Anyone built a sandblast cabinet?

[Long Knight]

I am looking for suggestions or recommendations. I want to build a pretty good sized one, but I would like to hear from some folks who have them to get some ideas of what I need to take into consideration.

Thanks,

Ro

[1971 Cheyenne]

I built one using 3/4 inch plywood and a kit from www.tptools.com . It is 4ft by 3 ft by 3 ft (approx)

I have to take off right now, but i'll try to post again tomorow with more info.

[emmett]

Long Knight try this web sight
http://www.geocities.com/soho/6937/blstbox.html
Good Luck EMMETT

[Blue Beard]

emmett, good link

I've got one from Harbor Freight.....the light didn't last long in it and having a hard time seeing inside the thing after a few minutes of use....

[724x4a/cchevy]

Dad and i made one out of plywood. instead of using a siphon fed one inside the box, we used his portable sandblaster. It works pretty good. We used a vaccuum from the carwash to suck the dust out. I will try to post some pictures later.

[Long Knight]

Thanks for the link with pictures emmett!
I want to make it as big as possible. My Dad has one in his shop at work that you could fit a bicycle frame in it and still have room to turn it 180 degrees. I don't think I will go quite that big.

Seeing while blasting is an issue that I'm trying to work out. I am considering hooking up my shop vac to keep it clear. My Dad's is a cyclone so it sucks all the time. Do you think I need to line the inside with sheet metal?

[krue]

I am going to modify a 55 gallon drum and make a cabinet out of it. I am going to use a siphon blaster and a shop vac. It should do what I need done.

[dmurphy68]

I am intrested too

[Long Knight]

I haven't thought about using a drum. That might be a really good idea. I think I can get ahold of those blue plastic ones (like antifreeze comes in) but I don't know where I would get a metal one.

[oldsub86]

I talked to a fellow in a store a while ago and he told me that he had modified a commercial sandblast cabinet in a manner. I plan to do the same after listening to him. He used an airbox from a junkyard car (Taurus I think). Basically he ran the air through the automotive air filter on the way to his shopvac in order to reduce the wear and tear on the shopvac. Sounds like a good idea as you will need the shopvac to keep the dust down inside so you can see what you are doing.

I bought an inexpensive metal unit and then sprayed the inside of it with rattle cans of rockerguard in the light tan colour in order to protect the inside somewhat and to improve the lighting as it is hard to see. I have the small flourescent light but I need more. I'm gettting old and it is harder to see than when I was a young whipper-snapper.

[Long Knight]

I wonder if I could use the shop vac as my hopper and run my line from the shopvac hose outlet up to the gun.

[smitty62]

Krue: Excuse my ignorance, but
what's a "siphon blaster"?

[krue]

For about $20 bucks you can get a gun with a hose that you drop in a bucket of sand that "siphons" the sand out of the bucket. Essentially the same thing a cabinet gun does at half the price.

[68Custom]

Since we are on the subjects of sandblasting... Does anyone have a home built sandblaster? Not the cabinet kind. I'm looking for a good set of plans to build one out of like an old propane bottle or something. Lemme know what you guys have found or built!

Aaron

[nu2-72]

If you use a shop vac for the air evacuation, use a pre-filter. Shop vacs tend to cover the filter pretty quickly and will burn out much sooner than if you use a seperate canister inline.