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Sandblast cabinet build, am I making a mistake?

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misterfixit

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Feb 9, 2013
Messages
199
Location
Kaufman Texas
I find myself in need of a blasting cabinet. I have access to one at my Dad's place but it's a drive. I'm really torn on what to do. I hear all sorts of bad things about the horrible freight models, leaking all over, and stopping up the siphon set up. I am aware of the upgrades that you can do, but I just hate to spend the money and then have to spend more to make it 'mostly right'. For the cost of a new unit and adding the upgrades I'm close to some of the smaller Eastwood or similar units.
Same issue with finding a used unit.
Years ago I grabbed a salvage hopper of some kind with the intention of building it into a blasting cabinet. It's heavy sheet metal and all welded seems. Already has the slanted bottom and trap door. Only needs a top and one side door, along with glove flanges and gun stuff. But its 60" wide and really too big for my shop.

This has me seriously considering building one from plywood. I used to have the plans from TP Tools, can't find them now. Ive seen several plans online and I feel confident I could make it. If I do, I'm thinking 36" wide, 24" deep. Looks like 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood will run about $80, or 2 sheets of 3/4" MDF will be about $100. After that I could buy the "upgrade" parts I was gonna buy for the new unit.

Does this sound resonable, or am I off base on this?

Love to hear from folks who have done this. Love to know if I do build, should I go plywood or MDF?
 
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carlaisle

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May 14, 2022
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Chinesium is many times more durable than wood in this application. Depending on the media used and how often you use it/how often you want to rebuild it this may not be a concern. Would cutting the hopper down to a more desirable size be practical?
 
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cvairwerks

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M

misterfixit

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Feb 9, 2013
Messages
199
Location
Kaufman Texas
carlaisle said:
Chinesium is many times more durable than wood in this application. Depending on the media used and how often you use it/how often you want to rebuild it this may not be a concern. Would cutting the hopper down to a more desirable size be practical?
Click to expand...

cvairwerks said:
If you don't mind driving and bit and upping the budget a little, there's a decent Trinco for sale down in Waco, that might still be available...

waco.craigslist.org

Industrial Sandblast Cabinet – Heavy Duty - heavy equipment - by owner - sale - craigslist

Selling a high-quality, industrial-grade sandblast cabinet. This unit is perfect for cleaning, etching, or prepping metal, glass, and other hard surfaces. Ideal for fabrication shops, auto...
waco.craigslist.org waco.craigslist.org
Click to expand...

I've heard folks talk about the wood not being able to handle the blasting, but in the cabinets I've used the paint on the inside is still there so I don't think it's a big problem. I don't plan on blasting the cabinet itself and it should only see very minor abrasion from splash or bounce. At least I think that.

The one in Waco is about as big as the hopper I have.

As for cutting down the one I have.....It doesn't look like that would be easy. It could be done, but not easily.
 
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mikedodge

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Jun 27, 2017
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The harbor freight kind are the typical ones most places sell under drlifferent names with prices all over the place. Keep an eye out for a used one then it's a wash with the upgrades and you might find a decent priced professional one while you're looking.
 
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Yankeefarmer

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Jul 25, 2011
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1,200
Location
Connecticut
Years ago I built one from wood, some glass salvaged from window panes, and a rack from an old freezer or oven. I used it for a number of years. Somewhere along the way, during years when it was sitting idle in my shop, I developed asthma triggered by allergic reactions. When I started using it again, I quickly found that my breathing was suffering from dust which escaped it. (I had sealed the seams, door opening and arm holes, but not the hopper bottom , which just dumped into a 5 gal bucket.) That’ s when I bought the HF cabinet, upgraded to the TP Tools gun, and equipped it with a blower taking suction from the cabinet and discharging through a dryer vent out through the back wall of my shop. I couldn’t take the noise of a shop vac running while I blasted.
 
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no704

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Apr 27, 2016
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5,229
I’ve got a nice one in PHX I’d sell but probably over your budget. Maybe $500
 
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misterfixit

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Feb 9, 2013
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Kaufman Texas
mepstein said:
Why not buy a real blast cabinet from a manufacturer who has a good rep for them.
Click to expand...
I've had a couple of the HF types over the years. To be fair I have not had access to any professional type. Haveing said that, from what I can tell the HF and others in the $250 range are pretty much a huge project. Everything leaks, the gun isn't that great. The next step up is something like an Eastwood for around $700 and up. I honestly don't know how much better that extra cost is. The first of what I would consider a high quality cabinet is going to start around $1000-$1200. For that I feel like I would be very happy with the quality and performance. But I not only don't want to, I really cant spend that much on one.

So, I'm left with the decision of spending $100 on a used HF unit, or $250 for a new one and then spending more money to get it "OK". I don't think I would spen an extra $400 in parts to upgrade a HF type to equal the cost of the Eastwood types. So I'm guessing I would spend about $300-$350 for one of the HF units either to fix and upgrade an old worn out used unit or a new one.

I keep thinking for less than that I could build one more along the size and options I want to start with. I think with $100 in wood for the body I could then buy some nice LED lights and a better gun and feed system with a foot pedal.

I appreciate the comments and suggestions here. What I would really like to hear is from someone who built their own to say either yes you can do it for less and be happier or no-way it was a mistake to try to build.
 
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58Yeoman

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Central IL
I bought those plans back in the 80's and traced them onto a large sheet of 1/8" aluminum that I had. A friend of mine cut them out with his plasma cutter and was supposed to weld them for me, but didn't get the chance, so I did it myself. Having never welded AL before, I think I did a pretty good job with my mig welder and argon.. I have a hose run to that blower under the cabinet and blows the dust and sand out the back wall of the shop. I used a TP gun.

cabinets2 (7).JPG
 
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misterfixit

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Feb 9, 2013
Messages
199
Location
Kaufman Texas
58Yeoman said:
I bought those plans back in the 80's and traced them onto a large sheet of 1/8" aluminum that I had. A friend of mine cut them out with his plasma cutter and was supposed to weld them for me, but didn't get the chance, so I did it myself. Having never welded AL before, I think I did a pretty good job with my mig welder and argon.. I have a hose run to that blower under the cabinet and blows the dust and sand out the back wall of the shop. I used a TP gun.

cabinets2 (7).JPG
Click to expand...
Looks very nice!

Wish I still had the plans. Would probably make it easier than the 'by guess or by gosh" method I have in mind right now.
 
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rsanter

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Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,523
Location
visalia ca
I built my own about 30 years ago and it has been used a bunch and passed around my friends for use

this is what I know or at least recomend based on experience.

make it portable, put it on wheels. This makes it easier to move around and store in a alternate location and just bring out when you need it.

you can use plywood, no issues. I have seen a couple that were either coated with fiberglass resin or thin sheet metal inside and they have lasted for a long time. Mine is all steel, I would at least recomend a steel frame even if you make it out of plywood.

how well a blaster works has little to do with the cabinet and almost everything to do with the blasting components. Years ago I converted mine to a pressure pot system, they blast much faster.
my next move it that I want to convert it to a vapor/wet blaster.

if you make your own put a full sized viewing window in not just a small port, they blast much whole angles face of mine is a lexan sheet and it’s the same one I originally installed. The trick is that you want to install a window screen inside about an inch or so away from the viewing window. This will deflect or catch the majority of the grit that is kicked back at you

make it easy to dump the media and clean the cabinet out, you may want to easily run several different media or run clean and “dirty” media depending on what you are blasting
 
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Benw455

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Dec 20, 2005
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752
Location
WV
I have bought two from TP Tools a small one then a much bigger one. They work great. Buy one if you can.
 
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finn

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Mar 27, 2005
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Location
The UP, God's country
I bought or downloaded the TIP plans years ago, but never built the cabinet, because I found an old HF Benchtop cabinet for something like $35 at the Cedar Rapids swap meet. I got that working, with new gloves, but it needs the pickup tube and gun upgrade.

Before I could do the upgrade, I found a lightly used Econoline Benchtop cabinet for $75. It’s 1000x the cabinet that the HF was, and the HF that I found at Cedar Rapids is twice as sturdy as the current HF Benchtop model.

More recently I scored a Skat Blast 42”or 48” ( don’t remember which) Complete with vacuum and dust separator from a hobbiest who was upgrading to a larger unit.

After all that, I wouldn’t recommend anything other than buying a new or used professional cabinet with a dust collector.

All things considered, it’s money well spent.
 
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OccupantRJ

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Joined
May 15, 2009
Messages
11,223
Location
Eastern North Carolina
A powered cyclone separator with a nuisance dust filtering collection bag on the outlet and abrasive feed cone on the lower end with the proper mixing valve setup will up your game by multiples. It almost goes without saying that relative to the air supply some is good, more is better, and too much is just enough. I suggest around 20 cfm for average cabinet use along with a foot pedal fed gun to run without frustration.
 
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