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The Abrasive Blasting Resource Thread
- Thread starter OccupantRJ
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bimmer1980
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Any recommendations on a water separator or filter system?
I recently purchased the Harbor Freight cabinet and I think I'm suffering from water issues.... I currently don't have any water or filter system on my 3.7HP 60 gal Lowes air compressor.
I have been looking at some of the Tsunami filters, but curious if they are worth the money... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tsunami-1-...d=321335074305&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
Any other recommendations??
I recently purchased the Harbor Freight cabinet and I think I'm suffering from water issues.... I currently don't have any water or filter system on my 3.7HP 60 gal Lowes air compressor.
I have been looking at some of the Tsunami filters, but curious if they are worth the money... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tsunami-1-...d=321335074305&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
Any other recommendations??
isb cornbinder
Well-known member
About five years ago my wife gifted me a MOD U BLAST 24"-48" cabinet.
http://www.modublast.com/
This unit is Made in Canada. It works perfectly every time. MANUS, the parent company stock all the consumables and abrasives. The Manus store is 22 minutes away.
I had an off-shore blast cabinet from Princess auto for a few years. It was never good enough for my needs. I gave it away.
http://www.modublast.com/
This unit is Made in Canada. It works perfectly every time. MANUS, the parent company stock all the consumables and abrasives. The Manus store is 22 minutes away.
I had an off-shore blast cabinet from Princess auto for a few years. It was never good enough for my needs. I gave it away.
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I have purchased a harbor freight sandblasting cabinet, nothing I have done seems to make it work.?
Have run half inch air line to cabinet, using 80 grit Garnett from country general. Change gun in cabinet ,it starts to work for a minute then stops,! Nothing but air, like it won't pick up the media.? Lost,!
Have run half inch air line to cabinet, using 80 grit Garnett from country general. Change gun in cabinet ,it starts to work for a minute then stops,! Nothing but air, like it won't pick up the media.? Lost,!
bimmer1980
Well-known member
I was having a similar problem when I first started using mine..... Two problems I had: Too coarse of grit from the abrasive I bought at TSC (I cant remember the number right now) and then moisture in the airlines was condensing at the gun and clogging the media.
I'm working on adding a moisture separator to solve this problem..
I found that the media I bought at HF for the sandblaster seems to work fine. I was surprised at how fine it is. The coarse grit works better in a pressurized hopper sandblaster. I used to have one of those at my other shop. The HF cabinet suction feed blaster needs only a few pounds of fine sand in the bottom.
Hopefully this helps.
isb cornbinder
Well-known member
Try this to clear the pick-up tube. I would hold my glove finger tightly over the hole in the gun where the abrasive should come out, then pull the trigger. The air pressure should force an blockage out of the pickup tube at the bottom. This might be a good time to pour the media through a screen to remove any large blockage. If you can, remove the nozzle and check for junk the pickup tube may have picked up. If you have been using your system for some time, the ceramic nozzle may be worn out and failing.
Abrasive size has little to do with pick-up performance, unless you are running "P" gravel.
I agree that it is not necessary to have a large amount of abrasive in the bottom of the cabinet. I never had a problem with 20-40 pounds. If the media is wet, the system will most likely fail to operate.
On the off-chance that anyone does not know, the gun is designed to make a low pressure area inside the gun when the line pressure passes through the gun at high speed. The pressure of the atmosphere is what blows the media up and into the gun. I replaced the gun on my cheap blast cabinet with a premium unit made in USA. The cabinet performance was improved 100%
Do not neglect having a good vacuum system for the cabinet. It is important to keep a slight negative pressure in the cabinet to prevent the abrasive dust escaping and getting into your lungs. Can you say emphysema??
Abrasive size has little to do with pick-up performance, unless you are running "P" gravel.
I agree that it is not necessary to have a large amount of abrasive in the bottom of the cabinet. I never had a problem with 20-40 pounds. If the media is wet, the system will most likely fail to operate.
On the off-chance that anyone does not know, the gun is designed to make a low pressure area inside the gun when the line pressure passes through the gun at high speed. The pressure of the atmosphere is what blows the media up and into the gun. I replaced the gun on my cheap blast cabinet with a premium unit made in USA. The cabinet performance was improved 100%
Do not neglect having a good vacuum system for the cabinet. It is important to keep a slight negative pressure in the cabinet to prevent the abrasive dust escaping and getting into your lungs. Can you say emphysema??
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woodturner9
Well-known member
PLEASE be careful if you do this, many people have been injured when they inject oil, abrasive, etc. into their skin. Probably safer to use a block of wood and a piece of rubber to eliminate the risk.
I am looking for the tapered nozzle and nut from the picture attached. I already own the exact gun in the picture but it came with pink, ceramic, square, nozzles.
Is this a proprietary nozzle from the Tacoma Company? I always seem to come up with searches that shows the nozzle being sold with the gun, but I already own the gun.
Now to my issue. Well, not issue....but scenario. I did the Harbor Freight cabinet upgrade mods. The cabinet is working fantastic. What I'd like to do is control the blast area. As in reduce to spray into smaller nooks and crannies.
Should I use a different type of gun entirely?
Is this a proprietary nozzle from the Tacoma Company? I always seem to come up with searches that shows the nozzle being sold with the gun, but I already own the gun.
Now to my issue. Well, not issue....but scenario. I did the Harbor Freight cabinet upgrade mods. The cabinet is working fantastic. What I'd like to do is control the blast area. As in reduce to spray into smaller nooks and crannies.
Should I use a different type of gun entirely?
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TheEquineFencer
Well-known member
RJ will probably chime in when he wakes up in the morning. He's a real guru when it comes to sand blasting and such. He has some cool stuff in his shop for doing this. Look at his profile and then the post about blasting, he's built his on guns that work great.
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
Just saw this. I found what seems to be the nut on EBay in about 10 seconds. I would bet the nozzles are there also. I have heard however, that Tacoma has the extended nozzles special made, and that the manufacturer will sell only to them. That gun is similar to a very common blast gun for cabinets and I bet other, more standard short nozzles would fit.
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
I have mentioned this before, but I remove the suction hose from my blast gun, fit up a vacuum gauge in it's place, and then use that to set the air jet position relative to the back of the blast nozzle to get the maximum suction at the gun. 
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OccupantRJ
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A question on what type suction hose to use.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386741
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386741
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
A choice between suction or pressure blast cabinet.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386740
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386740
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OccupantRJ
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TheEquineFencer
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jetlag
Well-known member
Picked this up off a Craigslist ad. It's an older (1970s, maybe) ICM Superhone 3600.
It's a heavy beast, commercial unit with a multi-bag filtration system. It came out of a machine shop in Portland, where it was sitting idle, and the owner wanted the floor space.
The guy was asking 250 bucks for it, and I still can't believe someone else didn't snap it up in the week or so before I got to it. ICM is still in business, and they still support these older versions of the Superhone cabinets.
I powered it up this afternoon, and it works, as promised. I'll clean it up, get some new glass, and put it to work. I was expecting a three phase blower motor, but to my surprise, it's single phase. I'm going to wire my shop for three phase soon, but I don't have it yet, so that was kind of a bonus.
It's a heavy beast, commercial unit with a multi-bag filtration system. It came out of a machine shop in Portland, where it was sitting idle, and the owner wanted the floor space.
The guy was asking 250 bucks for it, and I still can't believe someone else didn't snap it up in the week or so before I got to it. ICM is still in business, and they still support these older versions of the Superhone cabinets.
I powered it up this afternoon, and it works, as promised. I'll clean it up, get some new glass, and put it to work. I was expecting a three phase blower motor, but to my surprise, it's single phase. I'm going to wire my shop for three phase soon, but I don't have it yet, so that was kind of a bonus.
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
Really good score. The commercial cabinets with a nice dust collection system is way better than a unit with a too small dust extraction system. My large cabinet dust extraction tubing is 4 inches in diameter and really moves some air. How about show some more pics of your cabinet from various angles for us.
jetlag
Well-known member
Took a little rigging to pick it out of my truck. My little Toyota forklift has 42 inch long forks, this blasting cabinet is 48 inches deep, and I couldn't get all the way flush to the pallet, due to an overhang. So I rigged a strap around the upper part, tightened it to the forklift carriage with a hand winch, made sure everything was secure and balanced, lifted it a few inches off the bed of the truck, and pulled the truck away. Then lowered to to just above the shop floor before moving it into an out of the way spot. I've got a couple of other projects that are taking priority, but I hope to have this running in a couple of months.
Took a little rigging to pick it out of my truck. My little Toyota forklift has 42 inch long forks, this blasting cabinet is 48 inches deep, and I couldn't get all the way flush to the pallet, due to an overhang. So I rigged a strap around the upper part, tightened it to the forklift carriage with a hand winch, made sure everything was secure and balanced, lifted it a few inches off the bed of the truck, and pulled the truck away. Then lowered to to just above the shop floor before moving it into an out of the way spot. I've got a couple of other projects that are taking priority, but I hope to have this running in a couple of months.
Good score on the cabinet. Strapping it is always a good choice.
I run into this problem all the time with our 48" forks. I usually get by with laying a thin piece of wood or steel ( at least the width of the fork but longer) on each of the forks. This will usually be enough to help support the extra long loads.
The alternative of course is to make up a set of longer "slip on " forks.
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jetlag
Well-known member
Funny you mention that. Fork extensions are on my list of projects for later this year, along with a man lift safety cage...
jetlag
Well-known member
I don't have enough use to justify a dedicated man lift, although I've looked at a few, and gave it a lot of thought.
Occupantrj can you enlighten me on the internal design on the gun you made? I'm converting a blast cabinet I got from pressure system to suction system. I'm trying to make a gun using 1/2 pipe just because I'm cheap. I get a great vaccuum where the suction hose will attach to the gun, until I put the tip in, which is a 1/4 plug drilled out.
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Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
Wyatt, blast nozzle needs to be countersunk in the backside, inside the gun. Air nozzle needs to be adjustable fore and aft relative to this taper to get the highest vacuum. I use a vacuum gauge adapted to the grit intake tube to tune the gun. Look at this link for exploded parts view of the MH2 gun.
https://www.idsblast.com/sandblasting-supplies/1849
To the left of the page is a how it works drawing.
https://www.idsblast.com/sandblasting-supplies/1849
To the left of the page is a how it works drawing.
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
Posting the drawing here.
https://www.idsblast.com/images/AdminProducts/HowItWorks/HIW-Empire-Suction-Cabs.pdf
https://www.idsblast.com/images/AdminProducts/HowItWorks/HIW-Empire-Suction-Cabs.pdf
Ah OK thanks for the reply, maybe I can fill with weld, then drill and countersink to get what I'm needing. I'll probably end up just buying one in the long run but I figured I'd cool around with this first. On the other hand I'm trying a little differant approach which will probably also net me the same half *** results but I figured I'd give it a shot since it's stuff I have laying around and won't cost me anything. For dust control I have a 1/2 horse blower I'm using in conjunction with a dust deputy cyclone and 5 gallon bucket. And then mounting my suction fitting assembly at the bottom of the blast cabinet where all the media collects, will this work or do I need to build something similar to what you did with the old pressure tank and quit wasting my time?
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GETRIDAONE
Well-known member
I replaced the glass and changed to a 24" LED strip light. In an effort to cut down on dust I made a water trap. The clothbag would clog and most of the media would sit in the lowest part of the return hose before reaching the seperator. I found that adding a few drops of car wash soap to the water the aluminum oxide dust didn't tend to float on top as much. I used cheap 6" HVAC duct just to see if it worked before spending $100 on heavier hose. I will use the cheap stuff before replacing it with the expensive hose. I also added a screen to help with the glass frosting.
It seems to be working well for a $135 investment. I can see again and less dust
It seems to be working well for a $135 investment. I can see again and less dust
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OccupantRJ
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You will need a cyclone separator or all the airborne grit will end up in the dust deputy, and quickly. The MH2 blast guns are very reasonable in price these days.
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
I replaced the glass and changed to a 24" LED strip light. In an effort to cut down on dust I made a water trap. The clothbag would clog and most of the media would sit in the lowest part of the return hose before reaching the seperator. I found that adding a few drops of car wash soap to the water the aluminum oxide dust didn't tend to float on top as much. I used cheap 6" HVAC duct just to see if it worked before spending $100 on heavier hose. I will use the cheap stuff before replacing it with the expensive hose. I also added a screen to help with the glass frosting.
It seems to be working well for a $135 investment. I can see again and less dust
I buy my larger diameter suction hoses from McMaster Carr. They have many varieties of hose. One of my cabinets requires a 4 inch diameter rubber radiator hose. I bought a Dayco 36 inch long section off the Internet for $38. Retail price ranged up to $115 from other sources.
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OccupantRJ
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HotRodHudson was asking for cabinet recommendations.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366539
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=366539
I need some blasting done, largest two pieces are 60" long (horizontal band saw base) and very heavy. I'm not sure these two pieces because of there weight (200 lbs each)would be practical to muscle into a cabinet.
Option 1- is $135 an hour for the local shop to do the work. Wait time is two weeks.
Option 2- have the above shop do the two heavy pieces, and I buy the blasting cabinet I want @ 58" wide and do the rest of the work.
Option 3- I buy some type of high quality blasting pot and do all of the work, and get a cabinet later.
TP tools USA 979 Super Cab Abrasive Blasting Cabinet is $2100 and I don't have a problem with that purchase.
I could rent this too; not sure how well they work. Plenty of commercial outdoor space for a sand mess. I'm restoring a Ford tractor so I really need both set ups.
https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1290/1501390/pressure-washer-wet-sand-blast-att/
I'll start searching this thread so what are your thoughts on this and what type of blast pot should I look at? Thank you.
Option 1- is $135 an hour for the local shop to do the work. Wait time is two weeks.
Option 2- have the above shop do the two heavy pieces, and I buy the blasting cabinet I want @ 58" wide and do the rest of the work.
Option 3- I buy some type of high quality blasting pot and do all of the work, and get a cabinet later.
TP tools USA 979 Super Cab Abrasive Blasting Cabinet is $2100 and I don't have a problem with that purchase.
I could rent this too; not sure how well they work. Plenty of commercial outdoor space for a sand mess. I'm restoring a Ford tractor so I really need both set ups.
https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1290/1501390/pressure-washer-wet-sand-blast-att/
I'll start searching this thread so what are your thoughts on this and what type of blast pot should I look at? Thank you.
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
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OccupantRJ
Well-known member
I need some blasting done, largest two pieces are 60" long (horizontal band saw base) and very heavy. I'm not sure these two pieces because of there weight (200 lbs each)would be practical to muscle into a cabinet.
Option 1- is $135 an hour for the local shop to do the work. Wait time is two weeks.
Option 2- have the above shop do the two heavy pieces, and I buy the blasting cabinet I want @ 58" wide and do the rest of the work.
Option 3- I buy some type of high quality blasting pot and do all of the work, and get a cabinet later.
TP tools USA 979 Super Cab Abrasive Blasting Cabinet is $2100 and I don't have a problem with that purchase.
I could rent this too; not sure how well they work. Plenty of commercial outdoor space for a sand mess. I'm restoring a Ford tractor so I really need both set ups.
https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1290/1501390/pressure-washer-wet-sand-blast-att/
I'll start searching this thread so what are your thoughts on this and what type of blast pot should I look at? Thank you.
I have a commercial blasting rig and two blast cabinets, one with glass bead and one with aluminum oxide. I have bad knees, and each day is different as to how much I want to stress them. I am also retired.
I just started using a great tool for prepping machine parts by hand, a carbide tipped paint scraper. It uses a replaceable 3/4" wide triangular insert on the business end. On relatively flat fabricated steel panels, I sit in a chair with the work at a comfortable height in front of me and literally rake paint and surface rust off. I also used it to completely strip all the paint off the still assembled headstock of the lathe.
I was amazed at how easy old cured paint peeled off! It cuts suction blasting time by 50-75% for me by doing this prep first and then blasting afterwards, or even sanding. Abrasive tends to bounce off some materials worse than others. I have done all the pieces of a clausing 5914 lathe this week by scraping in this manner and even ended up sanding them to bare metal with a random orbit sander to get a great finish for painting.
For me it was a case of stand in front of the blast cabinet for a while, or sit and scrape for a similar amount of time. On small irregular shaped objects I do go straight to the blast cabinet.
A commercial pressure rig can blast a hell of lot of machine parts in an hour, so if time is a major consideration, this is certainly a viable option. Anything that will fit in my cabinet generally gets put in there, but I wanted to try something different this time. I have loaded cast iron machine parts so heavy that I had to load them in the cabinet with a forklift, but my cabinet has. 1/4" perforated steel floor in it.
I experiment and use whatever works.
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OccupantRJ
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A pressure washer wet blasting question from 930dreamer.
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390101
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=390101
Thank you for the response. I spotted this on the Dallas CL, I called and its from the 80's with several holes/areas welded for $500. I really don't want to rebuild a cabinet to use it but its a commercial unit. I like the idea of wet blasting too. Oh the madness.
I could build a blast room from a shipping container.
I could build a blast room from a shipping container.
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OccupantRJ
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