Harbor Freight sandblast cabinet issues

[MJN]

Alright, I bought a harbor freight 40lb blasting cabinet and figured how bad can they screw up a sandblaster.
I found a ton of You Tube videos of guys modifying these things to make them work decently. They come with a siphon tube from the store which doesn't work- or didn't work at all on mine- which is my main issue. Seems everyone modifies them with a metering valve to gravity feed from the bottom of the hopper and run the sand hose outside the cabinet. I went ahead and made a metering valve for mine, basic copy of one I found on YouTube. For whatever reason the valve does nothing, I only get sand feed to the gun with the valve closed, even open a crack the sand drains back down and will not feed the gun. I first tried a full bag of blasting crystals (Black Blast recycled coal slag) but emptied the hopper and just added a few scoops. This seemed to help but still can't get steady feed to the gun to even get a small part blasted clean. It also will not blast or pull sand with any nozzle besides the largest. I also don't have a dust collector hooked up, I'm guessing this would help more with the leaks, even after taping and caulking all the seams.
Does anyone have one of these cabinets and had success making it work better?

[richard2717]

I upgraded to a better gun from TP tools and put a dust collector on from Eastwood. Without the dust collector you will not be able to see what you are doing in the cabinet especially with the black beauty.

Pretty sure this was the gun assembly I went with
https://www.tptools.com/Trigger-Oper...binet-Kit.html

This is the collector i went with
https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-du...-cabinets.html

[MJN]

Great, thanks for the links! Glad to see that TP tools gun is made in the USA too!

[Getter-Done]

I have used stuff from TP Tools also for a long time.

TP's stuff works good.

I use a Shop Vac for a dust collecter. with a homemade Cyclone 5 gallon bucket filter

I Don't remember??? why I swapped but I use Big A's Place now.

Link: https://sandblaster-parts.com/

Link for Gun:https://sandblaster-parts.com/collec...on-hand-held-1

Link for Meter Valve:https://sandblaster-parts.com/collec...es-hand-held-1


It works good also.










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[Getter-Done]

All kinds of ways to make these.
Home Depot has a top you can buy now.

Home Depot link: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dustoppe...749552#overlay


Here is a video of make your own.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp-7b7YIYPY





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[PGSigns]

I upgraded mine with a better gun and a foot pedal for the air. I did the bottom pickup and a dust collector. I also put an led light on the inside. What I found was the tip diameter can make a difference in the in the velocity of the air in the gun and how well it picks up media. I use glass beads. The amount of air you get from you compressor also can make or brake the media feed.
Jimmy

[Getter-Done]

Originally Posted by PGSigns

I upgraded mine with a better gun and a foot pedal for the air. I did the bottom pickup and a dust collector. I also put an led light on the inside. What I found was the tip diameter can make a difference in the in the velocity of the air in the gun and how well it picks up media. I use glass beads. The amount of air you get from you compressor also can make or brake the media feed.
Jimmy

LED lights are a Great Idea
I have a Incandestent bulb






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[Indian113]

The drier you can keep the material the better. Buy the best inline air dryer you can afford. I also put two water traps in my air line set up.

[BASE]

Cheap LED lights and the cyclone bucket top from Home Depot made a world of difference for my TP tools cabinet.

I remember seeing people modifying the HF siphon tube by drilling holes and adding tubes to get them to feed correctly.

[Getter-Done]

I use this for my filter.
Link:https://www.harborfreight.com/air-fi...nt-prospects-2


Looks like there being phased out








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[TKCR]

My Harbor Fright Blaster Cabinet works great. Now I did get a new nozzle from TP Tools and I also use this to filter out the moisture. And it works great, I don’t have any issues with it clogging up. I don’t have the stuf I marked out of the picture, just the one that holds the filter, that’s like a roll of TP.
I do have a LED light tape in the outside. Putting them inside, they will just get tore up with the blasting media. And I don’t use the film protector for the glass. Those things are a pia. I just keep a couple of pieces of replacement glass on hand. Once the glass gets to where I can’t see anymore, the. I change it. I keep a little paint brush on top, then evertime I open the door, I brush the glass off. My glass will probably last 6 months to a year or so, before I have to change it. And I use my cabinet quite often.

[MJN]

I've got an air drier at the compressor so no issues with moisture in the lines. I will be getting the TP Tools gun first- seems all my issues are related to the HF gun right now.
Thanks for all the feedback.

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by MJN

I've got an air drier at the compressor so no issues with moisture in the lines. I will be getting the TP Tools gun first- seems all my issues are related to the HF gun right now.
Thanks for all the feedback.

Yeah, the gun is the issue. Once I switched over to the TP Tools gun, I’ve been a happy camper.

[MJN]

Finally got the TP Tools gun, what a difference! I can actually use the cabinet now instead of just blow air around inside of it. Definitely will be doing a dust collector too. Thanks for all the tips!

[Getter-Done]

Great to Hear.

[dsraven]

Hopefully you have your issues fixed. Using silica sand canbe a dust hazard for your health so a dust collector is a must, Iuse a dust mask and hearing protection as well. When i picked up sand once the yard guy asked me what i was using it for. I told him a blast cabinet. He advised to use garnet instead because it takes more hits before it powders up and becomes less effective. That made a big difference in the amount of dust in the cabinet as well as how long the media lasts. Onmy el cheapo deluxe cabinet i lowered the floor pan, installed 2 led lights and run a cyclone filter inline to an old home vacuflo canister. Works great. I also modded the air exit from the cabinetso it draws less particulate because it didnt have any sort of baffle onthe inside, just an open pipe to the vacuum.. i also modded the pick up tube as per you tube university. Haha

[MJN]

Yup- with the TP Tools gun the cabinet works great. I added a Dustopper dust collector that just goes on a 5 gallon pail and I hook the shop vac to it. I don't use silica sand, I use abrasive blasting crystals called Black Blast. Its a black slag abrasive.
https://www.theisens.com/products/black-blast/8022459/

Some better lights will be next but it works so when I get caught up on other projects I'll do that....some day.

[my67c20]

Glad you got it all worked out. I too was looking at picking up one them HF specials, but there was none to be had locally and just heard to many complaints and required to many modifications to deal with. Instead I purchased the Barrel Blaster. Minor assembly required to install legs and that was it. Coupled with the Home Depot Cyclone thingy on a 5 gallon bucket and a descent shop vac spraying crushed glass from tractor supply and works like a champ. Only issue is the lighting, but that is an easy fix. Just sharing my solution for anyone reading.