Blast cabinet questions

[freudianfloyd]

I just picked up this cool vintage Peterson "Cleaning Machine" for $250. It needs gloves and glass but everything else works.


However, the previous owner did some tinkering on it and im trying to figure out what I need to do to make it right.

On the back of the machine is what appears to be a dust collector. However, it connects to the bottom of the hopper, which is obviously full of media. So is this actually a dust collector or just a media recirculator? He also has vents on both sides of the cabinet blocked off. Im assuming to keep dust down, but it doesnt make a lot of sense to me.


He also had a 55 gallon drum connected to the exhaust of the "dust collector", and a shop vac connected to that drum. Which means he had the dust collector blowing into the barrel and a shop vac sucking on the barrel also. Why?

Im assuming the large opening on the dust collector exhaust is for a bag?


Sorry for all the questions but this machine is impossible to find information on.

So to summarize:
1. Is the dust collector supposed to be attached at the bottom of the hopper where all the media falls?
2. Is it even a dust collector?
3. Why would he tape up the vents?
4. Is there a better way to set up dust collection?
5. Is it meant for a bag to go on dust collector exhaust port?
6. Is there a better way to do dust collection?

 

[OccupantRJ]

This setup is basically what you need.
The second pic is your abrasive mix valve, basically a grit carburetor to adjust grit vs. air flow through the suction blast gun.

 

[OccupantRJ]

About 1/2 gallon abrasive goes into the bottom of the dust collector cone. None. in the cabinet. Vents should be open for makeup air intake. You need a dust collector bag on the outlet of the dust collector with a 5 gallon bucket attached to the open bottom of the bag with an elastic band sewn into the bag like a waist band. Nuisance dust collects in the bucket, useable grit goes back to the cabinet through the gun, then returns to be processed by the cyclone dust collector. You got a good style of cabinet there, and you would do yourself a favor to read my abrasive blasting thread. This thread is being added to it.

The Abrasive Blasting Resource Thread

Edit: Keep checking on all the various links throughout this thread, as some are ongoing projects and may have had information added since you last viewed them. There are lots of GJ members who have blast cleaning equipment, so I am starting this thread for all of you to input information and...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[mikedodge]

The shop vac part of it sort of looks like he wasn't using the built on dust collector at all and was using that instead. He blocked off the vents to help give the shop vac setup more suction and was using the cabinet like the kind that ***** the dropped sand from the bottom.

 

[freudianfloyd]

The shop vac part of it sort of looks like he wasn't using the built on dust collector at all and was using that instead. He blocked off the vents to help give the shop vac setup more suction and was using the cabinet like the kind that ***** the dropped sand from the bottom.

Yeah, that was my thinking too. If the bag system works, I will go with that. The collector works good on this unit so I dont know what he was doing.

He also added air lines and pneumatic cylinders to both sides of the door to lift with the push of the pedal, but its all dry rotted, so I removed them.

 

[freudianfloyd]

So it would appear the side vents are not factory. Somebody drilled the holes themselves.


The actual vent is across the top with built in baffles to keep the dust in. I guess I will have to weld in patches on the vents they drilled.

 

[OccupantRJ]

The vent on a cabinet needs to allow the amount of air to enter the cabinet to not quite equal what the dust extractor can remove. If gloves **** straight out inside there is not enough vent. A bit of internal inflation of the gloves is ok. A cabinet with a good suction will lose little grit because the cabinet is under negative pressure
with a good air flow going from the vent through the cabinet to the cyclone separator. With a blower/squirrel cage type air mover, if not enough entry air is allowed the fan will speed up due to lack of work. The maximum air for the setup is moved when the amp draw of the motor is at it’s name plate rating. Electrical knockout plugs could be used in those holes to fine tune air flow If you wish.
What type of blast gun do you have?

 

[OccupantRJ]

IDS Blast has various types of filter bags available. Not sure if they will have one to fit yours. I bought some generic bags recently but the particular one in my picture was made from a lighter weight duck fabric material that can be found in a piece goods store. I measured it and had an upholstery friend sew it.

 

[freudianfloyd]

IDS Blast has various types of filter bags available. Not sure if they will have one to fit yours. I bought some generic bags recently but the particular one in my picture was made from a lighter weight duck fabric material that can be found in a piece goods store. I measured it and had an upholstery friend sew it.

I ordered a bag, gloves, and a few other things I needed. Thanks for the information.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I ordered a bag, gloves, and a few other things I needed. Thanks for the information.

Sho nuff. Reading a bit in the abrasive blasting thread as you await parts should be very fruitful for you. Showing a pic of your blast gun might get more possible info to help you.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I get generic items like rubber door seals and such from McMaster Carr.

 

[freudianfloyd]

Sho nuff. Reading a bit in the abrasive blasting thread as you await parts should be very fruitful for you. Showing a pic of your blast gun might get more possible info to help you.

My father-in-law has a glass business, so I removed the glass that was there, taped it up so it wouldnt fall apart and dropped it off to him. He is going to make me a couple pieces of laminated glass.


I then stopped at Home Depot and found a gallon of a dark Grey (very close to the color of my truck) rustoleum paint on clearance. I couldnt decide between blue, green, or yellow, but the grey was on sale. I was originally planning on orange to match my Kubota and my Husqvarna chainsaw collection, but that wasnt an option and Vevor uses orange, so I decided against it.

When I got back home, I set out removing all the extra **** the previous owner installed, and welded up the extra holes he added for vents and the pneumatic cylinders.

Im not body guy, but this will be sufficient for a blast cabinet. After grinding them down, they are practically invisible.


Tomorrow I will begin prepping the paint for a roll on job. It doesnt have to be perfect, but since im waiting on parts I might as well.

I also dug through my spare parts and found a speedaire regulator with separator, so I will be replacing the old one as well.

 

[freudianfloyd]

I do wonder if the hose sizes that were on it when I bought it are sufficient though. The main air inlet was a 1/4" NPT quick connect fitting. Then it went through a welded on bung into a regulator with 1/4" npt threads in and out, and then went to a T that branched off to a 1/4" id air hose, and that is what ran to the cabinet. Seems small to me, but it must've worked for the previous owner.

Besides that, the bung that the main supply air line passes through is only a 1/4" npt as well, so no matter how big of a fitting I use before or after, its still going to be choked down at the entry point. So maybe 1/4" lines are enough?

 

[scooby074]

Looks like a good cab. Be sure to get some glass tearoffs so you dont wreck the window. Interior lighting too.

The Cyclone hookup looks OK. You should be pulling cleaned grit off the bottom of the cone as pictured. You are missing your exhaust filter off the fan on the cyclone. Spent grit should be pulled from the bottom of the hopper and looks OK.

What kind of gun is it? If somebody has been "tweaking" it, Id bet the gun is screwed up too.

 

[Steve_P]

For $250, that's a great deal. Yeah, it needs some work and $, but if I had the space for it, I'd love to have it at that price.

 

[freudianfloyd]

Figured if I was going to put so much into it, I might as well give it the world's worst paint job.

I decreased and rolled it on. Time will tell it if sticks.

Ignore the green spots, this was before doing the detail brush work.

The can said "Dark Grey" but this would be anything but dark. I still think its a major improvement over the green and rust.

 

[freudianfloyd]

Well I cant say im too impressed with the shipping speed from IDS Blast. I ordered my filter bag and hose nearly 10 days ago. This past Friday I received an email with a question about the hose, I told them to cancel the hose order and just ship out the filter bag. No response despite replying to the email as soon as it popped in my inbox.

Checked the status today and the bag still hasn't shipped. Maybe I'm spoiled by Amazon's quick turnaround time, but how long does it take to put a bag in a box and ship it out.

My glass should be ready tomorrow and the filter bag is all that is left to get this thing up and running.

 

[OccupantRJ]

With what I ordered all was well. I did a bit of research before ordering and there appears to be a company called Pirate that makes or sources a lot of blasting items. They seem to be at the same address as IDS. There could have to be a production run to get your items, but they could at least have communicated properly with you on it. I had seen some review on slow shipping, but my bag order came within a week for sure.
Your cabinet project is looking nice and will be as good as any out there if you have a proper gun setup and also get your mix valve properly adjusted. I made the cyclone separator for mine from an old water well tank by somewhat copying an Empire unit I had at work. I run a 5/16” blast nozzle on mine for the pattern, because the air nozzle in the gun determines air consumption on a suction gun, not the nozzle. I experimented with air flow and compressor run time to make up my own internal air nozzles. Compressor runs continuously during blasting, then shuts off 45 seconds after blasting stops. Compressor is approx. 20 cfm.

 

[freudianfloyd]

It Works! It made quick work of the rust on this old hatchet.

And then used it to remove the bad paint from my Blackhawk Torpedo toolbox. However, when changing the media out, I noticed there is no filter inside the recirculation/dust collector. Is the bag itself the filter, or should one be inside the vacuum? The opening to it is only about 6 inches, so only a small filter would even fit, which I cant find online.

Here is a shot inside the collector.

And the opening.


I feel like there should be a filter but im not sure. I guess it wouldnt be out of the question to unbolt the motor and install the filter through the top.

 

[W-Cummins]

There is normally a screen/sifter setup that inserts in through the door, and is just slightly smaller than the cyclone. It "filters" out the bigger **** from the beads before returning them to the gun. If you don't do this the gun will plug up a bunch

 

[lbhsbz]

One thing I did on mine is add a flange with a 2" PVC ball valve to the cabinet vent. As my dust collector filter loads up and ***** less, close the ball valve some to keep the negative pressure under control. Freshly cleaned dust collector, ball valve is wide open. I clean the filter when the ball valve is almost closed.