My Workshop / Garage
- Thread starter wbrian63
- Start date
I am confused by your vacuum system. I recall a nice dust collector / cyclone separator at one point that looked like it would be the heart of a dust collection system but then never saw it again. Then you show the two wet/dry vacs one of top of the other. Can you elaborate?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Happy to elaborate.
There are two systems (actually 3) in the shop. One is the dust collector. I don't have a picture of it mounted, but it's to the left of the vacuums in this picture. In fact, the large pipe coming up out of the floor is the feed pipe to the DC.
A dust collection system is different than a vacuum system. DC's move large quantities of air at a relatively slow speed. Vacuums move small quantities of air at high speed. To move a lot of light stuff, like wood chips from a planer or joiner or sawdust from a table or band saw, then a DC is the tool of choice. The design of a DC system is a fairly complicated matter. Places like Penn State Industries and Oneida offer design services for folks purchasing their products.
What's important to remember is that there is a constant, and therefore a limitation in every DC system - that is the Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) capacity of the DC. Our DC is supposed to move 1,000 CFM at 2.5" WC static pressure. It will never move more than that.
The inlet to my DC is 6" and the smallest trunk line feed is 4". 4" is a typical size for the outlet of table saws, planers, jointers, etc. Starting with a 4" inlet means higher velocity (usually expressed as feet per minute FPM) as in theory the same amount of air is being pulled through a smaller inlet. In actuality, there's a reduction in flow volume because of the restriction. Not a big one, but care must be taken to not "neck down" a DC too much. The CFM will not increase. What the system is pulling will be determined by the inlet and the CFM capacity of the system - period. Now, transition from 4" to a larger size duct - say 5" or 6", and remembering the CFM is constant, the result is that the velocity will decrease.
Remembering the object of the game is to transport the media being introduced at the inlet all the way to the DC where it can be separated from the airflow via the cyclone and filter and deposited in the drum. If you allow the FPM of the air to decrease too much, the media will drop out of the flow, and the eventual result is a clogged system. Not such a good thing with a system like ours which is buried under the floor.
To make sure that the FPM of the system remains at it's highest capacity, it's best to not reduce the total inlet surface area to much less than the inlet surface area at the DC. Leaving the inlet to the table saw open, which is about 4" (6.28 sq inches) makes up for the flow loss when the other tools in the system are in use.
The reason why a DC can't be used to pull from a chop saw is the outlet of most of these tools is 1-1/2 or 2" - way too small. Even with a potential to pull 1,000 CFM, there's no way the DC is going to be able to do that. Once the airstream moves into a 4" duct, and then into the 6" main trunk it's velocity will be barely a breeze, and much of the media will drop out of the flow.
You can see in this picture the "plumbing" for the DC. The 90-degree sweep in the lower right hand corner is for the planer/belt sander. The 45-degree sweep farther up the picture is for the table saw. The diagonal run across to the left side of the picture is for the below-the-saw pickup for the chop saw.
And in this picture, taken from a reverse angle, you can see some of the pipes for the vacuum system. The 2" pipe running across the picture near the front crosses over to the table saw table for an outlet there. The stub up through the floor on the right is for an inlet I thought I'd need - it has been capped off. The inlet at the far end of the picture is the inlet for the lower vacuum.
I decided to use 2 vacuums to improve the efficiency of the system. The upper vacuum feeds (or *****, depending on your point of view) from 5 points - general floor sweep, horizontal belt sander, drill press, router table thru-the-fence and an outlet in the loft. The general floor sweep is what we use to vacuum the floor, etc. A long "MrNozzle" (http://www.mrnozzleinc.com/) 1-7/8" hose with various attachments works great in this area. The lower vacuum services the chop saw, a general floor sweep attachment at the chop saw, and general floor sweep at the table saw. I tried to limit the number of service points for the vacuum that services the chop saw, to maximize the effectiveness of that system.
For all of the systems, the control circuitry allows for a delay when the trigger is removed. The DC runs for 30 seconds after the trigger is removed, and the vacuums run for 10 seconds. This helps to ensure that the media in the line has a chance to get to the end of the line before the system shuts down.
I hope this answers your question, and I hope you could remain awake long enough to read it...
Happy Thanksgiving.
Regards
There are two systems (actually 3) in the shop. One is the dust collector. I don't have a picture of it mounted, but it's to the left of the vacuums in this picture. In fact, the large pipe coming up out of the floor is the feed pipe to the DC.
A dust collection system is different than a vacuum system. DC's move large quantities of air at a relatively slow speed. Vacuums move small quantities of air at high speed. To move a lot of light stuff, like wood chips from a planer or joiner or sawdust from a table or band saw, then a DC is the tool of choice. The design of a DC system is a fairly complicated matter. Places like Penn State Industries and Oneida offer design services for folks purchasing their products.
What's important to remember is that there is a constant, and therefore a limitation in every DC system - that is the Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) capacity of the DC. Our DC is supposed to move 1,000 CFM at 2.5" WC static pressure. It will never move more than that.
The inlet to my DC is 6" and the smallest trunk line feed is 4". 4" is a typical size for the outlet of table saws, planers, jointers, etc. Starting with a 4" inlet means higher velocity (usually expressed as feet per minute FPM) as in theory the same amount of air is being pulled through a smaller inlet. In actuality, there's a reduction in flow volume because of the restriction. Not a big one, but care must be taken to not "neck down" a DC too much. The CFM will not increase. What the system is pulling will be determined by the inlet and the CFM capacity of the system - period. Now, transition from 4" to a larger size duct - say 5" or 6", and remembering the CFM is constant, the result is that the velocity will decrease.
Remembering the object of the game is to transport the media being introduced at the inlet all the way to the DC where it can be separated from the airflow via the cyclone and filter and deposited in the drum. If you allow the FPM of the air to decrease too much, the media will drop out of the flow, and the eventual result is a clogged system. Not such a good thing with a system like ours which is buried under the floor.
To make sure that the FPM of the system remains at it's highest capacity, it's best to not reduce the total inlet surface area to much less than the inlet surface area at the DC. Leaving the inlet to the table saw open, which is about 4" (6.28 sq inches) makes up for the flow loss when the other tools in the system are in use.
The reason why a DC can't be used to pull from a chop saw is the outlet of most of these tools is 1-1/2 or 2" - way too small. Even with a potential to pull 1,000 CFM, there's no way the DC is going to be able to do that. Once the airstream moves into a 4" duct, and then into the 6" main trunk it's velocity will be barely a breeze, and much of the media will drop out of the flow.
You can see in this picture the "plumbing" for the DC. The 90-degree sweep in the lower right hand corner is for the planer/belt sander. The 45-degree sweep farther up the picture is for the table saw. The diagonal run across to the left side of the picture is for the below-the-saw pickup for the chop saw.
And in this picture, taken from a reverse angle, you can see some of the pipes for the vacuum system. The 2" pipe running across the picture near the front crosses over to the table saw table for an outlet there. The stub up through the floor on the right is for an inlet I thought I'd need - it has been capped off. The inlet at the far end of the picture is the inlet for the lower vacuum.
I decided to use 2 vacuums to improve the efficiency of the system. The upper vacuum feeds (or *****, depending on your point of view) from 5 points - general floor sweep, horizontal belt sander, drill press, router table thru-the-fence and an outlet in the loft. The general floor sweep is what we use to vacuum the floor, etc. A long "MrNozzle" (http://www.mrnozzleinc.com/) 1-7/8" hose with various attachments works great in this area. The lower vacuum services the chop saw, a general floor sweep attachment at the chop saw, and general floor sweep at the table saw. I tried to limit the number of service points for the vacuum that services the chop saw, to maximize the effectiveness of that system.
For all of the systems, the control circuitry allows for a delay when the trigger is removed. The DC runs for 30 seconds after the trigger is removed, and the vacuums run for 10 seconds. This helps to ensure that the media in the line has a chance to get to the end of the line before the system shuts down.
I hope this answers your question, and I hope you could remain awake long enough to read it...
Happy Thanksgiving.
Regards
Do you think your next shop will be more of a "permenant" place ?
Won't do this again unless it's permanent.
Much as I enjoy this space, shouldn't have done it either. The old place was plenty good and I had a great landlord. I could have gotten more space if I'd needed it. Even with higher rent, in the long run it would have been less expensive than this place. For what I've got invested here, I could have built a nice building. Only the shell, not fitted out like this, but it would have been owned, not rented...
Happy Thanksgiving.
Much as I enjoy this space, shouldn't have done it either. The old place was plenty good and I had a great landlord. I could have gotten more space if I'd needed it. Even with higher rent, in the long run it would have been less expensive than this place. For what I've got invested here, I could have built a nice building. Only the shell, not fitted out like this, but it would have been owned, not rented...
Happy Thanksgiving.
Not much to report here. Have spend the last several months finishing the cabinets for Tin's parents house - that thread can be found here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116450
In December, my mother closed on a new home in League City. When we were meeting with the builder regarding cabinetry and such, the costs to get anything other than the "comes with the house" cabinets were unbelievable.
I told mom that we'd replace the 3/4 extension drawer slides with full extension units after she moved in, plus we'd add pull-out shelves to the lower cabinets to give her more usable storage.
When I started taking measurements for the slides, I discovered that the drawer boxes were the biggest pieces of junk imaginable. 1/2" vinyl covered low-density particle board with rabbeted and stapled corners and 1/4" vinyl covered low-density particle board bottoms stapled onto the bottom of the sides - not even installed in a rabbet.
So without telling her, we made all new drawers in addition to the pull outs. A total of 11 drawers and 28 pull outs when all was said and done. The drawers were made with 1/2" baltic birch sides, with dovetailed corners and 1/2" baltic birch bottoms.
Installing full-extension slides in face frame cabinets is a real pain, but we're finally done with that project.
One of the things she asked for was some shelves in a closet at the end of the hall leading to the utility room and garage.
The floor plan for this house could be spec'd as a 3-bedroom with study, or a 2-bedroom with study. She opted for the 2-bedroom plan, which gave her an "alcove" of sorts in the garage. You could probably park 2 cars nose-to-tail on the right side of the garage. I don't have any pictures after construction was finished, but here it is in a less than complete state:
The closet in question is immediately to the right of the door seen at the left side of the picture. Had the house been spec'd with 3 bedrooms, the closet would have been the doorway to the bedroom.
As it is, the closet has a large door 2-6" wide, and is very deep and 27+ inches. Putting shelves in the closet would be no problem, but her intention was to store her fine china and crystal, plus some overflow of pots and baking utensils from the kitchen. A 27" deep shelf sounds nice until what you want is at the back of the shelf.
So, for mother's day, we built her a cabinet to fit in the hole that was the closet. We removed the door and the frame and slid the cabinet in place. With the door frame removed, we were able to build the cabinet 35-1/2" wide and 27" deep.
It has two banks of 4 drawers up to about 36" off the floor, and a cabinet with 2 doors 2 fixed shelves and 6 pull out shelves atop the base up to the full 81" height. The drawers are 26" deep and range from just over 4-1/2" deep to nearly 8-1/2" in height.
Here's a picture of the cabinet installed without any door or drawer fronts:
This was taken after it was installed and we had removed the door and drawer fronts to take them back to the shop for finishing (she picked the color).
Here it is installed and complete. The door and drawer fronts are soft maple finished with an aniline dye stain with 3 coats of semi-gloss water-borne lacquer. Many of the pieces have some nice tiger striping.
An upper door opened to show the fixed shelves and pull-outs:
And a picture of a drawer opened fully:
The only problem is that now that the doors are installed, you can't slide the pull-outs out. I used special zero-protrusion hinges so that the doors when open would clear the sides of the cabinet. I've used these before with great success. However, on this cabinet, the doors are half-overlaid on the frame of the cabinet to give some "lip" for the trim around the cabinet. That moves the door into the path of the pull out by just enough to give me grief.
The only solution is to make new pull outs about 1/4" or so narrower and use spacers behind the slides on the hinge side of the cabinet.
C'est la vie...
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116450
In December, my mother closed on a new home in League City. When we were meeting with the builder regarding cabinetry and such, the costs to get anything other than the "comes with the house" cabinets were unbelievable.
I told mom that we'd replace the 3/4 extension drawer slides with full extension units after she moved in, plus we'd add pull-out shelves to the lower cabinets to give her more usable storage.
When I started taking measurements for the slides, I discovered that the drawer boxes were the biggest pieces of junk imaginable. 1/2" vinyl covered low-density particle board with rabbeted and stapled corners and 1/4" vinyl covered low-density particle board bottoms stapled onto the bottom of the sides - not even installed in a rabbet.
So without telling her, we made all new drawers in addition to the pull outs. A total of 11 drawers and 28 pull outs when all was said and done. The drawers were made with 1/2" baltic birch sides, with dovetailed corners and 1/2" baltic birch bottoms.
Installing full-extension slides in face frame cabinets is a real pain, but we're finally done with that project.
One of the things she asked for was some shelves in a closet at the end of the hall leading to the utility room and garage.
The floor plan for this house could be spec'd as a 3-bedroom with study, or a 2-bedroom with study. She opted for the 2-bedroom plan, which gave her an "alcove" of sorts in the garage. You could probably park 2 cars nose-to-tail on the right side of the garage. I don't have any pictures after construction was finished, but here it is in a less than complete state:
The closet in question is immediately to the right of the door seen at the left side of the picture. Had the house been spec'd with 3 bedrooms, the closet would have been the doorway to the bedroom.
As it is, the closet has a large door 2-6" wide, and is very deep and 27+ inches. Putting shelves in the closet would be no problem, but her intention was to store her fine china and crystal, plus some overflow of pots and baking utensils from the kitchen. A 27" deep shelf sounds nice until what you want is at the back of the shelf.
So, for mother's day, we built her a cabinet to fit in the hole that was the closet. We removed the door and the frame and slid the cabinet in place. With the door frame removed, we were able to build the cabinet 35-1/2" wide and 27" deep.
It has two banks of 4 drawers up to about 36" off the floor, and a cabinet with 2 doors 2 fixed shelves and 6 pull out shelves atop the base up to the full 81" height. The drawers are 26" deep and range from just over 4-1/2" deep to nearly 8-1/2" in height.
Here's a picture of the cabinet installed without any door or drawer fronts:
This was taken after it was installed and we had removed the door and drawer fronts to take them back to the shop for finishing (she picked the color).
Here it is installed and complete. The door and drawer fronts are soft maple finished with an aniline dye stain with 3 coats of semi-gloss water-borne lacquer. Many of the pieces have some nice tiger striping.
An upper door opened to show the fixed shelves and pull-outs:
And a picture of a drawer opened fully:
The only problem is that now that the doors are installed, you can't slide the pull-outs out. I used special zero-protrusion hinges so that the doors when open would clear the sides of the cabinet. I've used these before with great success. However, on this cabinet, the doors are half-overlaid on the frame of the cabinet to give some "lip" for the trim around the cabinet. That moves the door into the path of the pull out by just enough to give me grief.
The only solution is to make new pull outs about 1/4" or so narrower and use spacers behind the slides on the hinge side of the cabinet.
C'est la vie...
Periodically, when I'm buried up to my eyes in a project, I take a short "sanity break" to get away from the stress of the moment. This project is the result of such a break.
I needed something to keep our pneumatic narrow crown stapler together with the various staples we have available.
It's a box that fits in a box. The inner box holds the staples, and keeps the stapler in place. You loosen the knob at the top and slide the inner box out of the case to get to the stapler:
There's a layer of UHMW tape on the bottom of the inner box to make it easier to slide the staple case in and out - it's rather heavy when filled to capacity. It also makes sure that the staple case won't stick to the finish on the inner box when it sits in storage for months at a time between uses.
The staple case is divided up to hold the various sizes of staples available
The doors to the staple case overlap so that a single knob holds them closed:
To make sure the doors close tightly to the case, I recessed the hinges on the side of the box. I also swaged the hinges by putting them in a vise and clamping down on the leaves of the hinge with the hinge closed. This bends the frame of the hinge and allows it to close completely flat. Better hinges don't need this abuse, but all of this was made from stuff in the scrap pile and miscellaneous hardware drawer.
Thanks for reading...
I needed something to keep our pneumatic narrow crown stapler together with the various staples we have available.
It's a box that fits in a box. The inner box holds the staples, and keeps the stapler in place. You loosen the knob at the top and slide the inner box out of the case to get to the stapler:
There's a layer of UHMW tape on the bottom of the inner box to make it easier to slide the staple case in and out - it's rather heavy when filled to capacity. It also makes sure that the staple case won't stick to the finish on the inner box when it sits in storage for months at a time between uses.
The staple case is divided up to hold the various sizes of staples available
The doors to the staple case overlap so that a single knob holds them closed:
To make sure the doors close tightly to the case, I recessed the hinges on the side of the box. I also swaged the hinges by putting them in a vise and clamping down on the leaves of the hinge with the hinge closed. This bends the frame of the hinge and allows it to close completely flat. Better hinges don't need this abuse, but all of this was made from stuff in the scrap pile and miscellaneous hardware drawer.
Thanks for reading...
peelman
Well-known member
Sometimes, the work one has to do in order to do work is as much fun as the work itself. I offer as an example here my recently constructed media blast cabinet. This is the "work before the work." The "work" is the restoration of my 1976 Mercedes 450SEL 6.9.
I bought a hardware kit from TP Tools:
http://www.tptools.com/Skat-Blast-M...abinet-Kit-45-X-Large-Lens,7196.html?b=d*8042
Used their design for a cabinet, upsized to the unit you see below. The floor of the unit is 24" deep x 48" wide. The arm holes are the right distance off the floor such that I don't have to stoop down at all to use the unit.
It took 2 sheets of 3/4" MDF to build the cabinet. The top was easy, the funnel was a Pain In The ***. The instructions from TP Tools give you the dimensions required to build a funnel for a 30" wide (if I recall) unit. It took quite a bit of fiddling to adjust the dimensions to make the funnel wider. In addition, the TP Tools instructions assume that you'll use caulk to fix all the inconsistencies in the joints.
I used caulk, but only to provide a radius in the corners - the joints on all aspects of this cabinet don't need caulk to seal tight.
The frame for the cabinet is my own design, and creates a cradle that the funnel sits in. A few bolts keep the funnel in the right place, and the top sits on the funnel. I do have a piece of 1/4" thick foam weather stripping between the top and the funnel. There's nothing other than gravity holding the top in place - it weighs about 100#, so it's not going anywhere.
The frame rolls on 4 3" swivel lock casters. Once in place, locking all of the casters fixes the assembly firmly in location.
I read a thread here on GJ about lighting in blasting cabinets. That helped me decide how to light this unit.
For lighting, I added two 150w halogen spots in the back corners, plus a 36" long 2-bulb florescent light on top. A gasketed piece of lens designed for a suspended ceiling florescent light keeps the blasting media and dust from fouling the light.
Here's a view from the outside with the main light on:
And with the halogens going:
Interior views of same scenes:
As I started using the cabinet, I discovered that there was too much of a shadow in the front of the part, so I found 3 LED puck lights from SuperBrightLEDs.com - part # SSM-x3x
This adds some needed light between and adjacent to my hands. The pucks are rated for exterior exposure, and the wires are housed in the copper tube so they're safe from the harsh environment:
I painted the interior with gloss white paint, and the exterior with the same battleship grey that coats the floors in the shop, with a few blue accents thrown in.
I can see after just a little use that I'm going to have to get a piece of sheet metal to protect the back from the harsh effects of the glass media.
To bring air to the blasting gun, I decided to mount a regulator on board, with a 1/4" pipe welded to the frame to accept the air inlet:
I also wanted a dust-off air gun inside the cabinet, so I added a tee to the back of the inlet, the dust-off gun air supply doesn't flow through the regulator.
A 1/2 copper pipe passes the air across the back of the cabinet:
and to the front where a short piece of 3/8" air hose passes the air to a custom bulkhead fitting:
This nothing more than a 1/2" fender washer, drilled to accept a short section of 3/8" iron pipe which is tack-welded to the washer. A similar setup passes the air into the cabinet from the foot pedal to the gun.
To control dust inside the cabinet, I added a slide valve to attach my dust collector system.
The inlet is at the opposite side of the cabinet:
If I open the valve fully, the gloves inflate so much that they're difficult to move, so 1/2-way open is good enough.
The dust collector is the same unit I used for my wood-working equipment. It's a 3hp cyclonic unit with a high efficiency pleated air filter on the outlet of the blower, the airflow from which is ducted outside the workspace.
Since the cabinet is on wheels, I wanted to have a place to hold the foot pedal, so I added a hook on the front and drilled a hole in the top of the pedal.
After using the cabinet for a while, I grew frustrated as the foot pedal would slide around too easily. A 1/2" rare earth magnet set into the floor at the right place keeps the pedal in the proper position:
I put two such magnets - one for the pedal in position for right-foot operation, the other in a position for left-foot operation.
The door has a full gasket seal, and two toggle latches keep it securely shut. Truthfully, I don't really need either of these - with the dust collector on, the door stays shut all by itself.
I did make a mistake in my choice of gasket material. Once closed and dogged down, if left for even a few moments, the door sticks to the gasket material and is hard to open. So far, no gasket material has transferred to the door, but I think a different sort of foam, maybe something open-celled would work better. I'll have to do some experimenting in this area.
Power comes in at the left rear of the cabinet. The upper switch controls the main florescent light and the LED pucks. The bottom switch turns on the halogens.
So far, the only complaint I've got is how quickly the protective mylar sheet on the inside of the window has gotten fogged from the flying media. I think I'm going to devise a setup to allow me to add regular window glass easily. Then I'll buy a bunch of pieces and swap them out as they get obscured. The glass will last far longer than the mylar - I'll just have to devise a good seal to keep the media from getting between the two pieces of glass, and a frame to make it easy to exchange the glass as needed.
I've not had any issues with media flow, but I do plan to construct a pressure feed pot to make the media delivery more consistent.
Thanks for reading...
I bought a hardware kit from TP Tools:
http://www.tptools.com/Skat-Blast-M...abinet-Kit-45-X-Large-Lens,7196.html?b=d*8042
Used their design for a cabinet, upsized to the unit you see below. The floor of the unit is 24" deep x 48" wide. The arm holes are the right distance off the floor such that I don't have to stoop down at all to use the unit.
It took 2 sheets of 3/4" MDF to build the cabinet. The top was easy, the funnel was a Pain In The ***. The instructions from TP Tools give you the dimensions required to build a funnel for a 30" wide (if I recall) unit. It took quite a bit of fiddling to adjust the dimensions to make the funnel wider. In addition, the TP Tools instructions assume that you'll use caulk to fix all the inconsistencies in the joints.
I used caulk, but only to provide a radius in the corners - the joints on all aspects of this cabinet don't need caulk to seal tight.
The frame for the cabinet is my own design, and creates a cradle that the funnel sits in. A few bolts keep the funnel in the right place, and the top sits on the funnel. I do have a piece of 1/4" thick foam weather stripping between the top and the funnel. There's nothing other than gravity holding the top in place - it weighs about 100#, so it's not going anywhere.
The frame rolls on 4 3" swivel lock casters. Once in place, locking all of the casters fixes the assembly firmly in location.
I read a thread here on GJ about lighting in blasting cabinets. That helped me decide how to light this unit.
For lighting, I added two 150w halogen spots in the back corners, plus a 36" long 2-bulb florescent light on top. A gasketed piece of lens designed for a suspended ceiling florescent light keeps the blasting media and dust from fouling the light.
Here's a view from the outside with the main light on:
And with the halogens going:
Interior views of same scenes:
As I started using the cabinet, I discovered that there was too much of a shadow in the front of the part, so I found 3 LED puck lights from SuperBrightLEDs.com - part # SSM-x3x
This adds some needed light between and adjacent to my hands. The pucks are rated for exterior exposure, and the wires are housed in the copper tube so they're safe from the harsh environment:
I painted the interior with gloss white paint, and the exterior with the same battleship grey that coats the floors in the shop, with a few blue accents thrown in.
I can see after just a little use that I'm going to have to get a piece of sheet metal to protect the back from the harsh effects of the glass media.
To bring air to the blasting gun, I decided to mount a regulator on board, with a 1/4" pipe welded to the frame to accept the air inlet:
I also wanted a dust-off air gun inside the cabinet, so I added a tee to the back of the inlet, the dust-off gun air supply doesn't flow through the regulator.
A 1/2 copper pipe passes the air across the back of the cabinet:
and to the front where a short piece of 3/8" air hose passes the air to a custom bulkhead fitting:
This nothing more than a 1/2" fender washer, drilled to accept a short section of 3/8" iron pipe which is tack-welded to the washer. A similar setup passes the air into the cabinet from the foot pedal to the gun.
To control dust inside the cabinet, I added a slide valve to attach my dust collector system.
The inlet is at the opposite side of the cabinet:
If I open the valve fully, the gloves inflate so much that they're difficult to move, so 1/2-way open is good enough.
The dust collector is the same unit I used for my wood-working equipment. It's a 3hp cyclonic unit with a high efficiency pleated air filter on the outlet of the blower, the airflow from which is ducted outside the workspace.
Since the cabinet is on wheels, I wanted to have a place to hold the foot pedal, so I added a hook on the front and drilled a hole in the top of the pedal.
After using the cabinet for a while, I grew frustrated as the foot pedal would slide around too easily. A 1/2" rare earth magnet set into the floor at the right place keeps the pedal in the proper position:
I put two such magnets - one for the pedal in position for right-foot operation, the other in a position for left-foot operation.
The door has a full gasket seal, and two toggle latches keep it securely shut. Truthfully, I don't really need either of these - with the dust collector on, the door stays shut all by itself.
I did make a mistake in my choice of gasket material. Once closed and dogged down, if left for even a few moments, the door sticks to the gasket material and is hard to open. So far, no gasket material has transferred to the door, but I think a different sort of foam, maybe something open-celled would work better. I'll have to do some experimenting in this area.
Power comes in at the left rear of the cabinet. The upper switch controls the main florescent light and the LED pucks. The bottom switch turns on the halogens.
So far, the only complaint I've got is how quickly the protective mylar sheet on the inside of the window has gotten fogged from the flying media. I think I'm going to devise a setup to allow me to add regular window glass easily. Then I'll buy a bunch of pieces and swap them out as they get obscured. The glass will last far longer than the mylar - I'll just have to devise a good seal to keep the media from getting between the two pieces of glass, and a frame to make it easy to exchange the glass as needed.
I've not had any issues with media flow, but I do plan to construct a pressure feed pot to make the media delivery more consistent.
Thanks for reading...
Before you can use a blasting cabinet to clean parts, the parts themselves need to be fairly clean, especially from grease and oil.
I purchased a 20gal parts washer from Harbor Freight years ago. It worked OK, but having the pump inside the cabinet and all the washing fluid there as well was a PITA.
So, I modified the unit after reading several threads here on GJ.
I modified the parts washer to externalize the pump, and even found a solvent-compatible pump (Little Giant Model 518550 PE-2YSA) on Amazon.Com for a reasonable sum of money.
The pump requires a sealed connection where the wires enter, so I took a 1/2" pipe and welded it to a cradle that stands up in a 5 gallon bucket. This elevates the pump off the floor of the bucket.
I added a setup to attach a large oil filter to the output of the pump. This is an attempt to keep the cleaning fluid clean - not sure if this is working for or against me. The system worked like crazy when I first turned it on. I cleaned some really nasty parts and then the flow dropped off dramatically, so I changed the filter, thinking it was clogged. The flow came back up some, but tapered again very quickly. I discovered that the lid on the solvent bucket was being sucked in as the level in the bucket drops if the outlet from the tub gets clogged, which it does regularly. This is certainly an indication of vacuum inside the bucket, but whether that would have a dramatic effect on the pump's ability to work, I'm not completely certain.
I need to change the outlet from a 3/8" fitting to a 3/4" and add a screen of some sort. I'm also going to drill a couple of vent holes on the bucket lid and enclose the base of the washer for a cleaner appearance.
I also added a tee and a couple of ball valves on the outlet from the pump to allow for either a brush or a nozzle.
In hindsight, I wish I'd not welded the elbow to the side of the basin. Not only does it look like poop (welding the tin-foil thin sides of the basin to a cast pipe fitting isn't easy for an newbie welder like me), but now any sort of disassembly is a real PITA. The upside is that the fittings inside the basin for the hose and brush are well supported.
Not shown in these pictures was the light I added to the unit. I recently replaced the gooseneck light on my drill press with a unit that has a ring of LED's and mounts to the quill, so I took the gooseneck light and attached it to the lid of the parts washer. I had a 50w PAR20 bulb in the unit from the drill press, but that proved too hot to be right in front of my head, so I swapped it for a PAR20 LED equivalent. The only problem with that setup is the switch that controls the pump also controls the light. I need to adjust that setup so I can have the light on without the pump. The light does have a twist switch at the top, so I just need to adjust the wiring at the switch to pass unswitched 120v to one of the outlets on the duplex plug.
For a cleaning fluid, I'm currently using Kerosene. Seems to work fine - cuts grease and oil easily, and if I keep the lid of the washer closed when I'm not using it, I'm not even aware that there's a parts washer in the room, odor wise.
Thanks for reading...
I purchased a 20gal parts washer from Harbor Freight years ago. It worked OK, but having the pump inside the cabinet and all the washing fluid there as well was a PITA.
So, I modified the unit after reading several threads here on GJ.
I modified the parts washer to externalize the pump, and even found a solvent-compatible pump (Little Giant Model 518550 PE-2YSA) on Amazon.Com for a reasonable sum of money.
The pump requires a sealed connection where the wires enter, so I took a 1/2" pipe and welded it to a cradle that stands up in a 5 gallon bucket. This elevates the pump off the floor of the bucket.
I added a setup to attach a large oil filter to the output of the pump. This is an attempt to keep the cleaning fluid clean - not sure if this is working for or against me. The system worked like crazy when I first turned it on. I cleaned some really nasty parts and then the flow dropped off dramatically, so I changed the filter, thinking it was clogged. The flow came back up some, but tapered again very quickly. I discovered that the lid on the solvent bucket was being sucked in as the level in the bucket drops if the outlet from the tub gets clogged, which it does regularly. This is certainly an indication of vacuum inside the bucket, but whether that would have a dramatic effect on the pump's ability to work, I'm not completely certain.
I need to change the outlet from a 3/8" fitting to a 3/4" and add a screen of some sort. I'm also going to drill a couple of vent holes on the bucket lid and enclose the base of the washer for a cleaner appearance.
I also added a tee and a couple of ball valves on the outlet from the pump to allow for either a brush or a nozzle.
In hindsight, I wish I'd not welded the elbow to the side of the basin. Not only does it look like poop (welding the tin-foil thin sides of the basin to a cast pipe fitting isn't easy for an newbie welder like me), but now any sort of disassembly is a real PITA. The upside is that the fittings inside the basin for the hose and brush are well supported.
Not shown in these pictures was the light I added to the unit. I recently replaced the gooseneck light on my drill press with a unit that has a ring of LED's and mounts to the quill, so I took the gooseneck light and attached it to the lid of the parts washer. I had a 50w PAR20 bulb in the unit from the drill press, but that proved too hot to be right in front of my head, so I swapped it for a PAR20 LED equivalent. The only problem with that setup is the switch that controls the pump also controls the light. I need to adjust that setup so I can have the light on without the pump. The light does have a twist switch at the top, so I just need to adjust the wiring at the switch to pass unswitched 120v to one of the outlets on the duplex plug.
For a cleaning fluid, I'm currently using Kerosene. Seems to work fine - cuts grease and oil easily, and if I keep the lid of the washer closed when I'm not using it, I'm not even aware that there's a parts washer in the room, odor wise.
Thanks for reading...
Last edited:
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Brian......How long have you been using this homemade sandblaster? Have you had any concerns about making it out of wood? I'm seriously thinking about making one. I have a benchtop blaster from TSC, but it leaks sand from everywhere when in use. So I have been considering building one like you have shown and just rob all of the parts from the TSC blaster.
Since you have used wood, have you had any concerns about the back getting damaged since the sand tends to go that way?
Does your blaster leak out sand from anywhere and if it does, do you have any recommendations to stop it from doing so?
Is there anything that you would do different if you had to do it over?
And if you don't mind, I am going to copy your design when I go to make one. Everything looks fairly straight forward. The only thing I wouldn't need is a footpedal. The TSC blaster I have now is trigger controlled.
Thanks in advance for any answers you can give me.
I've been using it for probably a total of 2 hours.
The back is already showing some damage from the blasting media. I'm going to get a piece of plate - probably 20ga or so and mount it to the back. Still, even without that, it would take a long time to eat through 3/4" MDF.
The good thing about MDF is it doesn't toss off splinters, which could be a problem for clogging a gun if they made it into the media stream.
A few small leaks - mostly at the door, and that comes from not watching to see if there's a berm of sand built up at the door frame. As for controlling leaks - caulk everything and use 3/16" thick gaskets where things can't be caulked.
I'd make it about 6" deeper. Large parts, like the air cleaner frame in the pictures are a bit hard to manipulate. That being said, with the current depth, I cannot reach the back wall from the gloves, so maybe deeper might be a problem more than a solution.
I'm also not completely satisfied with the location of the halogen lights. I convinced myself that they needed to be at the back of the cabinet because the one on the right by the door would be in the way if it wasn't. However, I still have issues with shadows when I'm blasting parts. I think I'll probably move both lights to the front of the cabinet at some point in the near future.
I think I also need to add an interior baffle to the inlet for the dust collection. I've not checked the drum on the DC yet, but with the volume of air moving through the cabinet, I suspect I might be sucking some media out of the cabinet and into the DC. It won't hurt the DC, but there's no point in letting good blasting media go to waste.
One thing I want to add soon is an adapter either fixed to the back or easily attached to the floor to put a lazy susan in the cabinet. I've got a lot of work ahead of me on the car restoration, rims included, that will be far easier to complete if I can easily rotate the part as I'm cleaning it, instead of holding it still with my free hand. The hard part is figuring out what type of mechanism will work well and not get fouled in the harsh environment. I've seen commercial cabinets with rotator setups, but those involve a bearing assembly outside the cabient with a shaft reaching inside with a gasket of sorts at the cabinet wall for the shaft. When the gasket fails, and they always do, then that's a leak point.
Before I got the gasket in place between the upper and lower section of the cabinet, I did a couple of test runs. I discovered quickly that glass beads on a wood floor are as slick as ice if you aren't careful. I didn't fall, but I could easily have done so. Keeping leaks near to zero is a high priority for me.
Having a foot pedal is the way to go. I've used the trigger style guns and my hand always ends up cramping up.
When you're ready, PM me and I'll get you the dimensions needed to create the cone. That was very slow fiddly work making all the angles work - the final result needs a flat bottom to mount the trap door.
Not at all - happy to help.
Seems totally impossible that it's been 3+ months since I've posted to this thread...
We have a Delta 17-959 drill press. The head is good, so far as I can tell. Reasonable use for several years and everything is still nice and tight.
The table, however is a different story. What a complete POS...
The table tilts forward and also to the left and right which allows for compound angles.
When we moved the unit from the old shop to the new, I loosened the trunion bolts and tipped the table down to make the unit fit better on the trailer.
When we got it installed in its new home, I tipped the table back up and tightened the bolts. Just as the right-hand bolt was getting tight, I heard and felt a crack. The handle was one of these spring-loaded devices where you can pull down on the handle, disengaging it from the nut to rotate it to a different angle. The handle broke off in my hand...
Ordered a replacement from Delta - took 6+ weeks for the part to arrive.
Installed the new handle and tightened it up and heard a different crack. The bolt pulled THROUGH the clamping pawl that rides in the trunion....
So for the past year and a half, we've had to clamp the table in place to use the press. Not a big deal when working with wood - nothing is very heavy or requires too much precision.
Now that I'd doing some metal work, weight is becoming an issue, and the table deflects if you put too much load on it.
Attempted to order one of these from Delta:
To replace this:
Which broke when the pinch nut cracked the clamping pawl - the remains of which are shown here:
Guess what - the part is NO LONGER AVAILABLE. This is a drill press that is less than 5 years old...
I can get the clamping pawl - took 6+ weeks to get a pair:
And this is how they're supposed to install:
Without the trunion, the clamping pawls are useless.
So I disassembled the table to see if there was something I could to to remedy the problem.
What I discovered is that the casting underneath the table that forms the channels for the T-nut slots in the top is a machined surface. Perfect for attaching a frame made out of 1" x 1/8" wall square tube. Drilled and tapped the table for 5/16" bolts and attached the frame to the underside of the table.
The fork-shaped frame that has the arc cutouts to support the trunions has a flat spot across the back. The frame rests on that flat and is bolted through the arms to two 1" tubes that project forward and are attached to a thick angle that spans the front of the square frame.
When assembled and the rear bolts are tightened down, the table was pitched slightly towards the back (front higher than the back), so tightening the all-thread that pass through the angle and the front-to-back tubes pulls the table perpendicular to the quill.
Looking at the design I realize I also need a pair of bolts that pass from the trunion cradles through to the front-to-back tubes to make it impossible to press the front of the table down during drilling.
In it's current state, the table does give somewhat under hard drilling, which is less than desirable.
This setup means I lose the forward tilting capacity, which I never used...
Thanks for reading...
We have a Delta 17-959 drill press. The head is good, so far as I can tell. Reasonable use for several years and everything is still nice and tight.
The table, however is a different story. What a complete POS...
The table tilts forward and also to the left and right which allows for compound angles.
When we moved the unit from the old shop to the new, I loosened the trunion bolts and tipped the table down to make the unit fit better on the trailer.
When we got it installed in its new home, I tipped the table back up and tightened the bolts. Just as the right-hand bolt was getting tight, I heard and felt a crack. The handle was one of these spring-loaded devices where you can pull down on the handle, disengaging it from the nut to rotate it to a different angle. The handle broke off in my hand...
Ordered a replacement from Delta - took 6+ weeks for the part to arrive.
Installed the new handle and tightened it up and heard a different crack. The bolt pulled THROUGH the clamping pawl that rides in the trunion....
So for the past year and a half, we've had to clamp the table in place to use the press. Not a big deal when working with wood - nothing is very heavy or requires too much precision.
Now that I'd doing some metal work, weight is becoming an issue, and the table deflects if you put too much load on it.
Attempted to order one of these from Delta:
To replace this:
Which broke when the pinch nut cracked the clamping pawl - the remains of which are shown here:
Guess what - the part is NO LONGER AVAILABLE. This is a drill press that is less than 5 years old...
I can get the clamping pawl - took 6+ weeks to get a pair:
And this is how they're supposed to install:
Without the trunion, the clamping pawls are useless.
So I disassembled the table to see if there was something I could to to remedy the problem.
What I discovered is that the casting underneath the table that forms the channels for the T-nut slots in the top is a machined surface. Perfect for attaching a frame made out of 1" x 1/8" wall square tube. Drilled and tapped the table for 5/16" bolts and attached the frame to the underside of the table.
The fork-shaped frame that has the arc cutouts to support the trunions has a flat spot across the back. The frame rests on that flat and is bolted through the arms to two 1" tubes that project forward and are attached to a thick angle that spans the front of the square frame.
When assembled and the rear bolts are tightened down, the table was pitched slightly towards the back (front higher than the back), so tightening the all-thread that pass through the angle and the front-to-back tubes pulls the table perpendicular to the quill.
Looking at the design I realize I also need a pair of bolts that pass from the trunion cradles through to the front-to-back tubes to make it impossible to press the front of the table down during drilling.
In it's current state, the table does give somewhat under hard drilling, which is less than desirable.
This setup means I lose the forward tilting capacity, which I never used...
Thanks for reading...
Kwikasfaki
Well-known member
Brian, Any new stuff to show?
Kwiki.
Kwiki.
KCarGuy
Well-known member
Damn!
I got up early this morning to scan through a few new threads while drinking my morning coffee....I got locked into this Complete buildup from start to now!
How did I miss this one?
Great Job on the build and on your projects!
Your Mind must be on Overdrive 24-7.
Very Talented...
I got up early this morning to scan through a few new threads while drinking my morning coffee....I got locked into this Complete buildup from start to now!
How did I miss this one?
Great Job on the build and on your projects!
Your Mind must be on Overdrive 24-7.
Very Talented...
Concrete continues to cure "virtually forever." 28 days after pouring is where concrete is nearly at full strength, but anyone can tell you drilling holes in 28-day-old concrete is easier than drilling in 28-year-old concrete.
So, to answer your question about cracking - I think you don't need to worry about that. The lone exception would be a too-large anchor placed too close to the edge of the slab, but that would be a problem regardless of the age of the concrete.
As for spacing between the safe and the concrete, I would think that any gap that would allow a potential thief to insert a pry bar would be a bad idea. If you're concerned about rust, some heavy polyethylene plastic sheeting might not be a bad idea.
The lease has migrated to a month-to-month deal. We will have to move, but right now I'm caught in the middle of the restoration of my old Mercedes-Benz and there's no way to extricate ourselves from the space.
Unfortunately, that change resulted in an increase in rent, but not to unreasonable levels. Still, any extra money I have to pay out is money I don't get to keep...
Curious minds can see the restoration work at http://www.m-100.co/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7666
Wow!!
I just took a look at your restoration efforts, every bit as impressive as your shop build. Looking forward to following along with that too!!
I'm not sure why, but I'd developed the idea that you were more into woodworking then the mechanical side of things, certainly not the case.
I just took a look at your restoration efforts, every bit as impressive as your shop build. Looking forward to following along with that too!!
I'm not sure why, but I'd developed the idea that you were more into woodworking then the mechanical side of things, certainly not the case.
Kwikasfaki
Well-known member
Anything going on?
Nah - quiet as a church on Saturday afternoon...
I've been working on the restoration of an old Mercedes Benz, so new stuff for the shop is pretty much on hold. I do very little wood working any more (thankfully finished most of the big projects that required a shop) and the MB has been waiting patiently for years.
For those that would like to see what a truly crazy person gets himself into if left to his own devices, have a look here: http://www.m-100.co/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7666
Current plans for the future are finishing that 'effin car and shutting the shop down completely. My BIL has a large warehouse nearby where I can store the machinery. Once vacated from the shop, that frees up a Lot of cash flow.
2017 will hopefully be the year to find and buy something where house and shop can co-exist in the same zip code!
I've been working on the restoration of an old Mercedes Benz, so new stuff for the shop is pretty much on hold. I do very little wood working any more (thankfully finished most of the big projects that required a shop) and the MB has been waiting patiently for years.
For those that would like to see what a truly crazy person gets himself into if left to his own devices, have a look here: http://www.m-100.co/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7666
Current plans for the future are finishing that 'effin car and shutting the shop down completely. My BIL has a large warehouse nearby where I can store the machinery. Once vacated from the shop, that frees up a Lot of cash flow.
2017 will hopefully be the year to find and buy something where house and shop can co-exist in the same zip code!