My $25 Craigslist blast cabinet score!

[Brad54]

Last week there was a thread on blast cabinets, which was very timely since I'd just decided the time was right to get one, and I had a little in the budget. I had pretty much settled on getting the Harbor Freight metal one that bolts together, planning on caulking the cabinet, and using my extra shop vac for dust collection.

I'd been shopping Craigslist and Ebay for the last month, and never found one that I could afford. (Max budget was about $300).

I answered a very vague ad on Craigslist last week. The said it had 3 foot tall legs, and the "compressor motor is broke." His wife wanted it gone, so they were asking $25 for it, but if I came to get it, they'd let me have it for free. I asked about the construction, and he said it was either plastic or aluminum, he didn't remember. So I was thinking it was one of the cheap full-size plastic cabinets, which I'm not real impressed with, but free is free and it'd get the job done.

I get there, and it's a 24x36 GAMM all-steal construction cabinet with full-size dust collector. The MOTOR in the dust collector is what didn't work. The cabinet is fully welded, has a foot control, and must weigh 150lbs. The guy said "It's a little heavier than I remembered."

I insisted he take at least the $25, and he tried to give me $5 back for lunch on the way home!

He said he uses it maybe once every couple years, and if he needs one, he'll go down to the airport where he keeps his plane.

Now I need to find a good compressor to feed it. My little 2horse/20 gallon tank won't be up to it.

-Brad

[MXtras]

Great score.

Now we just need some pics, otherwise I am not inclined to believe it ever happened.

Scott

[billymade]

Pics!!!!!!! Plus, if you redo the motor and get it up and going... pics of the whole "restoration"... umm, is the word "suck" in here somehow?

[Brad54]

I resized the photo three times, and it still says the image is too big! With all three sizes I've done, the message comes up and says the MB is the same, even though I've gone from 6 inches wide, then 4 inches wide, then 3 inches wide. I can't get it to upload. Grrrrrr....

-Brad

[terabyte]

change the dpi to 72

[Charles (in GA)]

I resized the photo three times, and it still says the image is too big! With all three sizes I've done, the message comes up and says the MB is the same, even though I've gone from 6 inches wide, then 4 inches wide, then 3 inches wide. I can't get it to upload. Grrrrrr....

-Brad

I resize pics to no larger than 600x800 for boards on the web. Keeps people from having to scroll back and forth to see all of it. In the case of this board a JPG pic can be no larger than about 79K if I recall correctly. I usually load them in Microsoft Image Composer, probably free on your computer when you got it, then select the save as, make sure the file type is still jpg and select about 50% for compression, and then use Windows Explorer to make sure of the file size before I upload it, been bit too many times. Usually a 600x800 saved in Image Composer at 50% compression yields about 60K size for me.

Charles

[russlaferrera]

Brad 54, Some of us are old and can't wait too long to see the pictures.....Think ya can speed it up a little? Thanks, Russ

[bchee]

Pics!!!!!!! Plus, if you redo the motor and get it up and going... pics of the whole "restoration"... umm, is the word "suck" in here somehow?

let's see those picts please. I guess you felt guilty taking it for free.

I was thinking "you suck" too, but he insisted to pay even though it was offered to him for free.

[Brad54]

I sent the pic to Charles to see if he has better luck than me.
I called the place today and they're going to email a price sheet for the replacement stuff...new vacuum motor, fresh window and protector sheets, door seal and a new switch since the toggle broke off today when I tested the light. It's a florescent light...it won't heat up like an incandescent bulb, but I find they don't give as much light. Any thoughts on that?
He's also going to send me an owner's manual and a diagram on putting the dust collector together. He also offered to send me a new manufacturer/serial number tag for free. The one on it has the old Milwaukee area code of 414.
One of the rubber gloves has a few holes in it. The gloves are pretty heavy, so rather than get new ones I'm going to patch the holes with bike inner tube patches.

If the vacuum motor is real expensive, I'll probably get a cheap shop vac and swipe the motor out of it and fit it to the collector. I've actually got two Craftsman shop vacs...one was a screaming bargain a bunch of years ago, the other is a lower profile one I got for free. I don't like the new one, and have tried selling it for $35 at two garage sales with no takers, so it may become a donor.

-Brad

[Brad54]

Thanks to Charles in GA! He got it resized for me. I have no idea why it didn't work for me... I can't imagine why I hate technology!

So here's my $25 blast cabinet. Wahoo!

-Brad

[billymade]

Oh, mannn.... thats the real deal! Keep us posted on your "restoration" process and when you "get it back on the road"! I bet that was a very expensive setup new!

[evintho]

You've got to be kidding me!!! That sir, is a screamin' deal!! Congratulations!!

[JayL]

$25 bucks for that !!!! I guess the killer here now will be the Compressor upgrade. :beer:

[RickP330]

That's an awsome find, and did I hear someone say "you suck" LOL.
RP

[Brad54]

I bet that was a very expensive setup new!

I called GAMM and asked what this goes for new...and about fell out of my seat. $1,450, plus tax and shipping.

My wife said I've got great luck and that things like this fall into my lap. That's only partly true. Every other night for well over a month, I'd spend a good bit of time on Craigslist for Atlanta, Toledo, Cleveland, Indy and Detroit (I have family up north), Alabama and the Carolinas, as well as Ebay, looking for a blast cabinet. I passed on a few, because I thought I could do better. The luck, of course, was finding it in Atlanta (I'm midway between Atlanta and S. Carolina), and at that price. But like Thomas Jefferson said, "I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." Patience goes a looooong way, too.

I'm thinking about painting it red to match the rest of my shop equipment, but I can't really justify spending that kind of time on it...I've got a BUNCH of other projects, including home upgrades, landscaping and four car builds, that should take up my time. Plus it's deer season until Jan. 1.

-Brad

-Brad