Grounding a sandblast cabinet

[trooper1954]

Hi all,
Brand new to sandblasting, and have just inherited a Samona blasting cabinet that is no longer made. I wish to set it up properly, and have read that I need to ground certain aspects of the cabinet to avoid static shock. Can someone tell me exactly what I need to do? Ground wire from the gun to the cabinet wall? Ground wire form the cabinet to.....?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

When I did have a cabinet, just the cabinet was grounded. The sleeves/gloves made good enough insulators from the hose and gun- at least for me.

However, if you introduce some humidity to the system you can almost eliminate all static buildup- JK!

 

[Shadowdog500]

I used to get zapped regularly in the nose or chin by the blast cabinet that wasn’t mine. The spark is from static electricity and is about the same as you would get from dragging you feet on a carpet and touching someone.

I never get shocked on mine. My blast cabinet itself is grounded through the ground wire in the blower motor and light. The other source of static electricity build up is the sand flowing through the non grounded metal gun. When it builds up enough charge it will go through the glove (or a hole in a worn glove) and will spark the part of you that is nearest the cabinet (which is usually the chin to the nose for me)

Some blast gun hoses have a ground wire to tie the gun to the cabinet. If your gun isn’t grounded and static electricity is a problem you can run your own wire. Some people also ground themselves.

I would just run the cabinet as-is and see if you get static electricity.

You don’t want to add any humidity to the system because it makes the media clump. When I use my blast cabinet I use two line dryers. The first is my wall mounted pipe desiccant dryer that all of my air goes through, I also screw on a $2 HF Disposable Inline Moisture Filter on the blast cabinet air inlet.

 

[Doug]

Some blast gun hoses have a ground wire to tie the gun to the cabinet. If your gun isn’t grounded and static electricity is a problem you can run your own wire. Some people also ground themselves.

What he said. I used to get zapped regularly until I ran a ground wire from the gun to the cabinet. This cured the problem 100%.

 

[Showkey]

The other place for static build up is on the dust collection/control vacuum side. Similar to saw dust in wood shop, ground the dust control pipes.

 

[TRWham]

And don't wear a wool sweater while running a blast cabinet. I did this once and it was a tad uncomfortable as I was subjected to numerous small jolts from the edge of the housing where the gloves attached.

 

[PWC Repair]

I've used my HF cabinet quite a bit and never been shocked. Nothing grounded, It's just free standing on the concrete.

 

[ratdoggy]

I believe TIP tools has a kit for that.
I had to connect the gun to the cabinet and stand on a rubber mat

 

[trooper1954]

Thanks to all for the responses....having not actually tried the cabinet yet, I think I'll see IF I haver a problem before I second guess myself here. It sems some have used these types of cabinets with no problem.....we'll see, and I'll update you.
Thanks again

 

[csp]

I think some of the static electricity comes from how the cabinet is sitting on the floor. Mine didn't shock me until I put it on a base with casters. Now I get zapped fairly regularly. I've been meaning to put a ground wire from the base to one of those magnetic welding grounds and just set the ground on the concrete to see if there's any change.

 

[redmondjp]

I think some of the static electricity comes from how the cabinet is sitting on the floor. Mine didn't shock me until I put it on a base with casters. Now I get zapped fairly regularly. I've been meaning to put a ground wire from the base to one of those magnetic welding grounds and just set the ground on the concrete to see if there's any change.

If there is a light on the cabinet, just make sure that you have a 3-wire cord to the cabinet, and that the green ground wire (properly wired at the plug, with a properly-grounded and wired receptacle feeding it) is bonded to the chassis of the sandblast cabinet.

 

[csp]

The metal lighting boxes are wired per code and bonded to the cabinet and to each other.

 

[redmondjp]

The metal lighting boxes are wired per code and bonded to the cabinet and to each other.

You shouldn't be building up any charge then, unless parts of the cabinet are paint-isolated or your receptacle isn't grounded.