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Posted May 14, 2020

made some mods to my sandblaster and its fucking cash.

so the old venturi suction sandblaster feed is a bit shit what with sand/media being really heavy and all. you need to run the biggest nozzle to get enough air flow to raise the sand and then there isnt enough velocity at the nozzle to really do fuck all once you do raise the sand up from the bottom.

so i made some mods to mine to effectively run a "total loss" sand system. it works mint.

so the sand sits in the funnel at the top and gravity feeds the handpiece. i can now run the smallest nozzle and the velocity is good so it removes rust/paint/crud quickly and really well.

the funnel full of sand lasts ages because you only need the small nozzle.

I've cantilevered the cabinet out off the bench so i can pull the bung and drain the media into the bucket, then just tip it into the funnel again. fuckin too easy.

i could run the thing without the bung probably, haven't tried yet.

visabality is good too with the vacuum stuffed in the side. the whole things is a win in my book.

 

2020-05-14_06-16-08 by sheepers, on Flickr

 

2020-05-14_06-15-59 by sheepers, on Flickr

 

2020-05-14_06-15-51 by sheepers, on Flickr

 

 

• You, Geophy, azzurro and 22 others
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my MS51 and the ongoing saga. discuss the saga.
my 1UZ RA28 of daily usage discuss the V8 celica.
my 1JZ RA23 celica of dusty storage. discuss the 1JZ celica.
my 2TG TA23 celica  discuss this

[moparmuppet]

Thanks to @sheepers in the random stuff you have done thread for above.

 

What media are you peeps using and where do you buy it please and thank you.

[piazzanoob]

Figure this might help some people. 

Had this blaster for some time but got sick of not being able to see anything and being abit shit. 

Found cabinet is abit small and angle of vision screen ends up getting hit from garnet and end up with a sore back from leaning over. 

For dust extraction I run a hose from side to a cyclone dust extractor from Aliexpress as same item here double price into bucket then vacuum from there. Vacuum for the job could be better but does the job as used another one but found filter gets clogged then when you use vacuum for car you end up with dust over and through the car. So now vaccum is only for blaster. 

Also with air side I've got a marquip 13cfm compressor with an extra air tank. Seems to be about the biggest you can have on single fase power. 

So modded the blaster for better angle and use. 

Have also upgraded line size to 1/2. And added psi gauge to see what's going on and a water trap before it goes in the gun 

Current air supply also runs out of extra air tank as that way you get dry air 

Light wise as factory one are rubbish we cut a hole on top and added led unit in that is 240v 

Also when running this setup air pressure seems to start well at about 120psi then after some time drops to 60psi where blasting is painful. So run two 13cfm compressors with extra one connecting into storage tank and blasting is great and psi stays around 80 to 90psi. Works great 

Basically more air the better. And also find placing a panel on the bottom helps with the dust getting kicked up while blasting but not too big to stop sand going to the bottom to the pickup. 

Better blasting everyone 

[piazzanoob]

[piazzanoob]

[Geophy]

Nowhere near as fancy as your guys setups, is more of a test bed for a custom full size cabinet.

Was give a cabinet from my old work that someone had raxxed the gun and screen out of. Took alot of inspiration from Sheepers cabinet and came up on this. Still have a bit of tutuing and and finishing to do but seems to work considerably better then before.

Have a gavity feed hopper on the side which makes a huge difference, just super consistent flow and good pressure from the 2nd smallest tip. Has a 12v ali x light bar in the side but will probably go to a light bulb like most of you have. Have it going into a shop vac but have a cyclone extractor to use, just struggling for room atm. 

[kempy]

I put a cyclone separator on mine and it works quite well,you can buy them for under $40 locally. Mine feeds a vacuum cleaner with a variable speed controller so I can turn down the airflow when using super fine media.

 Pulled an old vacuum apart, stuck it in a ply box and fed it to an outside vent so there’s no fine dust in the shed which was fairly important as at one stage I was blasting some old bronze pieces and the dist from that it pretty nasty I've been told\

Bolted a tall round Systema container I stole from the kitchen (Shhh!) on the bottom of the cyclone so it’s easy to remove and clean out, the whole thing just hangs off the side of the cabinet as the input Port fits the dust outlet perfectly on the cabinet

Have been toying with making a small vapor blaster with one of those 220l cabinets from topmaq

 

[toy-mota]

I recently just picked up a cabinet from machinery house. Pretty much the same as the ones here. Siliconed every panel before bolting together. Roughly tried the gravity hopper with a funnel inside the blast cabinet hooked up to the gun , next il try it above the blaster. 
i started blasting my sump, looks like it may take awhile.  
 

what size compressors are people running?

[Evan]

Marquip 16

 

[~Slideways~]

On 16/07/2021 at 07:51, Mr Vapour said:

One thing to look at is the gun. They are normally junk. 

Have a look at BNP guns. Machinary house has a bnp copy. 

https://www.machineryhouse.co.nz/3SC0300

Original 

https://clemcoindustries.com/products/blast-cabinets/blast-cabinet-accessories/bnp-suction-blast-guns/

 

My gun shat itself, its the one that came with the Machinery Warehouse unit.

The threaded cap that holds the ceramic tip on the gun had gotten jammed on, and refused to come off. Applied a bit too much force to it trying to get it loose and it split down the side.

I guess some garnet got stuck in the thread or it got cross threaded. Who knows.

So now I need to figure out what kind of gun to get to replace and upgrade it. It was never great, I realised that I could feel air leaking from the trigger too. I've seen the same gun design on Ebay for $20 or so, so its probably a mass produced crappy tolerance thing.

I had a look at the BNP copy that Mr Vapour suggested above and not sure it would suit my setup. It needs a pedal and tips so would be close to $200 all up. Do I need to spend that much for home use?

 

I have a decent 2.5hp Ingersoll Rand twin piston belt drive jobby with a big tank. But I get the feeling it won't be enough for a gun like that BNP one?

 

Any suggestions?

 

[~Slideways~]

On 14/09/2021 at 16:02, ~Slideways~ said:

 

Any suggestions?

 

Oh hey 2-months-ago-me.

Buy one of these from Supercheap Auto, pretty good bang for buck without having to change anything else:

 https://www.supercheapauto.co.nz/p/blackridge-blackridge-air-sand-blast-gun-kit/340382.html#q=sandblasting&lang=en_NZ

[NickJ]

Supercheap cabinet on loan from benno, wired up some led lights he supplied for instant improvement then today fashioned a cyclone from two large buckets, pvc pipe fittings all finishing off with an old air filter from the landrover, so far, it sucks

Amongst the random bits that came with the router was an assortment of air treatment gear, have a large filter/water separator on both the compressor and blasting cabinet, no sign of moisture entering the cabinet so far, happy days

[Kimjon]

I love my cabinet. I guess my expectations were low, so it's done better than I thought it would. Sure, if I did it for a living - this would not be the right tool for the job, but for my needs it's fine.

I've got it mounted on a tool trolley, so its a comfortable working height.

Vacuum cleaner is hooked into the rear, behind a baffle. I tried the side port and this was less effective. No dust filter, but not having issues there.

Light is shit, but I wheel it outside and use free light of the sun. Keeps dust out of shed too.

May look at adjusting the feed situation, but my compressor is small, so maybe the constant breaks waiting for air allows the media to keep up? I did load it up nearly to the grill, so it's chocka with media...so this can't be hurting available supply.

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Trolley mount is a great idea... 

[Bearded Baldy]

Indeed, might have to steal that one. 

Ordered a 20kg bag of extrafine garnet from toolshed yesterday, 60 bucks including shipping.

Ordered cyclone funnel and have a 20l bucket ready to go.

Going to see zap shop over the road and see what i can do in the way of lighting.

Let the barrying commence!

[moparmuppet]

On 19/08/2022 at 12:55, Bearded Baldy said:

Indeed, might have to steal that one. 

Ordered a 20kg bag of extrafine garnet from toolshed yesterday, 60 bucks including shipping.

Ordered cyclone funnel and have a 20l bucket ready to go.

Going to see zap shop over the road and see what i can do in the way of lighting.

Let the barrying commence!

can you tell us where you ordered the cyclone funnel from please if you have a link. Cheers

[yoeddynz]

On 17/08/2022 at 08:01, Kimjon said:

I love my cabinet

I've got it mounted on a tool trolley, so its a comfortable working height.

 

I like the fact you've added a seat too! 

[Bearded Baldy]

On 24/08/2022 at 08:32, moparmuppet said:

can you tell us where you ordered the cyclone funnel from please if you have a link. Cheers

Straight from trademe.

Made a trolley base for it this morning, tested it this afternoon.

Much more betterer, still need to do something with the lights though.

 

[JR]

Some guys were asking about a vapor blaster I made so thought I'd share how to make one and the results. 

Its was a bog standard sand blasting cabinet. I'll give a brief rundown on how I did it. Every single idea was stolen straight from YouTube.

 

Basically vapor blasting fires a slury of water and very fine glass beads (must be round beads for a polished finish, not crushed glass) out of a slightly modified nozzle with compressed air. 

It can be used for cleaning all sorts but is exceptional at polishing aluminum. It's non abrasive so can be used on machined surfaces. 

When I assembled the cabinet I used a heap of sealant on all the joins. Worked well, it's water tight.

 

It's just your standard garden variety submersible pump.

I got the pump from a random tool shop nearby (just googled the cheapest) it was about $60-$70 from memory. 

The outlet from the pump needs a tee. One of the tees needs to point back into the bucket. This is to make a slury, mixing the glass bead and water.

The other part of the tee goes to the gun.

I got my gun from NZVBS. The dude was really helpful matching gun to my needs.

Then you just need a foot pedal to operate the air, a window wiper is a good add on and away you go. 

They say about 5 parts to 1 of water to glass bead. It's closed loop, so recycles the slury. To clean the mixture just carefully pour the dirty water out and the glass beads stay at the bottom of the bucket.

A+, would trade again.