Blast cabinets, anyone made their own?

[Sweet72]

I've come to the realization this weekend that I need my own blast cabinet. I asked a friend if I could use his and he was too busy to accomodate my request, so either I hook up my 100 lb. pressure blaster for a few small parts, or I wait patiently for my buddy to have time. Well, have any of you fella's built one and do you have any plans, pictures, helpful tips or any advise? Best place to buy the accesories ie: gauntlets, window, foot valve, gun?

[Alex Hayley]

I am currently building my own and have come to the conclusion that it is probably cheaper and MUCH simpler to buy one.

[Botietruck]

I built my own several years ago. I'l try to get a few pics tomorrow.

[chevy_fatman]

Several members were building their own some time ago for not a lot of money, I would like to build one down in my basement, buying one big enough for the stuff I need to blast has talked me out of buying a new one (sizewise) .

I may have to build a big one that I can assemble and if I decide to move it out I can disassamble in smaller pieces to re-assemble in another place.


Some of the materials to get started like the gun and foot valve can be bought from http://eastwood.com.

[jakeslim]

I bought this one at Harbor Freight(w/coupon) for $75 bucks. Works great.

[tomatocity]

Originally Posted by jakeslim

I bought this one at Harbor Freight(w/coupon) for $75 bucks. Works great.

What did you use for a light?

[jakeslim]

Tomato
For the light I bought a cheap 18" light from Orchard hardware. Used some double sided tape(3m) to hold it. Works perfect.

[mrein3]

I made a run out to da-burb's place yesterday to find a 2-groove water pump pulley for my truck. Right when I was ready to take off he says,
"You want me to clean it up before you go?"

He spent a few minutes showing off his new blast cabinet. A few short minutes later I had a pulley cleaner than it would have taken me a half hour to do with the wire wheel in my drill.

Maybe da-burb will read this and post the details on his NOT home made cabinet.

What I've observed in the past is that you can usually buy something for what you have in to the parts to build your own. And the bought one will be a better setup than a home built one.

Also, don't forget that you need a healty compressor to run a good sand blaster.

[Tx Firefighter]

Mine is a decent sized one from TP Tools. They are THE sandblaster source if you care to look at their website or catalog. No complaints, and it raised my project's quality level considerably. Life is too short to make everything myself. I paid a few more bucks to get a premade one, but it works flawlessly, doesn't leak dust into the shop, and replacement parts are a phone call away.

[Sweet72]

Tx Firefighter, what model do you have from TP Tools? Do they sell a small model that won't take up too much room in the garage? Also, I'd like to find some of the sacrificial lense protector material so the window doesn't get F'd up. Thanks fellas for the replies. Keep em coming.

[Tx Firefighter]

This is the one I have...

http://www.tptools.com/product.asp?b...XJ8LN1FA500439

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

This is the one I have...

Do you have a vacuum too? My buddy has a larger one with the vacuum hooked up and it works great to clear the air. I just wonder how well they work with out the vacuum?

[Tx Firefighter]

I use a shop vac and clean the filter periodically. Without the vacuum, visibility is near zero through the window.

The fitting on the cabinet is shop vac size. It just plugs in without adapters or anything.

[Sweet72]

Thanks for the info so far, any plans, drawings or pics of home made cabinets?

[jamesi20]

too bad you guys aren't closer to tp i got my cabinet there for a lot better price than the catalog prices.the one i got was a scratch and dent model.it had some runs in the exterior paint and these guys won't ship anything that isn't perfect.every thanksgiving weekend they have a huge sale with a bunch of vendors there like lincoln welders,miller welders etc.and you can try all the stuff out.it's awesome as you can weld.use the plasma cutters,paint with their hvlp turbine setups,darn near anything they carry you can try out and the sale prices are really good.I am truly lucky as they are about 20 minutes from my house.

[da-burb]

Thanks Matt, and I am glad you liked the clean 34 year old part.

I went with a little bigger cabinet. I have the 960 I think. 28x28x48". I really like it. It came with a vacuume that works ok depending on the blast media. The glass media tends to cloud up so you need to wait for the air to clear some times.

I will tell you the one thing that makes a blast cabinet better is the air compressor. The bigger the better. The more air you can flow the better the cabinet will work. I have a 7.5 hp/80 gallon/2 stage/27ACFM at 90 psi. It will cycle on and off about half the time while blasting. Any smaller and it would run continuously.