Sandblasting attempt. Harbor freight cabinet with 26g air compressor?

[CafeTools]

I want to get into sandblasting and also powder coating. I have a new compressor which is very nice, a Kobalt quiet tech 26 gallon. It's not the biggest or smallest compressor out there but I hope I can blast some motorcycle parts with it, rims, carbs etc.

I was thinking about getting the harbor freight $180 self standing blast cabinet. Does it work good with the included gun? I hear I should seal the seams with new glue. Anything else? I don't want to waste my time and money getting it and finding out I don't have the right tools.

 

[alcorelli]

I have the HF blast cabinet. Upgraded it with all the Tacoma stuff. Can change blast media in five minutes. Uses as little as four or five cups.

After all of the upgrades, guess I could have gone with a better cabinet, but would have to modify that almost as much.

Using the sixty gallon 220 volt 2 stage compressor from Ingersoll Rand. That keeps up pretty well. Would be better with an 80 gallon tank, though.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Odd-job]

I want to get into sandblasting and also powder coating. I have a new compressor which is very nice, a Kobalt quiet tech 26 gallon. It's not the biggest or smallest compressor out there but I hope I can blast some motorcycle parts with it, rims, carbs etc.



I was thinking about getting the harbor freight $180 self standing blast cabinet. Does it work good with the included gun? I hear I should seal the seams with new glue. Anything else? I don't want to waste my time and money getting it and finding out I don't have the right tools.

Having a 120v wimpy 30 gallon compressor is what is holding me back from getting a sandblaster.

Edited to add my compressor is a wimp.

 

[matt_i]

Although I realize tank size somewhat goes hand-in-hand with motor size, its Pressure * Flow that equals Power and the only way to get that in airflow is thru a bigger motor. The tank size is irrelevant other than providing "accumulation" or "capacitance" which is just a time delay in when the motor starts and when it finishes.

It would be a nice setup to add a baffle and a shop vac to reduce some of the glass bead "fines" that obscure vision and don't really do any removal because of their diminutive size. Probably need a drywall filter bag inside of it.

 

[1982fxr]

Seal it for sure.

I'd try to buy an assembled one, they are a pita to put together.

 

[Perry H]

I have one of the small sit on a workbench type blasters. I have used it with a 30 gallon compressor. Other than having to stop a wait a lot, the hardest problem for you to overcome is going to be wet air. Also, visibility is nill (bad enough that you can't hit what you want to hit with the sand) unless you connect a shop vac to the exhaust of the cabinet. You will ruin your shop vac without a dust collector in series with it between it and the cabinet. Another problem I have that you do not have with larger cabinets is that the slant on the hopper under the work area is not steep enough to force the media into the pickup tube. You have to shake the cabinet.

If you are ok with blasting until your compressor kicks on, then going to do something else until it stops, and repeating that, and constantly dumping water out of a filter that sits right at your cabinet... it will work. It can be pretty frustrating though.

 

[Amphicar770]

I originally used a 120v 30 gal. Other than very small parts, it was pretty painful. Now have a 220v 80 gal IR which can keep up. As others mentioned, dry air is key. HF sells, only on line, an electric drying unit which works great. Cant speak for the HF blast cabinet. I got a good deal on a SnapOn cabinet via Craigslist.

 

[Corndoggeh]

Ive sandblasted with an 8 gal before using the $99 tractor supply blast cabinet. It works, but takes time and conpressor will run all the time. Good for the small parts i blast.

 

[HMCFab9]

A 26 gallon compressor is pretty small to try to blast with.
CFM of the pump is more important than how many gallons the tank is.

I have the HF cabinet & a 80 gal / 7.5hp / 32cfm compressor and even that runs a lot.

 

[Steve_P]

Realistically, you need a 10+ CFM 5hp rated 15A 230V compressor for cabinet blasting.

 

[kctyphoon]

I just sold yesterday - a 25 gallon compressor i bought years back with pipe dreams of using a sand blaster. The tank size really isnt what limits you. What you need is FLOW. You need a high CFM compressor that can keep up with with a sand blaster, and they typically arent cheap or small.

You need something that can replenish air as fast as you use it.. otherwise you will wind up with a few seconds of use, and a few minutes of waiting for more air.. this will be an investment on your part if you really wanna do this. I decided it wasnt so important after I realized how much room, and how much $$ it would cost to do this.

Oh - and just to add - the “rated” HP on cheap compressors means ****. Mine was rated at 5hp (cause i read in the past you needed at least 5hp) - but you need RUNNING HP, which is entirely different. Running, i think my compressor was around 2, maybe even less..

Ill just be blunt - the compressor you have may not work. On the small side you probably need like 15 -20 cfm. Realistically you probably want even more than that. I’d hit up YouTube so you can see what other people are using. Use that to get an idea of where you need to be for what you want to do.

 

[Steve_P]

I used an IR T10 for years which is basically what I spec"d above. It's the bare minimum for cabinet blasting and will run all the time. I had a box fan blowing on the pump in use. I moved up to a Quincy QT 7.5 about 15 years ago which is about 2x the compressor at 3x the cost