Blast Booth

[Rocket]

Just a quick pic of my Blast Booth I've just built (I hope this in the right place?)
Kind of the beginning of the fabrication to come.
Still some stuff to finish off including the dust extraction, but as you can see that with even quite basic equipment it works well. Blasting is deffinately the way to go & is safe on panels if you have the correct gear and a good opperator

Just the roof & the inside of my own future work shop truck cab to go.
I've already managed to blast the 6 doors for it
I can hear you now
The workshop truck is to be an extended cab (dual cab in Oz) widened & the front doors will be lengthened, so I need spare doors.
I treat all my blasted steel & leave it raw as I prefer to work in bare metal, welding & any repair work can be easily carried out if left raw.

When I've actually made a propper start on the project (& I find the appropriate place to post it?? I may start a thread here if your interested)

CHEERS,
Rod.

Oh! Please excuse the mess. We've had a sparky at work for the last 2 weeks, completely rewiring the place, so stuff is every where

 

[Ray-CA]

Did you modify a shipping container? That's a great idea.........

Ray

 

[PAToyota]

Looks more like the insulated panels from a large refrigerator/freezer.

Nonetheless, excellent setup!

 

[Rocket]

Looks more like the insulated panels from a large refrigerator/freezer.

Nonetheless, excellent setup!

Yes, That would be correct.
I managed to buy a heap of second hand cold room material (3" walls & 2" ceiling) The dust extraction blower & cyclone I found at another recycling yard.......cheap
I've now found some water damaged sheet to make the ducting out of (it arrives today) and I've also designed a set of air blasted final filters as the air will be going back ito the booth. The filters will have air jets on timers to hopefully keep them a bit cleaner, that dust to wll end up in a hopper.

I firstly designed it in CAD which made it a little easier to visualise.
(once I work out how to convert it into a file I can load I can share that to if you like)

 

[HOTFR8]

Looking good Rod. A great looking booth. Shipping containers can be used for so many things.

Now post that project in the Free Parking section. I have a couple of my Truck projects in there if you look hard.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10871&showall=1 &
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=429260#post429260 .

 

[Rocket]

Looking good Rod. A great looking booth. Shipping containers can be used for so many things.

but it's NOT a shipping container

( I finished Blasting the main cab today, hopefully I'll have some other bits done by Easter, so I can make a start on cutting some metal )

 

[Rocket]

Oh!
I think I've worked out how to post my CAD stuff.
Here is a drawing of the booth before I started to build it.
This view shows the duct work that is yet to be made.

 

[HOTFR8]

but it's NOT a shipping container

( I finished Blasting the main cab today, hopefully I'll have some other bits done by Easter, so I can make a start on cutting some metal )

Oh Well it looks like one to me. Well What is it then ?

I bet your keen to get into that project.

 

[e-tek]

Oh Well it looks like one to me. Well What is it then ?

I bet your keen to get into that project.

READ THE POST!!!

I would love to see pics of the shop, the blast project AND the truck project. That's what we are here waiting for!!!
I think this is the right forum, but few people look here...

 

[HOTFR8]

READ THE POST!!!

I know him so I am stirring him as I know he is keen to get into the project

I would love to see pics of the shop, the blast project AND the truck project. That's what we are here waiting for!!!
I think this is the right forum, but few people look here...

Rocket has posted some other photos of his place here on the forum. It was an old Ford Dealers garage if I recall.

 

[Rocket]

OK
She's out of the booth & treated.

Now to do the reat of the bits & I can start cutting

Check page 40 of the current ASR & you will see the cab as bought from the Ballarat Swap (No, I didn't pay that price for it )

 

[pipehack]

That is awesome!!! I love it. I was not expecting something that big.

 

[HOTFR8]

So that was yours in ASR.

Oh for those here ASR is short for Australian Street Rodding Magazine.

 

[Plushy]

Wow Rod nice work with the blast booth should i bring all my old trucks up there for you to practice on ?

Looks like the shop is getting fuller as well .

 

[Rocket]

Wow Rod nice work with the blast booth should i bring all my old trucks up there for you to practice on ?

Looks like the shop is getting fuller as well .

Think you've answered your own question mate
No practice required

Yes, even though that dam dunnydoor finally left yesterday (& not before time either ) I jsut still don't have enough room, but it's still far better than what I had to work with.

& to answer the size of it (the booth I presume your meaning )
it is 3 mtrs wide x 6 mtrs long (bit over 9' x 18')

 

[Plushy]

You still had the crummydore there till yesterday , i thought you would have dragged it out and burnt it ages ago !

What size compressor are you running your pot blaster off ? how many cfm roughly ?

 

[Rocket]

You still had the crummydore there till yesterday , i thought you would have dragged it out and burnt it ages ago !

You & me both mate
A mate bought it & promptly took the engine & trans out (in the shop of course) & then took the body off to the SES to practice on

What size compressor are you running your pot blaster off ? how many cfm roughly ?

Well, it's like this:
I have a large 240volt compressor which is the main shop compressor. It has 2 motors & compressors on the one large tank. I think it is under 30cfm ??
Then I have hooked a standard compressor in the line next to the large tank that is for the single post hoist. The tank adds heaps of extra storage & the little compressor just helps a bit (that one is about 12 cfm)
I could use more air, but as I'm only running a small pot & nozzles at the moment, it almost keeps up.

I desperately need to make that dust extraction now, as it gets very hard to see after only a short time. The sheet arrived this week & I should have been doing it this weekend, but I was determined to make a start on the new work shop truck, hopefully my young feller will accept the offer to come and work during the school hols or at least my little worker who comes in on Saturdays will consider the same, then I may get it done.

C'Ya

 

[Stephenw]

That's a great booth. Are you using a supplied air breathing system? I'd hate to see you get silicosis.

 

[Rocket]

That's a great booth. Are you using a supplied air breathing system? I'd hate to see you get silicosis.

For starters, Yes, I am (I'd be an idiot not to !!)
& 2nd off, I'm using garnet anyway as sand is a No! No! for that reason alone.

Many may not realise it, but you have to not only use the medias, but the correct filters for human consumpsion, also the correct air feed hose & helmet.
This all costs big $$, but this is some where you just can't scrimp on (even though I've tried to build it on the cheap)

 

[Rocket]

Hello again,
Well another busy day in the shop

We have found a bit of time to continue with the booth though & have now done the main suction work from the booth to the blower.

We will be continuing tomorrow, but the time it took today to do just that, unfortuately we won't get it finished then

 

[Vinko]

This is great. There have been several times in the past two months where I wish I had something like this.

 

[Rocket]

Well, .......(thanks Vinko)
We're nearly there.
A slight design change after taking to someone who knows more about cyclones than me I felt the time & $$ saved it was far better to build the final filters box on top than off to one side (no frame work to build & less ducting to make) because the cyclone would remove more of the finner particals than first thought, so therefor there would be less emptying of the second hopper.

Here you can see the final filter box, the door to the bottom left is the access point for the fine dust so it can be removed.

This pic shows how I've set up the final filters.
It is designed so I can blast clean the filters in place & remove the dust from below when it settles. The air returns to the booth for a completely sealed unit, with no air being discharged into the atmosphere.

So with seals on the access doors & the ducting it self fully sealed, I've now only got to buy new belts for the blower, make the dust collection point at the bottom of the cyclone & bolt the motor down & hopefully all will be go & it works ok. (with any luck, that will be this week some time)

 

[Rocket]

As much as I shouldn't have, I made some time to finish off the dust extraction today & kicked it in the gut's



One could say I'm extremely happy with how much durst is removed.
The air going back into the booth is almost clear.
The whole booth is slightly negatively pressured (as planned) so I deffinately won't be putting seals on the doors.

The pot on the collection point on the cyclone ended up with a heap of fine dust , as did the bottom of the filter box. The filters became pretty clogged after some time, but that was to be expected, as I've been blasting without it for a while. Once I get rid of the remains of the fine stuff, the system will cope with the normal duties with out a problem, with just occassional cleaning. I expect only usuable Garnet will remain for reuse, as when it breaks down, it ends up leaving the both.

 

[Rocket]

Just for interest:
Another job out of the booth last week.
a '48 F1 chassis (resto project)
Loaded on the customers trailer waiting for pick up.

 

[eborcim]

Looks nice, did I read that you used garnet to blast the cab?

 

[HOTFR8]

Is garnet the only legal way to blast now ? Sandblasting is out ?

 

[Stephenw]

Here's a link to a PDF on the CDC website. It looks like some of the alternatives to sand are just as bad for your health.

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/awards/hamilton/pdfs/abras-blast.pdf

 

[Rocket]

Looks nice, did I read that you used garnet to blast the cab?

Standard grade Garnet.
Yes, Sand is out.

You MUST still use full breathing gear which includes special filters to remove the imurities from the compressed air (must be changed every 3 months) & use the correct breathing air hose for human comsumption only.
I also run an air cooler to drop the air temp in the helmet. This is adjustable, so on a cold day you can turn it off or down until it starts getting too warm. it's on my belt so easily adjustable aqs I go.
The helmet must have the correct lenses fitted & you must ware all the protective gear too.
Spot inspections DO happen, & if you are caught out not complying, you are in deep Poo Poo

As it tunrs out, my desgin of Blast Booth is one of the first of it's kind in our state, fully recycling all the air. So very freindy to the evironment as well.
As the volume of air moved & turned over is so large, it not only keeps the booth clear, but it removes all the smaller particals (Garnet will go to dust after a few uses) this leaves only usuable garnet behind to put back through the pot.

A bit of research prior to building this has payed off heaps, even though I have tryed to build it on the cheap

 

[ranunculous]

Great idea!
Please take care of your lungs! Good air supply and ultra high quality respirators are your best friend here!

 

[Rocket]

Great idea!
Please take care of your lungs! Good air supply and ultra high quality respirators are your best friend here!

Yep!
Like not breathing air from the booth, is the only way to go