Home built blast cabinet

[mad57]

Update: I primed it last night, and left the gun finish, it has a textured look just like the wall cabinets and the hf side box looks krinkle, did 3 coats of orange glow base, and 3 coats of clear, came out pretty nice i didnt put alot of prep into it at all its a blast cabinet not a car and with my knee recovery i just wanted to get it done to use it heres a pic.

 

[BLACK DEATH]

Thats nice, id love to have one that big but no room.

 

[mad57]

Thats nice, id love to have one that big but no room.

Thanks, its been a labor of love. gotta get it done and into use.

 

[Climber]

have you ever consider to put window on side door? Just crazy idea ...

 

[mad57]

have you ever consider to put window on side door? Just crazy idea ...

Maybe not crazy. its big enough that i could install a window and set of gloves ,but at this point do i really need it

 

[brownbagg]

hell. might has well put windows and gloves in the back too. with a chain hoist system, you could slip a car body in there.

 

[mad57]

hell. might has well put windows and gloves in the back too. with a chain hoist system, you could slip a car body in there.

A full size 57 fender fits in there really nice

 

[Omphaloskeptic]

mad57, very nice work! Looking forward to more pics as you fit it out.

That volume looks big enough to hold a mini-rotisserie for parts so you could blast away while it is slowing spinning. I've never seen anything like I've just described; seems like it would make life easier for near-production work. I've never used a blast cabinet before, but it must be a pain maneuvering parts with gloved hands and holding them somehow while using the gun. You guys who have used cabinets a lot must have some ideas on what would make the perfect blast cabinet. What other wild ideas could mad57 build into this monster cabinet?

 

[mad57]

Here are a few more pics, got my 2 hose manifold hooked up with the lines run, the purpose of that is when the hoses enter the blast body i put a seam sealer to keep it tight so instead of changing the whole hose and cutting out the sealer i only have to change the lower out side hoses as the inner ones wont be moving, it has 4 90 watt flood lights, i used foam adhesive sealers for the doors, and **** glove flanges and gloves, there are 2 hoses in side the one airs the blast gun it self and the other is a blow off gun tip, the foot pedal has a 2 way valve down is gun foward is air gun. I need to find or make a reduce for the blast gun from 1/2 to 3/8 to feed air to it ,it has a 1/2 pick up hose which ill zip tie to the bottm of the cabinet with a hf 65lb magnet to keep it right in the media. I installed the chrome snapon style handles on both doors, now a trip this week to my buddy glass shop for glass panes and fab out my glass plastic trim and load it with media and get to work, i will post a video when complete so close.

 

[mad57]

mad57, very nice work! Looking forward to more pics as you fit it out.

That volume looks big enough to hold a mini-rotisserie for parts so you could blast away while it is slowing spinning. I've never seen anything like I've just described; seems like it would make life easier for near-production work. I've never used a blast cabinet before, but it must be a pain maneuvering parts with gloved hands and holding them somehow while using the gun. You guys who have used cabinets a lot must have some ideas on what would make the perfect blast cabinet. What other wild ideas could mad57 build into this monster cabinet?

Thanks for the thumbs up! yes i have a few ideas for rim rollers , a pipe slide track for rears, ect i will post as much as the gj wants to see. next build will be my huge powder oven.

 

[mad57]

a few more....

 

[larry4406]

Very nice.

The TP tools versions have the glass on an inclined face while yours is vertical. Any pros/cons of either? I would think the inclined face would be easier on the neck for viewing?

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Biggest problem is, when you are doing large parts, it takes FOREVER if you are using a 5 or 7.5 hp compressor of 18 to 24 cfm. I bought a large cabinet from TPTools thinking I might want to get something somewhat oversized in there. First even remotely large item was a 16 inch rim off the front of my tractor. Even with aggressive abrasive (and you get tired of changing out different grades real quick) it was so slow, doing a couple of inch square patch at a time. I gave up and scrapped the rim. CaseNewHolland has them reasonable and I bought one.

Charles

 

[mad57]

Very nice.

The TP tools versions have the glass on an inclined face while yours is vertical. Any pros/cons of either? I would think the inclined face would be easier on the neck for viewing?

I loss about 3 1/2 inch s of view in the cabinet on the bottom under the gloves thats it but would have lost alot of realestate up top if it was angled, there goes my bike frames, quads ect. with it being square it will fit more items. I will let everyone know when shes done.

 

[mad57]

Biggest problem is, when you are doing large parts, it takes FOREVER if you are using a 5 or 7.5 hp compressor of 18 to 24 cfm. I bought a large cabinet from TPTools thinking I might want to get something somewhat oversized in there. First even remotely large item was a 16 inch rim off the front of my tractor. Even with aggressive abrasive (and you get tired of changing out different grades real quick) it was so slow, doing a couple of inch square patch at a time. I gave up and scrapped the rim. CaseNewHolland has them reasonable and I bought one.

Charles

I agree it does take some time but i try to use a stripper on really bad stuff let that work for me than ill clean and blast. of course time is money if its my own piece i just hunker down and do it, if its a custys i charge accordingly. I also have my back up compressor as a second 60 gallons if i really need the air volume. And yes some times it doesnt pay to resurect an old piece if new is available on the cheap, thank god for google and amazon

 

[mad57]

UPdate: I got the glass installed and plexi frame around it,again plexi was a free bee alittle beat up but free, got the air lines run and foot pedal working, charged it with air seems to be working 100% I will fill it with media today and give it a go ill post how she works later. 2 more pics.

 

[rburke65]

Not only a nice build but a nicely documented build. Thanks for all your time and effort for the "show-n-tell".

 

[mad57]

Not only a nice build but a nicely documented build. Thanks for all your time and effort for the "show-n-tell".

My pleasure hope it helps or motivates someone.

 

[mad57]

Well i put in the blast media course crush glass, i installed the plexi glass inner panels to help protect the main glass panel, hooked up the ridged shop vac and had at it, IT WORKED GREAT!! the new gun really moves the glass, i bought it because it works with air compressors under 5hp, if i had a bigger air compressor i could blast anything, the plexi glass still had static on it so the glass dust stuck to it like glue other than those 2 minor things 100% build, im going to look into lessor (medium)media maybe a air pressure valve to regulate the air to slow it down a bit, made a media rake to help push the stuff back to center, my angled base works great but its so big it tends to say to sides, one last pic and this thread is done.Thanks for reading.

 

[Mmfh]

That's a great looking cabinet! Love the color too, same as mine "Zero". Very cool being able to put a bike frame inside and close the door!

 

[ears]

To help with the media you could bolt on a ********. Vibco style if you dont want to google that. Used they're dirt cheap one on eBay now for $10. Slight chance I even have a few left.

Sweet cabinet. One of these years I plan on a parts washer of a similar design and size.

 

[1320stang]

Might want to think about adding a ******** to shake the sand down the low sloped funnel.

Wished I'd seen this earlier, I was thinking if the windows were spaced out, could you stretch aluminum screen flush with the cabinet? This would keep a bit of the sand from abbraiding the window so much, leave the bottom open and slope the box so any sand that does make it in would slide out.

 

[mad57]

I actually found out why the media is spotty after about 5 min. the new gun i bought has a rating for a 5hp and under, my compressor is a champion from 1989 shes a bit tired, it blasts great for about 5 min while the air volume is full, it blazes a path about 1in wide clean, then after that it draws slower from loss of air. I m gonna try a few things: i have another air compressor about same age and also 60 gl tank. im gonna hook them together and see how that works, also the course crushed glass is too course, it requires alot of after sanding to get it back to smooth so im gonna buy a medium glass media, and possibly try to reg the air flow a bit to extend the blast time with just the 1 compressor than both see if i can get a longer blast. Oh man if i only had 3 phase i know where theres a nice screw compressor This might be my excuse to buy a new toy (compressor).

 

[mad57]

Might want to think about adding a ******** to shake the sand down the low sloped funnel.

Wished I'd seen this earlier, I was thinking if the windows were spaced out, could you stretch aluminum screen flush with the cabinet? This would keep a bit of the sand from abbraiding the window so much, leave the bottom open and slope the box so any sand that does make it in would slide out.

It actually has a pretty good v -pan it does roll back to center pretty good since ive been using it, but at almost 85 inchs long it still needs a push back to center. the screen might work ill have to give it a try, where the glass is ,its pretty high the media so far has not even touch the plexi inner, its the dust and static thats the problem, but i did install a seperate blow off air tool it clears it pretty quick.

 

[LutzTD]

I actually found out why the media is spotty after about 5 min. the new gun i bought has a rating for a 5hp and under, my compressor is a champion from 1989 shes a bit tired, it blasts great for about 5 min while the air volume is full, it blazes a path about 1in wide clean, then after that it draws slower from loss of air. I m gonna try a few things: i have another air compressor about same age and also 60 gl tank. im gonna hook them together and see how that works, also the course crushed glass is too course, it requires alot of after sanding to get it back to smooth so im gonna buy a medium glass media, and possibly try to reg the air flow a bit to extend the blast time with just the 1 compressor than both see if i can get a longer blast. Oh man if i only had 3 phase i know where theres a nice screw compressor This might be my excuse to buy a new toy (compressor).

very nice design and build. when I had my corvette blasted by a commercial outfit they used plastic beads instead of glass, not so much dmage. Of course I have no idea where they got it or what it was, but it was their selling point. It did not do any damage to the fiberglass underneath so it must have been pretty good

 

[472scout]

Sorry if I missed this but are you installing a vacuum to improve the visibility? I've always thought a vacuum was pretty much a necessity.

And great job on the cabinet. Most likely I will pick up an used pressurized blast cabinet on CL but if not I'm going to steal some of your ideas.

 

[mad57]

Sorry if I missed this but are you installing a vacuum to improve the visibility? I've always thought a vacuum was pretty much a necessity.

And great job on the cabinet. Most likely I will pick up an used pressurized blast cabinet on CL but if not I'm going to steal some of your ideas.

Yes i installed a electrical coupler on the back top of the cabinet, my ridged shop vac hose nozel fits in there perfect, oddly i can blast in there for like 5 min with out vac on and its not really that cloudy, but than again its got 4 90watt bulbs i might just install a small squirrl cage blower fan to hose and out side, that vac gets pretty annoying after awhile.

 

[BADSIX]

one thing i did was to make a filter screen that gos under your expaned metal. i used some widow screen frame and window screen, then welded some tabs for it to set on about 3-4 in below the expaned metal. it collects a lot of junk that can plug up your gun. i have a section of the expaned metal that i can lift out when it need attention.

 

[larry4406]

Mad57 - how about an update on the cabinet after some use? Anything you would do differently? I am still impressed with this build.