Blast cabinet Snap On vs TP Tools

Looking into a decent blast cabinet for my home shop k30'×50' where space is st s premium. Factors are price size, quality ,versatility and function as well as aesthetics will most likely sway my decision.

So the two cabinets i have in comparison are the Snap - On ya3825pjj (extreme green of course).
Specs
Inside dimension 16-24"h × 37.5"w × 26"d

Overall dimensions
70h×38w×26d

Top openining dimensions
25x37.5

Side door opening12x17.5

Consumes 18 cfm @ 100 cfm which i have covered with 135 cfm dust collector and 25 lbs glass media

Dual Florescent lights

Us made

Matches all my green s.o. stuff

Also has clam shell top so ot csn open and fit larger items easier.

Costs will be around 2500




Or the tp tools skat cat 40

Inside dimensions
40x28x28

Overall dimensions
42wx30dx64.5h

Door size

25x25 ish has an angle for view window

Single flood light

50 lbs skat blast media

No clam shell design

10-15 cfm @80 psi

Skat blast -50 hepa filter vac (90-100 cfm)

Us made , will cost about 1350 to me




So in my eyes i get a slightly larger cabinet with a good rep vs a higher priced more versatile ,aesthetically pleasing cabinet both with parts easily attainable. Is the clam shell design really much better? Possibly depending on what your blasting.

I have not committed to either and price can possibly go up on the tp tools since it appears to be on sale. The s.o. may also come down if i purchase with a good rebate (when i buy my side lockers) so im a bit torn. I just dont see many reviews of the snap on vs the plethora on the tp tools.

It will be used for auto restoration , truck repair . Just about anything actually.






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I have had a smaller Skat blast and liked it, when I moved up I got a different brand and wished I had gotten the next size larger Skat Blast than you are looking at.

I have a Snap-On and my friend has a TP Tools. My Snappy never worked that great since new and was disappointed. Also my Snappy guy isn't very good at providing the correct consumables. My friends TP cabinet worked MUCH better.
So......I bought the build your own cabinet parts from TP Tools, and retrofitted the Snappy cabinet..........huge improvement!
Buy the TP cabinet, and spend the money saved on more tools.

I sure as heck wouldn't spend the extra bucks for the snappy paint job. The TP units are top notch, if anything wrap it if you want the green that bad.

I was going to say something about consumables but Rag Roc covered my concerns very well. Snap on is not in the blast business like some other companies. Go to Snap-on for tools, which is their expertise. For other shop items go to the expert in that field.

lg
no neat sig line

I can't comment on the SO cabinet but I have a TP cabinet that I am very happy with.
Shipping to SO CAL might be a killer for you though, I would at least look at other brands available locally before making a choice.

Living in Ohio I picked up at TP and saved on shipping and bought several other things (like media) that were also on sale (and saved on shipping again).

There is a thread on here that was pretty recent or at least recently updated in the past 45 days that says who makes Snap On blast cabinets, but I cannot remember the name. As I recall you can buy direct from them for half off or something like that.

TP all the way, they've got the best gun and siphon setup I've seen. I don't think you'll find a better cabinet for the money.

Dee Blast makes the Snap On. I have the YA 3825 and works great. I especially like the clamshell design.

I also have the S-O one and it works excellent with glass bead.I tried crushed walnut shells and kept clogging up and it wouldnt drop down the return ( Vee shape at the bottom )very good.

Also flourescent bulbs are all you can use.Standard bulbs last about 1-2 minutes if that.

I bought mine for less than half..NOS.

Not sure if it's still the case but the snap on units used to be made by Dee blast. We had one back in the early 90s and had issues w/ feeding that could never be resolved. Eventually made snap on give back every penny even sales tax. That being said the clamshell design would be a HUGE selling point for me. There is a lot of situations where the cabinet is large enough but you can't get the part through the door. The better lighting of the snap on would def be a selling point as well, it seems like blast cabinets never have enough lighting

FSUwelder1212 said:

Not sure if it's still the case but the snap on units used to be made by Dee blast. We had one back in the early 90s and had issues w/ feeding that could never be resolved. Eventually made snap on give back every penny even sales tax. That being said the clamshell design would be a HUGE selling point for me. There is a lot of situations where the cabinet is large enough but you can't get the part through the door. The better lighting of the snap on would def be a selling point as well, it seems like blast cabinets never have enough lighting

Click to expand...

That's kind of where I'm at with the snap on. But now I may look into deep blast and see how it goes.

Edit where are you guys buying dee blast cabs from? The prices I'm finding do not appear to be much cheaper than s.o.



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TP all the way. I've used both, I own TP.

You do realize that the Snap-On costs almost twice as much, right? You listed your first factor as "price". If you REALLY have to have a green one, you could buy the TP, take it to the most expensive body shop in town, have it painted godawful green, and you would still be dollars ahead of the Snap-On.

My dad, my friend, my former employer, and myself, have all bought from TP (back then it was called TiP) and we are all satisfied customers. That, and the owner of TP has been on here offering all the members a free set of plans to build their own cabinets. So for me, it's got to be TP.

Over a grand less from the OEM, whats difficult about this decision?

The Skat Blast 48"x 28"x 28" is on sale according to an ad in Antique Power that I received on Tuesday. 1399.00

Dad used a skat blast in a professional paint shop (compound bows for a manuf). A friend has one in a professional paint shop. (Custom yeti ramblers)

Both come highly recommended.

A friend gave me a HF cabinet. I rebuilt it and resealed it and bought the skat blast gun, pickup tube, and lenses to go in my cabinet. It works great and I just ordered the large tips and more lenses and received them in less than a week. The old lenses, maybe hf brand, would not stick to the glass even after cleaning with thinner or adding duct tape. The heat from the sun beating down on it was part of the problem. The lenses from TP tools stick great and are so tough that I have to scrape them off.

SO isn't all that, with every tool. I bought a PI torque wrench instead of paying for the SO name, and I suggest doing the same with the blast cabinet. Spend the savings on other nice tools and get more bang for your buck.

wish TP tools made a clam shell design , there isnt anything wrong with them and there price is more than fair , id be looking at the 960 deluxe now but really want the clamshell.

There is a big problem with the clam shell design. It's unsafe as the top can and will come down on you. There is a reason TP does not make that style and they are experts in blast box design.

Build the cabinet correctly and you can get anything in the cabinet it will hold. No need for the added complications of the clam shell design. Mine is home made from the **** blast plans and I made it big. 60" wide X 42" deep X 42" high. Note the size of the door opening and the small amount of edge used for the gasket. Not real happy with the look of the stick on gaskets but they do work. Box is 3/4" plywood with a 10 gauge metal door and 1/4" angle iron for the frame. If you look this was built before I had a welder and is all bolted together. I counter sunk deck screws thru the angle iron into the plywood. So nothing sticks up past the angle iron. Of course I would weld the frame if I built the box today.

If I did it again I would put identical doors on each side. The vertical flat glass is a terrible idea. Use one and you will see. It's exhausting to stand at an awkward angle and you will never be able to see inside. Don't forget to check the height of the box as I found most all of them are too short and I have to stand bent over to operate it. Not mine.



Also get rid of the crappy florescent lights. Remember your 2 biggest problems blasting are lack of air flow (SCFM) and not being able to see inside the cabinet. TP uses spot lights for a reason. I have upgraded my box to use 2 spotlights aimed at the center floor of the box. I recently purchased a third spot light and will install it in the middle of the ceiling of my box pointing straight down. Inside your blast box is the worst sandstorm in history going on and a florescent light just won't cut it!

I added a deflector shield (attached by magnets) and a tray at the bottom of my door to catch abrasives. Before I had to blow the door opening clean or I would get a bunch of stuff falling out on the floor. Glass beads are slippery!! Added a gutter scoop that just fits in the tray under the door to scoop up the abrasive and return it to the box. Scoop is stored in the tray and does not interfere with the door opening/closing at all. Simple and quick with less mess. Note I have added a separate air only blast nozzle inside the box to blow the inside of the glass off as well as my parts. Again you just never can see good enough inside the box.



My recent addition is a Dust Deputy ahead of the vacuum unit. Knocks out an amazing amount of stuff before it hits the vacuum. Also upgraded to the HEPA filter inside the vacuum. I operate my box wrong so I get mostly flour like dust in the vacuum which is hard on the motor. I over power the glass beads with 125 psi of air pressure and destroy them in the blasting progress. This does two things. Vastly speeds up blasting without using aggressive blast media that can damage or remove metal. Plus it gives me the option to turn down the air pressure for delicate stuff. Again make it flexible because a home guy is always blasting a lot of different stuff.

This picture shows a final dust bag at the outlet of the vacuum. While this is nice because I can blast anywhere. It simply does not work. You will have the shop covered in a fine layer of dust plus you are breathing that. So after a short trial run I plumbed the outlet of the vacuum outside like I had always done. My filter and vacuum motor last much longer with a cyclone ahead of the vacuum. Added the "quiet" kit from Skat to cut down on the vacuum noise and it works well but is not required.



I have a dedicated refrigerated air dryer that is mounted on my lower shelf. This was another major improvement. I was very lucky and found this one on EBay years ago. It's got stainless steel insides and was industrial surplus and had no case on it as it was somehow mounted in the factory without it? It works so well that after blasting for a 30-60 minutes the blast gun gets ice cold.



I put the box on casters and added an expanded metal lower shelf for storage. I try to keep all blasting equipment on the shelf. Stuff like my Brut spot blaster and blasting supplies. I can throw the foot pedal on it when I wheel the box around. I just can't emphasize this point enough. Get it mobile so you can clean and reconfigure your work area as easy as possible.



Finally use high flow air fittings. Yes going to bigger air hose and all that expense and complication will work but it is not needed. Use standard 1/4" stuff BUT get the high flow couplings. I run these 100% in my shop. Nothing else. My compressor pushes 25 CFM and I can use ALL of it thru these fittings.



Of course TP Tools (Skat Blast) carries them.
http://www.tptools.com/Hi-Flow-Coupler-Kit,172.html
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TP tools all the way also bought mine when it was tip tools and will be upgrading to a new bigger cabinet soon and selling the one i have. TP has been super as far as service goes. Consumables are shipped in a very reasonable amount of time. In my cabinet added a magnetic guard to the door to keep media in cabinet and added another light. Both sold by TP tools. Also added a cabinet extension to make inside dimensions bigger. TP tools sells the cab extension also.

dodge610 said:

TP tools all the way also bought mine when it was tip tools and will be upgrading to a new bigger cabinet soon and selling the one i have. TP has been super as far as service goes. Consumables are shipped in a very reasonable amount of time. In my cabinet added a magnetic guard to the door to keep media in cabinet and added another light. Both sold by TP tools. Also added a cabinet extension to make inside dimensions bigger. TP tools sells the cab extension also.

Click to expand...

Let me know if you wanna sell the extension. If it fits the 960 deluxe. That's what I ended up with.

04chase said:

Let me know if you wanna sell the extension. If it fits the 960 deluxe. That's what I ended up with.

Click to expand...

Please give us your thoughts on that cabinet. The only thing keeping me from buying one is a current lack of space. Thanks.

As soon as it dries out ill be poring a small slab and making a compressor home oitside of the shop. Then i will have plenty of air to give it a go. Ive since added a caster set and blow gun setup inside.

I received a Snap On YA435 cabinet through a friend (I paid him for it). Does it REALLY need 19CFM to blast? Other cabinets are around 14-16CFM.

Is it a matter of just changing out the gun/nozzle?

I'm setting up a new garage and looking into air compressors for it.
It makes a big difference in air compressor costs to get up towards 19CFM.