This is why I put up with Craigslist

[Don1357]

I just brought this home. I was a tad late to the party but you know how flaky Craigslist buyers can be, several calls and the person that was supposed to come over was ghosting him. I told him I was as respectful of his time as I was of my own so he said he would give that dude until noon. At 12:00 I called back about 10 minutes away from his place. Well that's my truck under it.

This used to be a three phase monster with a motor for the blower and another for a churner on the media. The motors are removed, the blower is there. I'll just set it up to work off an external dust collector.

For $150 did I overpay?

 

[kythri]

What is it? Sandblast cabinet?

 

[Don1357]

What is it? Sandblast cabinet?

That's what it is. It took me a while to identify what was what, like the round cylinder on the back being part of the air cleaner (with a 3 phase and a blower mounted on the outside) but then it had a hose connected further bellow which I'm guessing is to collect media that get's sucked into the air cleaner...

Once I start tearing into it I need to remove a lot of extraneous bits and pieces. It is 9f out there so all I wanna do now is get it out of the truck and stash it until it gets warm again.

 

[nadogail]

Looks to me like you found a deal.

 

[Lassen Forge]

For a yard and a half, I think you did ok!

 

[txvwnut]

Pretty sure you didn't over pay. Is that an old shot peening cabinet?

 

[Don1357]

Pretty sure you didn't over pay. Is that an old shot peening cabinet?

It is possible because quite honestly I'm not sure what's going on with half of it. Take that huge cylindrical protuberance on the back and top; a big blower connected to a 3-phase motor on top of the unit. It is some sort of vacuum cleaner but there are hoses coming in and out that I don't understand. The bottom had another 3-phase motor 'churning' the media, which to me is odd on a media blaster...

The plan so far is to cut up all the stuff I deem extraneous and connect it to a regular shop vacuum system. Heck I would guess that cylinder on top is thicker than it would need to be by a long shot, that alone should drop quite a bit of weight.

 

[38Chevy454]

Agree it is a shot peening cabinet. Uses mechanical force to throw the shot against the parts, rather than air pressure. That's what the bottom wheel inside is for. Net effect is the same. The shot impacts the part surfaces, resulting in compressive surface stresses.

I bet once you can get inside it, you will find some steel shot in small crevices or places it can get caught.

Sent from dumb operator on a smart phone

 

[Indexmill]

It's gonna cost you $5k for the freakin compressor to make it work...

 

[PelicanPines]

It's gonna cost you $5k for the freakin compressor to make it work...

That was my first thought.

 

[2oolhound]

Around here big compressors go cheap but they are few and far between.

You may also be able to swap it for something that fits your needs better instead of butchering it since you have room to sit on it and some time.

 

[DocsMachine]

I wouldn't think a shot-blasting cabinet, at least the kind with the wheel-driven shot-flinger, would have gloves and a window. Neither one would last more than a few minutes against the shot.

Doc.

 

[rlitman]

I wouldn't think a shot-blasting cabinet, at least the kind with the wheel-driven shot-flinger, would have gloves and a window. Neither one would last more than a few minutes against the shot.

Doc.

The glove openings look like an afterthought to me. I guess we'll find out.

 

[motofool33]

yea i wouldn't want my arms in a true wheelabrator, maybe its some hybrid machine, need pics of inside

 

[Old Man Roger]

I wouldn't think a shot-blasting cabinet, at least the kind with the wheel-driven shot-flinger, would have gloves and a window. Neither one would last more than a few minutes against the shot.

Doc.

Google shows a few smaller machines with gloves and a window, maybe it's meant for repositioning a part without having to open the door? Like you said, can't imagine you're supposed to be holding the part while shot peeing.

Some wet machines have gloves and a window too.


https://www.vapormatt.com/machines/wheelabrator-vaqua-92-refurbished-rf1702

 

[Tduby]

I wouldn't think a shot-blasting cabinet, at least the kind with the wheel-driven shot-flinger, would have gloves and a window. Neither one would last more than a few minutes against the shot.

Doc.

Doesn’t look like the shot blast cabinets I have seen they are usually pretty heavy with super thick metal since they are always trying to destroy themselves.

 

[Don1357]

I'll post some pictures this weekend, for lack of time the damn thing is still compressing the suspension of my truck...

I'm guessing this thing is WWII or shortly after vintage, it was built with a lot more ingenuity than engineering; what they used to build with with, the disparate thickness of the material, the solution to the problems, they faced, it is pretty neat in a weird way. For instance the half cylinder has a filter and pipe with nozzles pointed at it. Best guess the air was intended to keep the filter from loading, then a hose would return the material to the bottom of the unit where a churner would keep it from settling down too much.

 

[Old Man Roger]

I'll post some pictures this weekend, for lack of time the damn thing is still compressing the suspension of my truck...

I'm guessing this thing is WWII or shortly after vintage, it was built with a lot more ingenuity than engineering; what they used to build with with, the disparate thickness of the material, the solution to the problems, they faced, it is pretty neat in a weird way. For instance the half cylinder has a filter and pipe with nozzles pointed at it. Best guess the air was intended to keep the filter from loading, then a hose would return the material to the bottom of the unit where a churner would keep it from settling down too much.

Are you sure you're not confusing a ''Churner'' with the wheel that throws the shot peen? There's a pretty big difference between shot peen and sand blasting. And then, just to confuse it even more, a lot of people use the general term bead blaster for every type of media blasting.

 

[Don1357]

Are you sure you're not confusing a ''Churner'' with the wheel that throws the shot peen? There's a pretty big difference between shot peen and sand blasting. And then, just to confuse it even more, a lot of people use the general term bead blaster for every type of media blasting.

I'm sure I'm confusing a lot of things here as honestly I don't recognize half of what's going on with this m'chine I found there yonder. The only thing I do know is that once I take my angle grinder with a cutting blade to it, and start removing everything not critically needed for sandblasting, it will make for a great setup. It is big enough and sturdy enough I can fit two people in there. Not that I would do that, just saying I could...

Tomorrow, once it is off the truck I'll throw some pictures and measurements here.

 

[Old Man Roger]

Looking at google, some do both shot peen, and sand blasting.

If it's just a dedicated shot peen machine, and you only want a sand blaster, you might be better off selling it and just getting a dedicated sand blast cabinet.

If it's set up for both then you're good to go.

 

[Don1357]

Here are more pictures. The 'churner' is truly a churner. The second picture shows the inside, bottom of the unit. It looks like it turns, fluffs the media, and ***** it in to make it more readily available for pickup. The additional pipes seem to shoot compressed air to make the media move better?

First picture, the tube to the left is a counterweight to assist opening the sliding door.

 

[Don1357]

First picture, inside of the cylinder on top that holds the filter, and was full of blasting media. It has nozzles pointing at the filter, which I'm guessing were to stop the filter from clogging and so the media could return to the bottom via the return tube (first picture, previous post).

The second picture is the blower used as a vacuum. Both this and the churner ran off of their own 3-phase motor.

Third pic is just the super awesome control panel.

Question: the media looks and feel like super fine sand. Is there any way to tell if this is proper blasting media as opposed to silicosis inducing sand'?

 

[Old Man Roger]

Man that thing is a monster..lol The picture with the counter weight puts it all in perspective.

 

[Don1357]

Man that thing is a monster..lol The picture with the counter weight puts it all in perspective.

You should see it in person. You know the Harbor Freight basic sander? That one is 34 inches wide? The chamber on this thing is 36 inches deep. The counterweight cover tubes? The metal on those are 3/16"~1/4" thick. The vacuum thing? That's solid cast iron, heavy as heck, with a 5" intake.

 

[Old Man Roger]

You'll be able to blast small vehicles in there..lol