Home-built sand blasting cabinet

[BlueBomber]

I've been planning a sand blasting cabinet for a while now, and got a wild hair to start on the last day of the long holiday weekend a week ago.

I've had several projects and salvage operations that have accumulated plywood, 2x scraps, and glass windows that served as the basis for the build. I bought cabinet gloves, 6-inch PVC fittings to mount them on, a 30-watt LED floodlight, and hinges. I also bought a pressure-fed media tank that will be plumbed into the cabinet.

Unfortunately, I took no in-progress pictures, so here is the result of three days' work.

View media item 43124
The cabinet is 66" tall, 36" wide, and 22" deep. It was sized to fit along the wall in the background between the window and an electrical outlet. The paint inside and out was leftover from my recent garage renovation.

View media item 43125
The PVC fittings are fitted to a fixed panel on the front of the cabinet. I clamped the gloves to the fittings with some large hose clamps from a box I bought at a yard sale for a few bucks. The slanted panel with the viewing hole will be hinged at the top and lift up for cabinet access. I plan to add a simple prop rod to hold it up when opened.

View media item 43119
The LED light will brighten up the work considerably!

View media item 43126
The metal grate came from the stash of the guy I bought my pickup from this spring. He had a welding business he had shut down and had storage containers full of this stuff. He opened one up and let me pick out a piece.

View media item 43121
The media collector was fun to build. I had to find a calculator online to figure all of the compound miter cuts for a rectangular pyramid. It came out "okay" - not bad for my first one ever.

View media item 43123
Two salvaged picture windows were cut down to make five windows for the lid. Also a first for me, scoring and snapping very large glass panels over a temporary workbench in the driveway. I broke a fair number, but managed to get these usable ones from the batch.

Overall, I'm pleased so far. Now to overcome the curse of the 90%-finished project and get it done next week so I can reclaim my Mustang's parking spot!

 

[22george]

how do you plan on sealing the door??

 

[Buddy Boy]

Nice Job...It looks like you took your time on it. Here is a link for TP Tools.
It will help you get the things you will need to make it a working cabinet.
Guns, Nozzles, Gaskets, Gloves...That kind of thing. On some things like the sandblast gun is a tad expensive but the quality is there and you can by rebuild kits for about 15 bucks and then you're back in business again. Keep them in mind because they can save your ****. They have saved mine.
Good luck on finishing it and please post more pictures when complete.
I would be interested in seeing what you did to finish it.

Take Care

http://www.tptools.com/Abrasive-Blasting-Cabinets.html

 

[BlueBomber]

how do you plan on sealing the door??

I'll use some tack-on weather stripping around the opening perimeter. All of the other cabinet seams were caulked during assembly.

I'll also add a ventilation system - shopvac on one side, ducted air inlet on the other - to create negative pressure in the cabinet. I've been told the vac filter will fill up quickly, so I may find a way to rig a blower fan to pull the air and vent it outside.

Nice Job...It looks like you took your time on it. Here is a link for TP Tools.
It will help you get the things you will need to make it a working cabinet.
Guns, Nozzles, Gaskets, Gloves...That kind of thing. On some things like the sandblast gun is a tad expensive but the quality is there and you can by rebuild kits for about 15 bucks and then you're back in business again. Keep them in mind because they can save your ****. They have saved mine.
Good luck on finishing it and please post more pictures when complete.
I would be interested in seeing what you did to finish it.

Take Care

http://www.tptools.com/Abrasive-Blasting-Cabinets.html

Thanks! I have a bad habit of getting projects to the 90% complete point and then letting them sit. That was one of the motivations for putting it up here on Garage Journal!

Thanks also for the link. I do have everything I need (I think). More photos next weekend to show how I plumb it all in.

Cheers!

 

[1shotleft]

You can make a I simple catch system for the vacuum. Get a 5 gal bucket with a lid. Put a few inches of water inside. Place a hole near the top and run a vacuum hose from there to the box. Place another hole a half inch above the water and attach the vacuum to that. The water will catch all the dust and particulates.

 

[BlueBomber]

You can make a I simple catch system for the vacuum. Get a 5 gal bucket with a lid. Put a few inches of water inside. Place a hole near the top and run a vacuum hose from there to the box. Place another hole a half inch above the water and attach the vacuum to that. The water will catch all the dust and particulates.

Great idea - thanks!