John Timmins
Well-known member
My cabinet is not Harbor Freight but likely made at the same place in China. I bought it on line and the lamp is actually WORSE than the HF unit. It has a ****** 120 volt to 12 volt (?) transformer to a weak florescent lamp inside the cabinet. It has the same side door.
I put wheels on the bottom with 1x4 boards using 7/16 inch bolts for axels. Are the wheels perfect? No and who cares? I can roll it away from the wall and outdoors. I blast with the sun shining through the window. I leave all the media and mess outside too.
The cabinet comes with some sticky protective clear sheets that you're supposed to put on the plastic window inside the cabinet to protect it. The sheets leak, the window gets dirty and scratched, and you have to replace the sheet by leaning inside the cabinet and BREATHING all that dust and paint. Even wearing a mask I don't like doing this.
My solution was to remove the entire window frame and get a pane of glass cut to order for the correct size. I bought some of that foam that's 1 inch wide and sticky on one side and put it on the cabinet around the opening in the top. I removed and discarded all the plastic frame nuts and bolts and have 4 screws sticking up through the cabinet, through the plastic frame, and through 1x2 inch wood strongbacks, and secured all the window frame with the wingnuts.
I went to Grainger and bought a package of sandblaster window protecting film - 2 rolls for about $20. The film rests between the foam on the cabinet and the new glass. At the top of the window you can see the roll of the protective plastic sheet. Seeing the pictures will explain this better.
How everything works for me is: I roll the cabinet outside and put the shopvac hose on the opening and start blasting. My window isn't leakproof but who cares? The shopvac is pulling a suction into the cabinet so not much leaks out. When the window film gets too dirty or scratched up, I shut off the shopvac and loosen the wingnuts and pull and fresh amount of film into place and cut off the used film. The window is clean and I resume blasting.
When I'm done I hose off the cabinet and blow air on it to dry it off. I dispose of the media in the shopvac.
I use glass bead and 60 psi (4 Bar) pressure to blast aluminum to bare metal ( I restore outboard motors). The snap-on guy has a competitive price on the glass bead I use. I think the HF and Tractor Supply stuff is too big.
I hope this helps others!
I put wheels on the bottom with 1x4 boards using 7/16 inch bolts for axels. Are the wheels perfect? No and who cares? I can roll it away from the wall and outdoors. I blast with the sun shining through the window. I leave all the media and mess outside too.
The cabinet comes with some sticky protective clear sheets that you're supposed to put on the plastic window inside the cabinet to protect it. The sheets leak, the window gets dirty and scratched, and you have to replace the sheet by leaning inside the cabinet and BREATHING all that dust and paint. Even wearing a mask I don't like doing this.
My solution was to remove the entire window frame and get a pane of glass cut to order for the correct size. I bought some of that foam that's 1 inch wide and sticky on one side and put it on the cabinet around the opening in the top. I removed and discarded all the plastic frame nuts and bolts and have 4 screws sticking up through the cabinet, through the plastic frame, and through 1x2 inch wood strongbacks, and secured all the window frame with the wingnuts.
I went to Grainger and bought a package of sandblaster window protecting film - 2 rolls for about $20. The film rests between the foam on the cabinet and the new glass. At the top of the window you can see the roll of the protective plastic sheet. Seeing the pictures will explain this better.
How everything works for me is: I roll the cabinet outside and put the shopvac hose on the opening and start blasting. My window isn't leakproof but who cares? The shopvac is pulling a suction into the cabinet so not much leaks out. When the window film gets too dirty or scratched up, I shut off the shopvac and loosen the wingnuts and pull and fresh amount of film into place and cut off the used film. The window is clean and I resume blasting.
When I'm done I hose off the cabinet and blow air on it to dry it off. I dispose of the media in the shopvac.
I use glass bead and 60 psi (4 Bar) pressure to blast aluminum to bare metal ( I restore outboard motors). The snap-on guy has a competitive price on the glass bead I use. I think the HF and Tractor Supply stuff is too big.
I hope this helps others!
