Scooterotica

Sand blast cabinets, do any DIY'ers on here use one, if so which and how big is your compressor, looking to get one for engine cases and the smaller body parts/engine parts, also what type of media?

Thanks

Rich

I bought a Soda Blasting gun off Snap On.Cost about 80.00.Works a treat.Compressor runs at 125 lb psi.

Blasting cabinets take a lot of CFM so you want a compressor that puts out 12 to 15 or more CFM at 80 to 100 psi. I is also important to have a large tank (60 to 80 gallons is ideal) otherwise the compressor is constantly running. I can tell you from experience that there is nothing more frustrating than trying to blast something with a weak compressor! As far as the cabinet goes, I would invest in a good quality cabinet to start with, or watch for good quality used cabinets because they come up for sale quite often. You can buy an inexpensive cabinet but I would recommend upgrading the gun and pickup. I would also use a good quality automotive seam sealer to seal all the joints inside the cabinet otherwise you end up with sand all over your shop.

The most important thing I can say is DO NOT use silica sand! It is nasty stuff that will mess up your lungs. Silicosis is not fun.


This is my cabinet butI would hold off to get a better one if I did it again: http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-capa ... 68893.html
This is the upgrade kit I used: http://www.tptools.com/USA-Cabinet-Gun- ... l?b=d*8026
Seam sealer: http://www.eastwood.com/ew-brush-on-sea ... At6g8P8HAQ
I am actually looking to upgrade my compressor to this one: http://www.lowes.com/pd_48365-1126-TQ31 ... d=3370338/

Thanks

I have a half decent compressor, 14 cfm, max 145psi but as you say don't want to spend more time waiting than blasting, if you get a bigger cabinet for space can you scale down the gun/nozzle?

Rich

Yes you should be able to get a small or medium air jet and matching nozzle to match your compressor's output. I upgraded my gun to the TP tools unit because they make all the accessories. They may have a distributor in the UK but I'm not sure.

http://www.tptools.com/Skat-Blast-Repla ... ll+air+jet
http://www.tptools.com/Skat-Blast-Repla ... ll+air+jet
[url][http://www.tptools.com/USA-Cabinet-Gun- ... d*8026/url]

Being fed up with going back to the media blasters we use at work and STILL seeing my lammy parts in the same pile I put them in 5 weeks previous, I desided to also go the whole diy route. So off down to Machine mart to buy a shotblasting cabinet, https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/prod ... st-cabinet . I bought it on one of their vat free weekends, but I have seen them on Ebay for a lot less including p+p. Compressor wise I have an old twin cylinder connected to a 100L tank. This works very well and once the air tank is fully charged it does not run out of charge when using the blaster flat out.

For the grit I popped round to my local blasters to buy my media, they buy it by the pallet and not by the small bag/bucket that Machine mart sell. Also it was about a 5th of the price at only a few £'s a bag.

Mod wise I put a small bathroom vent fan on the back of the cabinet to help pull some of the dust from the unit while in use and I put a better light in it too.

Are you happy with the finish? Can you wreck anything?

I have my eye on an ebay cabinet, think it'll do the job, want to do cases, and all the small frame parts

There is/was a firm which sells the plans for a diy blast cabinet and all the stuff you probably couldn't be arzed to make like the gloves and lots of different grades of media.
The basic structure is just ply, so an easy and relatively unskilled job.
It's the aggressiveness of the media which determines how fast you destroy your parts.

Just had a quick google, couldn't find the one I saw but there are plans and other kits out there, as well as a few utube howto's.

I used to sandblast scooters for a while as a small business. I packed it in as I was working from home and it was taking too long to do.
It was also mind numbingly boring.
You want a compressor that is 12 cfm or more otherwise it takes ages.
I've still got the small cabinet I used. It came from frost and was put together with rivets.
My old main cabinet (big enough to put a frame in) was made of wood. Sounds daft but you aren't blasting the cabinet you are blasting what's in the cabinet.

Shop around for media - I found it's better to use a softer media and take longer rather than using a harsh one which gives you no margin for error. I used a sand based one and it's gentle enough to do ally if you take care.

22/2 wrote:Are you happy with the finish? Can you wreck anything?

I have my eye on an ebay cabinet, think it'll do the job, want to do cases, and all the small frame parts

I've had very good results both on ally and steel parts. As Ian has mentioned you can get lots of types of media. The grit is graded the same as emery/wet and dry paper. I use a 60 grit for most things and 120 grit on ally and turn the pressure right down till its just doing the job. You can also buy walnut, glass bead and baking soda to use in the cabinet too.