How to turn a cheapo HF Blast Cabinet into a pretty good tool

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

Here's my take on how to take a pretty poor (IMO) HF floor standing blast cabinet (Item#68893)and make it more usable (and less messy). Lots of pictures and the details that I thought would be useful. Some of these tips were provided with the upgraded parts, others I found on my own or read as good mods in different forums.

Build the box using sealant in excess on all seams , bolt holes, etc..

Use a rubber seal for the door (TPtools 6217-780). The seal slips right onto the edge of the sheetmetal on three sides but you will need to use sealant on the bottom section.

A piece of the foam door seal that comes on the cabinet from HF. Remove it with a putty knife and scrape all the glue off the door.

I had to trim the rubber seal off the clip for the bottom strip since there isn't an edge to mount it on. Use sealant to put it on and seal the gaps at the ends.

Seal everything. No point in holding back, use excessive sealant!

Cut the screen and frame down several inches. This drops the cabinet floor down several more inches giving you more clearance.

Light,switch power supply and brackets. Throw it all away.

New flood light with power switch and a couple outlets. Easy place to plug the reclaimer\Vac into.

Front side of flood light and power box. (tptools 6258-03HD)

Hole where original light switch entered the box.

Drill a hole large enough for the flood light socket to go through and notch it for the mounting bolts.

Flood light/ switch interior cabinet mount.

Flood light/Switch exterior mount.

The foam tape that HF uses to seal the box. Scrape it all off and throw it away. Don't use any of the foam tape that comes pre-taped to the box flanges or any of the tape that comes in roles with the box. Use silicone sealant to seal everything.

A few of the sheet metal flanges were bent. Straightened them all out.

Another bent flange, straighten the bends.

Drill a hole through the Hopper chute door for the media regulator to mount to.

Chute door inside. Drilled through the seal by cutting a 2x4 the same size to back it while I drilled the hole.

Chute door and media regulator. (Tacoma Company)

Media regulator mounted to Chute door.

Replaced door latch with a bolt and nut to seal the door tighter.

Replaced the hopper chute door hinge bolt with a 1/4" bolt to seal the door better.

bend the chute door hinge channel to wrap around the 1/4" bolt tighter.

Picture of hinge channel bent.

Drill out the chute door mounting holes to accept a 1/4" bolt.

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

The cut down screen floor in place. It dropped the floor down from where the sealant line is. The floor brace isn't used, toss it in the pile of things to throw away.Seal all flanges before bolting them together and reinforce the seal by sealing the seams again after it is assembled.

Drilled a hole in the leg to mount an air regulator.

Regulator mounted (Tacoma Company).

Another look at the air regulator positioning.

Drill two holes in the hopper for the air hose and media hose.

Grommets (Tacoma Company) for the air and media hose holes.

I used Chevy valve cover mounting brackets on all sides to better seal the hopper flange to media cabinet.

Drill a hole in the lower shelf for the low pressure side of the air hose to run through. Use a grommet (Tacoma Company).

Air and media hoses routed through foot pedal (Tacoma Company)

Here's the gun, siphon tube and hoses that come with it. Throw it all away.

New Gun (Tacoma Company). Trimmed off any excess metal on the gun to give maximum clearance.

Mounted studs in the holes where the glass frame attaches. This allows the glass and protective plexiglas to be removed for replacement without having to work inside the dusty box.

Use the same rubber seal as used on the door to seal the viewing hole (TPTools 6217-780). Seal the gap where the rubber seal meets.

Air exhaust flange (my dad made for me. Thanks) bolted over the exhaust hole so that media bouncing around in the cabinet is less likely to get sucked out. You only want dust to get sucked out.

Air regulator inlet ****** mounted.

Another view of the air inlet ******.

Viewing window hole with all studs and seal installed. Make sure to seal the studs.

Glass and Plexiglas installed.

Two stage reclaimer system. First stage is a Dust Deputy mounted to a 5 gallon bucket. Get a bucket that has a good lid seal. This one has an O-ring seal. Seal the Dust Deputy flange and bolts to the lid.

Build a 2x4 and 3/4" plywood deck with locking casters for the cabinet to be mounted to. Leave extra plywood sticking out the side for the reclaimer system to sit on. This way the blast cabinet and reclaimer can move together.

Blast Cabinet mounted to the base.

Base bracket.

Two stage reclaimer/vac system. Enco cyclone dust collector (Enco 803-0027 ) attached to the Dust Deputy. Used 2 1/2" hoses with 2 1/4" ends. One POWERTEC 70141 2-1/2-Inch to 2-1/4-Inch Reducer (Amazon) and one Woodstock D4203 2-1/2-Inch by 10-Feet Hose, Clear (Amazon).

The white 2 1/2" hose came with the Cyclone dust collector. Shorten it and reattach the end. Use hose clamps where the hoses attach to the Dust Deputy.

Cyclone plugs into Flood Light switch box. The switch turns the light and the Cyclone on/off at the same time

Completed cabinet.

The cabinet ended up being sealed VERY well. The only media leakage is from where the media and air hoses go into the hopper and that is a very small amount and when you open the door media tends to fall out. I have an idea of installing a rubber flap over the bottom edge of the door. The kinda messy black sealant you see all over is really no problem for me but, it actually comes off pretty easy. Once it's dried you can just use a rag to rub it off. I have cleaned up some of the sealant that is not near anything I want sealed. The reclaimer/vac system has zero dust coming out. Time will tell if the filter system continues to perform so well. I will update this thread with any changes I felt were needed.

wild cowboy · Oct 4, 2014

sku number of the HF cabinet?

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

wild cowboy said:
sku number of the HF cabinet?

I updated the first post with the item#. Comments or suggestions are welcome.

volleyball · Oct 4, 2014

Money question. How much did this all set you back and how does it compare to a unit all built properly?

nmk_61802 · Oct 4, 2014

Subscribed

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

volleyball said:
Money question. How much did this all set you back and how does it compare to a unit all built properly?

Well it was $275 for the parts from Tacoma (Foot Pedal, air regulator, gun, media mixing valve, hoses and fittings. $30 for the light, $15x2 for the rubber door/glass gaskets. $20 for caster wheels. The dust collector system really is the same cost no matter what cabinet you buy, I was just showing what I used. $60 for the Dust Deputy, $250 for the Cyclone. I'm not sure how much you would spend on a cabinet that was on par to this. The add-on components are pretty good quality so it would have to be a decent cabinet.

Including the cost of the cabinet itself, probably about $550. The dust collector with hoses and adapters, buckets etc.. was $345 or so.

d.mcfarland · Oct 4, 2014

Welcome to the site! Awesome work there. Very well done.

cheechi · Oct 4, 2014

Why did you choose that Cyclone unit just out of curiosity? Was the HF one you had considered?

Great job though that looks pretty good.

toolmuchtool · Oct 4, 2014

Nicely done, keep us updated as to how it's working for you and if you would do anything different if given a chance. Looks Great : )

oldtools · Oct 4, 2014

Nice job. Made in the US with global components.

Zeke · Oct 4, 2014

x1buellist said:
I updated the first post with the item#. Comments or suggestions are welcome.

Most excellent but might as well start from scratch and build you own from some HVAC ducting as the housing. Probably can find some at the salvage.

oldtools said:
Nice job. Made in the US with global components.

Jawn · Oct 4, 2014

I wonder how an "improved" HF one like that would compare to the ALC enclosures?

e30bradley · Oct 4, 2014

nice job! I have wanted a blast cabinet for years... When I can afford it I will probably build from scratch.

ATC · Oct 4, 2014

Wow. That's a lot of work for a HF cabinet. Nice job though :thumbup:

I have been wanting that same cabinet for a while now....but I think I'm going to go with the smaller 30lb bench-top model. The only reason I want one, is so I don't waste my media all over the floor, or outside :lol_hitti

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

cheechi said:
Why did you choose that Cyclone unit just out of curiosity? Was the HF one you had considered?

Great job though that looks pretty good.

I definitely considered the HF reclaimer. I really didn't know which would be best. A few considerations were that Enco sells spare parts (motors,filters) for the Cyclone. It didn't look like HF sold any spare parts. There are quite a few people who have posted negative (and positive) comments about the HF reclaimer. The Cyclone had a good number of people who thought it was a very good product. Finally I just liked the design of the Cyclone with the large cloth bag and secondary filter. Seemed like it could maintain good flow. So far I am happy with the decision.

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

ATC said:
Wow. That's a lot of work for a HF cabinet. Nice job though

I have been wanting that same cabinet for a while now....but I think I'm going to go with the smaller 30lb bench-top model. The only reason I want one, is so I don't waste my media all over the floor, or outside

Yeah I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Pretty happy with the outcome though.

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

Jawn said:
I wonder how an "improved" HF one like that would compare to the ALC enclosures?

I don't know personally but looking at the similarly priced ALC cabinets. They all have the cheap hardware (gun and pickup mainly) that have been upgraded on my unit (gun,pedal,media regulator) so to bring those up to par with the one here it would require a few hundred dollars in upgrades. At least that is what it looks like from a distant look from the internet.

ZRX61 · Oct 4, 2014

x1buellist said:
Including the cost of the cabinet itself, probably about $550. The dust collector with hoses and adapters, buckets etc.. was $345 or so.

Are you saying $550 total or $895?

cagullett1 · Oct 4, 2014

Great job! A lot of attention to detail! This thread gives me a lot of good ideas once I get a cabinet. I was thinking, have you considered replacing the plexiglass with a 2nd layer of glass for a longer life span and clearer view?

Also, how did you go about attaching and sealing the studs for the glass frame?

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

ZRX61 said:
Are you saying $550 total or $895?

$550 for the cabinet. $345 for the vac/reclaimer system.

chicane · Oct 4, 2014

Is this what it has come down to? We now have to fix all of HF's design flaws in their crappy tools? Why not just build your own blast cabinet out of plywood? It's not that cheap $209. I have to say the fixation on HF here is pretty bizarre. For all of the time money and effort fixing this hunk of junk the OP could have just gone out and bought a decent cabinet.

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ab...al-MXxZu5ABC42_RVajQy1TQMASYMvbQKQaAgfU8P8HAQ

x1buellist · Oct 4, 2014

cagullett1 said:
Great job! A lot of attention to detail! This thread gives me a lot of good ideas once I get a cabinet. I was thinking, have you considered replacing the plexiglass with a 2nd layer of glass for a longer life span and clearer view?

Also, how did you go about attaching and sealing the studs for the glass frame?

The window has a glass pane on the inside and a sheet of plexiglas on the outside. It's pretty clear. The studs are just screwed into those little sheetmetal clips you can get. Took me a minute to find a pic on the internet but It is this type.

Heres a blow up of the stud

x1buellist · Oct 5, 2014

chicane said:
Is this what it has come down to? We now have to fix all of HF's design flaws in their crappy tools? Why not just build your own blast cabinet out of plywood? It's not that cheap $209. I have to say the fixation on HF here is pretty bizarre. For all of the time money and effort fixing this hunk of junk the OP could have just gone out and bought a decent cabinet.

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ab...al-MXxZu5ABC42_RVajQy1TQMASYMvbQKQaAgfU8P8HAQ

I seriously doubt that unit you linked to would be any better than the HF cabinet. Probably the same gun/pickup design. Looking at the video, it looks like the exact same hardware that came with this unit which, I would say if you are trying to improve a product like this thread is. You are no better off.

x1buellist · Oct 5, 2014

Yeah I agree on one thing though. If I wanted a better unit without all the work I could have spent more and bought one. I happen to like improving things. I like projects and I like doing things myself. I believe I ended up with a cabinet that has more value than the money I put into it.

Jarhead0408 · Oct 5, 2014

Good job man. Looks great. As a plus, no one will be saying:

:needpics:

You got it covered in spades! :beer:

wild cowboy · Oct 5, 2014

I am not seeing any pics of your work, but it sounds cool, where are the pics?

x1buellist · Oct 5, 2014

wild cowboy said:
I am not seeing any pics of your work, but it sounds cool, where are the pics?

HAHa 'its hard to take pics of the work in action. Pics of the results is all I have.

volleyball · Oct 5, 2014

This would be a great thread for rebuilding a worn out blast cabinet. Any brand. Even HF. But to spend over $200 just to throw half away, makes it less so. Maybe getting a better unit like the Eastwood and the better gun would do the same and be a better bang for your buck.
While I am no it's got to look great to be good, the excess use of sealant and it smeared all over do detract from the perceived quality of your work. It would have taken minutes to clean it up. More is better, but too much is too much.

cheechi · Oct 5, 2014

x1buellist said:
I definitely considered the HF reclaimer. I really didn't know which would be best. A few considerations were that Enco sells spare parts (motors,filters) for the Cyclone. It didn't look like HF sold any spare parts. There are quite a few people who have posted negative (and positive) comments about the HF reclaimer. The Cyclone had a good number of people who thought it was a very good product. Finally I just liked the design of the Cyclone with the large cloth bag and secondary filter. Seemed like it could maintain good flow. So far I am happy with the decision.

I am very glad to hear that. I have been considering which one for my personal uses, mostly with wood dust, now that I have room to run one. I like the idea the Enco looks to be pretty well enclosed, which can be both good and bad in different cases. But I have been aiming for a setup very similar to yours and may go with that exact setup having seen it takes up the same or even a little less space than the HF one.

I'm guessing (not an expert) your blast media dust is about the same size as fine sawdust would be (5 micron filter is common, iirc) so I'd definitely be interested in a followup after a lot of use, and maybe some photos once you fill up the 5gal bucket before changing, how much is inside the cyclone. Take a look at this, I have been looking at getting the Dust Deputy for a while after watching his comparison, also having built one of my own which was a horrible failure but a good learning experience.

Anyways, definitely follow up with more info as time goes on, for example do you plan to further seal the leaky parts you mentioned in the cabinet or leave them?

x1buellist · Oct 5, 2014

volleyball said:
This would be a great thread for rebuilding a worn out blast cabinet. Any brand. Even HF. But to spend over $200 just to throw half away, makes it less so. Maybe getting a better unit like the Eastwood and the better gun would do the same and be a better bang for your buck.
While I am no it's got to look great to be good, the excess use of sealant and it smeared all over do detract from the perceived quality of your work. It would have taken minutes to clean it up. More is better, but too much is too much.

I agree with you on much of this. I wanted to make sure everything was sealed and saw little downside to using plentiful amounts. The problem I had was in handling fasteners and panels that had sealant on them. It didn't take long for it to be on my fingers and than it was all over. But it does come off pretty easily and I will eventually get most of it off. Each up grade solves an issue. A lot of it had to do with leakage in this thread but the actual tool upgrades were where most of the cost is and that's where the biggest impact is. It's not just the gun that is sub par. The siphon system and hoses along with a trigger on the gun (and the gun itself) all add up to a under performing tool.

cagullett1 · Oct 5, 2014

chicane said:
Is this what it has come down to? We now have to fix all of HF's design flaws in their crappy tools? Why not just build your own blast cabinet out of plywood? It's not that cheap $209. I have to say the fixation on HF here is pretty bizarre. For all of the time money and effort fixing this hunk of junk the OP could have just gone out and bought a decent cabinet.

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-ab...al-MXxZu5ABC42_RVajQy1TQMASYMvbQKQaAgfU8P8HAQ

You might disagree, but this is a great thread. There are many of us who don't have the spare cash to buy the more expensive cabinets. Buying this cabinet and starting out with the cheap upgrades (sealing it), gives me room to buy the better equipment down the road as funds become available.

BFHtime · Oct 5, 2014

Great write up, thank you for the time to post your project. I may try to copy what you did here in the future. This makes for a pretty cool project and a better tool in the end.

x1buellist · Oct 5, 2014

Used it for an hour or so today. It is a pleasure to use. Pretty happy with the end result

Future plans:
1) Paint brush kept inside the cabinet to sweep away any media that might spill out when the door is opened. Than once I get a chance, screw a Rubber flap over the lower edge of the door so media doesn't build up there.
2) Possibly route a second hose into the cabinet with an air gun to blow media off the piece being cleaned so that it comes out of the cabinet without any media on it.
3) some type of bracket that holds the Cyclone and Dust Deputy more securely than the bungee cord I am using.
4) A brighter flood light. I am using a 75w light bulb. Will probably go to a 150w bulb.

volleyball · Oct 5, 2014

I would not go with a 150w. With dust, it will more easily blind. A second flood, a string or two of rope light in the vinyl tube could be better choices.
I do like option 2, unless your nozzle has a air only spot on the trigger.

cheechi · Oct 5, 2014

One other thing I meant to ask and forgot. Is that light likely to get blasted by accident? I know the one they ship it with that you threw away is kind of tucked out of the way but that's a bigger target, and in a more prominent place.

Nortonscustom · Oct 5, 2014

OP you did a great job improving the cabinet without question. But I will have to say I never understand these threads. Why on earth do people spend that much time and money building a frankencabinet when for $100 less you can have a brand new USA made cab that you just take out of the box a go?

http://www.tptools.com/800-T-Top-Load-Trig-Abrasive-Blast-Cabinet,3385.html?b=d*8014

chicane · Oct 5, 2014

cagullett1 said:
You might disagree, but this is a great thread. There are many of us who don't have the spare cash to buy the more expensive cabinets. Buying this cabinet and starting out with the cheap upgrades (sealing it), gives me room to buy the better equipment down the road as funds become available.

Is your time not worth anything? Where the materials free? My time is worth a lot to me and I choose to use it fixing up crappy cars not crappy tools.

chicane · Oct 5, 2014

Nortonscustom said:
OP you did a great job improving the cabinet without question. But I will have to say I never understand these threads. Why on earth do people spend that much time and money building a frankencabinet when for $100 less you can have a brand new USA made cab that you just take out of the box a go?

http://www.tptools.com/800-T-Top-Load-Trig-Abrasive-Blast-Cabinet,3385.html?b=d*8014

This ^. We are only hurting ourselves people. Instead of buying a quality USA made cabinet and keeping Americans employed we would rather buy a junk Chinese made cabinet and just make it functional. I just don't get it.

Sharpest · Oct 5, 2014

Where did you buy the Tacoma products from? Google only leads me to their eBay store and it doesn't have any of the parts you listed here. I am particularly interested in the foot pedal and gun. Is the pedal a progressive type or more of an on-off unit? Will something like this

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BY098JE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

work? Thanks for the write up!

How to turn a cheapo HF Blast Cabinet into a pretty good tool

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