Got a blast cabinet

[markag]

It seemed like our was going to happen eventually. I decided that I wanted to do some powder coating at home. I have a powder coating gun, toaster oven, regular kitchenoven and an air compressor (60 gallon Sanborn, 3.7 hp). I had a siphon feed blast-out of-a-bucket system that I used on one job and quickly realized how much of a mess it would make in the back yard if I kept using it.

I took my birthday money yesterday and went out to harbor freight and picked up their bench top blast cabinet. I'm really looking forward to blasting in a cabinet. I've already got 50 lbs of TSC coal slag media. The gun that came in the cabinet is the exact same add the one that my other siphon blaster has. My compressor did a great job with that old setup, so I'm expecting it to still work out well in the cabinet. As long as I keep the nozzle size down on the gun, I should be fine.

I've already got a few jobs for friends / family lined up, so this will get use right away.

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[Falcon67]

Nice. At least you got the medium size one. I had the small one and recently trashed it and went to the floor model. They are good tools to have. I put glass bead in mine.

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Visibility during use is an issue. Have plenty of light available, maybe even consider adding additional lighting inside the cabinet.
Having good airflow through the unit is important as well. It quickly develops a dust cloud inside, so a strong vacuum with a really really good filter are essential. The extremely fine dust generated will get through most standard filters and quickly ruin the motor bearings of the vac.

I used to have a SkatBlast cabinet and it functioned very well. A few years ago i got a HF cabinet to use in my home garage and was very disappointed compared to my other cabinet. Most of what I blast is rusty antique car parts. If I was doing newer parts and mostly just stripping paint it would probably work better.

Good luck with your new cabinet, I'm sure you will be able to improvise and adapt to suit your needs.

 

[markag]

Yeah. I know it isn't going to be a perfect cabinet. But my expectations match the price. I have an old shop vac that I'll probably hook up to it right away to help out. Long term I'm thinking of making a water trap for the dust and just hook up my nicer shop vac to that. I also have a few LED under cabinet puck lights that I bought to stick in the cabinet to give our some internal light.

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[67carl]

I've been considering that very cabinet, and depending on space when I get my garage done, may buy one.

I suggest you read through the reviews as there were many helpful suggestions by owners on adding lights, disposable covers for the windows and many other mods that will make the cabinet better.

Post up some before/after pics when you use it.

 

[Jeff May]

I have the same one. It leaked media around some of the areas where the cabinet went together. I sealed all the seams with silicon, added a light inside and hooked it up to an old shop vac.
After replacing the hf nozzles and head several times, I upgraded to TIP nozzles, head and pickup tube.
Doesn't work to bad for a bench top. When the funds come along though, I will replace it with a floor model from TIP.

 

[outdoorspace]

I had the floor model version of that, it leaked everywhere. I had to pull it apart and silicone it, add a much brighter light to see anything and get a vacuum for it. After all that it was still not great, just ended up getting better one.

 

[markag]

Once read the comments on it. It appears that they tried to seal the seams from the factory, but I've read that they still like to leak even with the factory sealant. I'm also aware that the media may not want to slide back down to the bottom on its own and I may have to shake it back down from time to time. As far as gin performance goes, I expect it to act the sane as my other harbor freight siphon blaster. They both use the same exact gun.

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[outdoorspace]

If I did it again I would seal it with Butyl Tape instead.

 

[markag]

I put my pick lights in the cabinet. They are just stick on lights with adhesive velcro pads. I think they should give a decent amount of light. When they get all pitted and destroyed, they were only 10 bucks and I can replace them.

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[92GreenYJ]

I also bought the larger floor model. When I put it together I ran over every single seam with clear silicone sealant. I haven't actually used mine yet though as I haven't decided what media to buy for it. I want a good general purpose media that will work on most materials. Steel, aluminum, maybe plastic. What does everyone suggest?

 

[Falcon67]

Start with glass bead. Aluminum oxide is very aggressive. For delicate stuff usually walnut shells would be good.

 

[miketyler]

The cheap light went out quickly on my HF free-standing model. I removed and put a regular fluorescent fixture and hinged the top housing for easy access. Good idea to seal up the unit before you load with media. I like glass beads because its so easy on material loss. If you are just doing heavy rusted parts a more coarse abrasive may be the ticket. Does that model have a media drain at bottom? The floor model does making media change fast.

 

[kenfain]

The cheap light went out quickly on my HF free-standing model. I removed and put a regular fluorescent fixture and hinged the top housing for easy access. Good idea to seal up the unit before you load with media. I like glass beads because its so easy on material loss. If you are just doing heavy rusted parts a more coarse abrasive may be the ticket. Does that model have a media drain at bottom? The floor model does making media change fast.

How bout some pictures of the mods you made to that cabinet? I'm interested in doing the hinge top mod also. Just need ideas on how that could be done, and still keep the seal.

 

[Norcal]

My HF floor model came w/ a fairly decent light (2-F17T8's) which is way better then the normal F15T8 or F8T5 work light in most of them (import models).

 

[markag]

I loaded mine up with the medium grit coal slag from tractor supply. I've used it before to blast old powdercoat of of an aluminum alternator shell. It did a pretty good job of blasting the coating off, but it is a little more aggressive on aluminum. However a new coating of powder laid down smooth on the slightly rougher surface. I'm hoping that it will break down some over time. My next go around will likely be with aluminum oxide or a fine grade coal slag. I want something with enough bite to clear off old coatings and rust. I like the thought of glass bead, but I've heard it just doesn't cut through the old paint, powder, or rust as well.

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[Ross/Kzoo]

My suggestion is to check some previous threads about suction through a water filter and then through your vac. Really gets the dust into the water media.

http://www.thegaragegazette.com/index.php?topic=65.0

That's what I did and works great for me.

 

[markag]

I was planning on doing the same thing on mine. I had read a very similar thread about waste traps. I've got a few spare 5 gallon buckets around from a drywall mud.

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[CudaChick1968]

Start with glass bead. Aluminum oxide is very aggressive. For delicate stuff usually walnut shells would be good.

Glass bead, aluminum oxide and walnut shells are decent at removing light paint and some rust, but none of them will provide you with the "tooth" that you need for powder coating to adhere well and last a long time.

And please practice, practice and then practice some more before you start doing "projects for your friends / family..." if you intend to keep them on your good side.

TPTools.com is a great place for gun upgrades and consumables for your new cabinet. If you're anything like me, I pretty much replaced everything it came with except for the cabinet housing itself ... and then a few years later did exactly that. The Clarke wasn't big enough for my business.

 

[Falcon67]

I can't believe that Al Ox won't provide enough tooth for powder coat. I tried some on aluminum brackets and the brackets looked like 80 grit paper after blasting. Probably the AL grit - HF only sells 70 grit. I do like the glass bead on aluminum that isn't going to be coated. I've done a couple of alternator shells and a couple of intakes. It works for rust on cast iron heads, but - at least with the HF beads - I have to crank the pressure up to get a clean surface.

 

[markag]

Any powder coating forum I've ever been on has recommended aluminum oxide as powder coating prep.

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[CudaChick1968]

... sorry but that one just made me smile markag.

Yeahhh, you better listen to those guys on the powder coating forums. They know what they're doing -- you can tell because they spend their time spreading the "knowledge" instead of actually powder coating anything. << duckin >>

Yes, aluminum oxide DOES work. It's just expensive and doesn't last as long as other medias without pulverizing into useless dust.

 

[ZRX61]

One other important *upgrade*....

Get a piece of foam & stick it in the vent at the back of the cabinet. It will still let air flow but will stop a lot of the dust from coating every surface in the garage. I cut up an old sponge used for washing the truck.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

I'd like to get a set of replacement gloves for my 20 year old HF unit (grey). Haven't found anything yet, but the suggestions here make me hopeful.

The windows do get abraded quickly. Clearing the dust with a filter and vacuum is definitely on my list.

Another trick I've seen and considered is increasing the size of the cabinet itself by making a bump out for the back. But by the time I'm done making all those mods, maybe I should just get a newer floor standing unit instead. Might save me time and money.

 

[ZRX61]

The windows last longer of you put 2-3in wide strips of scotch tape on the inside. When it gets bad just tear one off etc.

TP Tools sell gloves.

 

[markag]

What have you guys don't to attach a shop vac house to the dust collection port? The port isn't big enough for my house to go in?

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[Falcon67]

Yes, aluminum oxide DOES work. It's just expensive and doesn't last as long as other medias without pulverizing into useless dust.

I use the HF media both AL and glass - it ALL turns to dust PDQ

What have you guys don't to attach a shop vac house to the dust collection port? The port isn't big enough for my house to go in?

 

[markag]

I used the cabinet for the first time today. I'm pretty happy with it. I ended up just removing the house adapter that came on the cabinet and put the house end in the hole. I used since tape to help keep it in place. Worked fine for now.

The black diamond coal slag works pretty well in there. It cleaned rust off of a steel electrical box cover in right away. I might just throw a coat of powder in it just for fun.

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[BTG]

... sorry but that one just made me smile markag.

Yeahhh, you better listen to those guys on the powder coating forums. They know what they're doing -- you can tell because they spend their time spreading the "knowledge" instead of actually powder coating anything. << duckin >>

Yes, aluminum oxide DOES work. It's just expensive and doesn't last as long as other medias without pulverizing into useless dust.

Not to get in a ******* match, but 70 grit alum oxide is what should be used for Powdercoating or prepping for ceramic. Yes, its not as aggressive a slag, but it won't tear up the metal either. It does have the correct profile for coating. We run three Trinco dry blasters continuous during the day in our coating business and buy alum oxide by the pallet. We've had stuff brought in that was blasted with slag and it looked like ****.

FYI: We don't spend any time on a Powdercoating forum either

 

[markag]

My simple fix. The last aluminum part I coated was peope with coal slag. It was a pretty rough texture. The powder came out smooth though. Aluminum oxide will probably be what I switch to next.

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[schmoldty]

nice

 

[bulletpruf]

I have the floor model from HF. Wouldn't go any smaller; I use it for car parts, and sometimes it gets kind of small. Have a shop vac hooked up to it that exhausts outside, but still makes a mess in the garage. Also used silicone in all the seams.

I use the aluminum oxide that HF sells. Works mighty fine for me.

Lately, I've been using my Sears outdoor setup - hopper with a gun attached. Just lay out a tarp in the driveway and blast away. When I'm done, I put the media back into the hopper.

If I put some wheels on my HF floor model cabinet, I would wheel it outside and probably use it more. Also need to add the stick-on lights on the interior; that would help a lot with seeing what's going on inside the cabinet.

Scott

 

[Coloshaver]

I got one of their floor models too. I went back and forth between HF and a better one, but ~$160 (with a 25% off coupon) won.

Here are some of the things I learned:
- Absolutely do use caulk on all the seams when you assemble it.
- The light is junk. I had an old florescent shop light that I hung on the mounts inside. It is much better, but a halogen spot would be even better.
- I tried using it without a vacuum. It'll blow dust everywhere!! A lot of folks have complained about this, but think about it - You are pumping 8 - 12 CFM (depending on your compressor) of air into a box. All that air has to go somewhere. It will take any fine dust with it as it tries to leave the box. I tried to be clever and put a 6" diameter aftermarket air filter on the port on the back. It was nowhere near enough air flow. I could feel the gloves pressurize around my hands whenever I pulled the trigger and it still forced dust out any small opening. I even tried plugging a vacuum hose into the vacuum port and just putting the hose into a bucket of water. That still created pressure inside the box and splashed water all over the floor. I finally gave in and hooked up my vacuum. Using the glass media it does clog the filter pretty quickly. (I'm still working on a water "bong" type set up, but haven't figured out how to prevent sucking water into my vac. Stay tuned.) With a vac attached, I took the air filter off the back vent to keep the negative pressure from blowing up the gloves like balloons. It may be worth having a way to adjust the "****" to yield a slight negative pressure with the gun trigger pulled, but no more than necessary. That might help the water filter too. That is my next experiment.
- The pickup tube is junk and it turned out was not correctly attached to he vacuum hose. First I tried a piece of 1/2" copper with and el on top to keep the siphon hose from bending and kinking (see next item). Then I did a little searching and found a couple links to the theory of the pickup tube. I ended up with a second piece of 1/2" copper parallel to the actual pickup to let air down into the media. It really helped, but I may tweak the design a little more. You could get a pick up tube from TP also, but I had the copper pipe handy and it seems to work.
- The air and siphon hoses are also pretty poor. The air hose blew out near the gun and the siphon hose would kink and collapse. I replaced the air feed with a coil air hose I had lying around. It does restrict the flow a little but is really flexible and never kinks. I ordered a replacement siphon hose when I ordered a new gun from TP Tools.
- The gun is junk. Once I got the pickup working, the siphon hose would fill with media, but wouldn't come out of the gun. I got the cabinet to do 4 rusty wheels off a trailer. I spent hours (8 - 10) troubleshooting the cabinet and trying to clean the wheels. I tried both medium grit Black Diamond and fine grit glass. Ordering a new gun from TP (and a new siphon hose) fixed everything. The TP gun is really nice. I highly recommend that upgrade! Size the gun (small, medium or large) for your compressor capacity.
- Media does accumulate just inside the door and falls out when you open it. I used a piece of flashing as kind of a deflector on the inside of the door. It helps, but I still bang on the door before I open it. (Interestingly, TP sells a little tray to mount under the door to catch the media so I don't think the problem is unique to the HF unit.)

Summary:
If you have the money and want a blast cabinet you can hook up a use, I guess I'd look beyond HF. If you have a coupon, a little time and don't mind adding another $70 worth of parts, the HF cabinet (i.e. the box itself and once sealed up) is not too bad.

 

[CudaChick1968]

Not to get in a ******* match, but 70 grit alum oxide is what should be used for Powdercoating or prepping for ceramic. Yes, its not as aggressive a slag, but it won't tear up the metal either. It does have the correct profile for coating. We run three Trinco dry blasters continuous during the day in our coating business and buy alum oxide by the pallet. We've had stuff brought in that was blasted with slag and it looked like ****.

FYI: We don't spend any time on a Powdercoating forum either

My simple fix. The last aluminum part I coated was peope with coal slag. It was a pretty rough texture. The powder came out smooth though. Aluminum oxide will probably be what I switch to next.

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Ya'll are too cute. I live out in the sticks so what I can get my hands on here locally is probably more limited. Try it in the Extra Fine or Fine grit instead. You won't have any metal damage and the surface will be prime.

As an aside, I just found out last week that the place I've been getting my Black Beauty slag for years closed its local operation. I'll be trying the stuff from Tractor Supply and keeping my fingers crossed. Hell, at this point I just might become an aluminum oxide user ..........

 

[markag]

Yeah. The medium is a little more coarse than I would like. I'm blasting a bunch of cast iron window weights right now. I'm hoping those will break it down some. I've heard that you may have to ask tractor supply to order you a fine grit bag. They don't always keep it in stock.

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[Falcon67]

BTW, the high buck wall mount vac in my picture above was $20 at Target. Sacrificial lamb. When it dies, I'll throw it over the fence and go get another one. It pulls hard enough to yank the gloves out of the sockets.

Wheels - for sure put a floor model on wheels. Mine is all caulked and still leaks a fine dust, so it's nice to roll it over to the big door for some blasting work. Makes for easy cleanup. I have not had any problems with the gun or hoses, but will check out mods on the pickup tube.

 

[jpeace3]

I just bought a used Trinco cabinet. I am in the process of cleaning and repainting it now. I have been around blast cabinets for years but learned a neat lesson from the guy that I bought the cabinet from. Repaint the inside of the cabinet with white latex Paint. It really helps on viewing the inside of the cabinet while blasting. The latex paint is rubber and will not blast off. I tried to blast it off with my hobby shop blaster and it is stuck pretty good. I am going to sand it a little and re coat with white latex.

 

[BTG]

Ya'll are too cute. I live out in the sticks so what I can get my hands on here locally is probably more limited. Try it in the Extra Fine or Fine grit instead. You won't have any metal damage and the surface will be prime.

As an aside, I just found out last week that the place I've been getting my Black Beauty slag for years closed its local operation. I'll be trying the stuff from Tractor Supply and keeping my fingers crossed. Hell, at this point I just might become an aluminum oxide user ..........

Being in the sticks definitely limits your options... What kind of blaster and the pressure you are running probably affects what works best as well. The black beauty some folks are using around here is aggressive as hell.

I can tell you this, its 70 grit is aggressive enough that we've had to retire 2 Trinco's in the last few years. We probably patch the expanded metal floor one a month and patch the sides every few months!

 

[markag]

I am working on a project this weekend for a coworker. Powder coating some brackets off of his truck running boards.

They were rusty with two coats of paint. They blasted clean without too much trouble. I was fighting water in the air lines towards the end of the second bracket. It is really hot and humid today and my single water filter wasn't enough. Got them done though. I know this cabinet isn't perfect, but it is way better than blasting in the back yard on a tarp.