Abrasive Blasting Cabinet Build

[kennyd]

I have been building a blast cabinet, or "sandblast" cabinet even though "sand" is rarely if ever used anymore. There is A LOT of pictures-sorry to bore you all:laughing:

All that is left is to get a short 8" air hose made, and install the latches on the funnel door-I am waiting on them from McMaster Carr.

The cabinet is 4' wide and 2' deep. All the 1/2" ply is from shipping crates at work, all the 1 1/2 steel tubing was a "find" also, as well as many other things I have been collecting for years. I bought the Build Your Own kit from TP Tools for all the important components.

Please enjoy: Picasa Web Albums - Ken Deckelman - Blaster

 

[Runner]

Nice work, Kenny! Never thought of using wood for a blast cabinet, but should work fine.

I have found that the plexiglass front window on my cheapie HF cabinet tends to get "frosted" rather quickly, so I have taken to duct taping a piece of thin clear plastic sheet over it. Then, when it gets nasty, I just take it out and replace. Not sure it this would be an issue with real glass in there or not.

What size compressor are you using?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[kennyd]

Thanks runner! The tempered glass can get frosted also, so there are clear lens protectors that are attached to the inside: Inner Lens Protectors - TP Tools & Equipment

My AC is a 5HP, 80 gallon 2 stage.

 

[paul dyar]

I would like to know how the project turned out. Do you plan to line the inside with anything? I have been thinking about buying one. I have never thought about building with plywood. I have a wood shop, so it would be an easy build for me.

Paul

 

[zman007007]

Paul dyar , just where is north west of S.C.? I"m just wondering why a lot of people on here are so vague of where they are from. No offense to you. Really... Oh yeah very nice work Kenny. zman

 

[zman007007]

Is Northwest a town? If so I havent heard of it, just wondering? zman:confused2:

 

[DuckHunterJon]

Very nice build. I contemplated building one last spring in prep for refurbishing my snow plow (many small pieces). I ended up buying a harbor freight cabinet and getting a gun from TP. Made a few modifications to the HF cabinet (sealed all joints, built new legs and frame, and added a cyclone dust extractor. It works great. No where near the quality of yours though - nice work!

What are you using for a dust collector? I had contemplated using my woodworking collector (5 hp Grizzly Cyclone DC) but opted for a home built cyclone unit with a 0.1 micron filter. I'm trying to find a finer media yet, as I ran it and covered the outlet with damp cheeze cloth and found a very slight residue after running it for an hour or so. I still wear a respirator in conjunction with the DC.

 

[JFS2295]

I had built a plywood unit many years ago which worked well. I lined the interior with thin steel sheeting, much smaller replaceable polycarbonate window that also had a layer of window screening in front of it to somewhat protect it, and a florescent light shinning through the top, again protected with polycarbonate (McMaster).

Ken, you did a really nice job.

 

[kennyd]

Very nice build. I contemplated building one last spring in prep for refurbishing my snow plow (many small pieces). I ended up buying a harbor freight cabinet and getting a gun from TP. Made a few modifications to the HF cabinet (sealed all joints, built new legs and frame, and added a cyclone dust extractor. It works great. No where near the quality of yours though - nice work!

What are you using for a dust collector? I had contemplated using my woodworking collector (5 hp Grizzly Cyclone DC) but opted for a home built cyclone unit with a 0.1 micron filter. I'm trying to find a finer media yet, as I ran it and covered the outlet with damp cheeze cloth and found a very slight residue after running it for an hour or so. I still wear a respirator in conjunction with the DC.

Thank You:thumbsup:

I have a Clearvue Cyclone I built years ago, all plumbed with 6" SDR PVC pipe, pulls about 1400 CFM.

 

[kennyd]

I would like to know how the project turned out. Do you plan to line the inside with anything? I have been thinking about buying one. I have never thought about building with plywood. I have a wood shop, so it would be an easy build for me.

Paul

So far it has turned out perfect, look at the pictures and see for yourself. There is no need to line the cabinet with anything, you don't point the gun directly at the walls so why bother? Hopefully this week I will get to try it.

 

[kennyd]

I had built a plywood unit many years ago which worked well. I lined the interior with thin steel sheeting, much smaller replaceable polycarbonate window that also had a layer of window screening in front of it to somewhat protect it, and a florescent light shinning through the top, again protected with polycarbonate (McMaster).

Ken, you did a really nice job.

Thanks Jack:thumbsup:

 

[DuckHunterJon]

Depending on your airflow pattern, you may want to drop that flow (install gate valve in line). My cyclone will pull about 100 cfm (no load) and I had to turn it down to about 75% to keep from sucking too much media out of the cabinet. Yours should be better as you are pulling from up top, just have to play with it to get it right.

The other thing I had to play with was air inlet vs outlet locations to get a clear viewing. I found low on the inlet, high on the outlet with a baffle on both (much like yours) worked best.

 

[kennyd]

Depending on your airflow pattern, you may want to drop that flow (install gate valve in line). My cyclone will pull about 100 cfm (no load) and I had to turn it down to about 75% to keep from sucking too much media out of the cabinet. Yours should be better as you are pulling from up top, just have to play with it to get it right.

The other thing I had to play with was air inlet vs outlet locations to get a clear viewing. I found low on the inlet, high on the outlet with a baffle on both (much like yours) worked best.

Time will tell...I can adjust the flow by opening other gates in the shop.

 

[kennyd]

It Works!

I finally got the latches I was waiting for and installed them tonight. Loaded the media and started blasting-everything worked perfectly! I updated the album with 6 new pictures.

 

[paul dyar]

Is Northwest a town? If so I havent heard of it, just wondering? zman:confused2:

It is between Anderson and Hartwell GA
Paul

 

[jake98]

Now your air compressor is gonna get fully broken in.. I made a cabinet years ago that would hold 2 truck rims at once. Made the top in 3 interchangeable pieces so the gloves, viewing glass, and light could move. It was primitive compared to yours, nice job! (I'm still getting grit out of my hair..)

 

[kennyd]

After quite a few questions of "How good does it work?", I taped my iPhone to the glass and took a video for all to see. I added it to the album.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

After quite a few questions of "How good does it work?", I taped my iPhone to the glass and took a video for all to see. I added it to the album.

Very nice! Thanks for the video! :thumbsup:

 

[zman007007]

Great build Kennyd and welcome Paul, we are prob. only about 40 to 50 miles apart. zman :thumbsup:

 

[Joe Szabo]

Hi Kenny,

:thumbsup:AWESOME Project - I love the detailed pics and the awesome video too.

All that really missing is the cup-holder:drink: (ha - ha)

The level of quality engineering you've put into this really shows well in the final product. Thanks for sharing this with everyone and making this look so easy..

~Joe
2320
w/ an Awesome custom Myers plow set-up engineered & crafted by the best:thumbsup: