Blast sand cabinet precautions?

[Giulianeo]

Hello Friends,

What are the level of precautions necessary for a sand blast cabinet, while the majority of the dust stays inside some does come out into the operator, any suggestions to improve safety while use?

Also on the topic what are some good blast media, that is less hazardous for health (lungs) and produces less dust while maintaining a good level of abrasiveness in order to remove rust effectively mainly for vehicle parts work?

Thank you,

Regards,

 

[astroracer]

A blast cabinet should be equipped with a dust collector. That is the best way to ensure you will have very little issues with breathing it in or it getting all over stuff in the shop. The dust collector also improves visibility inside the cabinet while blast as it will draw all of the dust out while you are blasting.
I wear a dust mask when using mine but it's not really necessary as my collector works very well and I have no dust issues outside the cabinet.
As far as material goes I know of nothing that creates less dust. What you are blasting will create a ton of dust right along with the media as it breaks down.
I use a product called Black Diamond the is carried by TSC. 7 or 8 bucks for a 40lb bag and it has excellent blasting qualities and a moderate life.
What you use depends on what you are blasting cast iron and steel can live with a harder media. Aluminum and soft materials, not so much.
Mark

 

[larry4406]

Astroracer -does your dust collector vent to the garage space or you port it outside?

 

[astroracer]

It vents into the space. I couldn't see spending 600 bucks or so on a canister vac so I built one. I used a couple of kitty litter buckets, a shop vac filter and a Harbor Freight dust collector vac.

I use one of my shop vac hoses to hook the cabinet up to the top bucket of the collection stack.

The hose simply plugs into a close fitting hole I cut in the bucket.

The upper bucket has a shop vac filter bolted into it.

The air is drawn through the filter out of the bucket through the big flex pipe. Any dust is collected on the filter and doesn't get through to the vac.
This setup works very well to keep dust down in the cabinet. Well worth the 120 dollars I have into it.
Plus, it all breaks down and stores inside the cabinet when not in use.
Mark