What is Wrong with My HF Sandblast Cabinet

[HotRodHudson]

I've been messing around with the free standing (red) sandblasting cabinet I bought over the winter and I gotta say I hate the thing. I have done one modification after another to try to fix design flaws & improve it but it's still giving me one hell of a hard time. I am worn out trying to figure this thing out and I'm in need of help.

I had it running for a few hours and it worked ok, but was surging a fair amount. At that time, I didnt have the dust deputy installed so after I blew the shop vac bag and made a hell of a mess in the garage I pieced together the dust deputy between the cabinet and the shop vac. Since most of the glass bead was either sucked in the prior shop vac bag or just no good, I tried the Tractor Supply Black Diamond media (black slag?), I believe its 12/40 but not sure. However, I cannot get the media to blast thru the gun.

Currently I still have the HF blast gun and pickup it came with & I could see the media move all the way up to the gun but that's where it stopped. I dont know if the media is too large or what so any suggestions are appreciated!

 

[donkeotae]

The Black Diamond media never worked for me either, I had to use fine grit blasting media. Also I found that a air/water separator with descant beads was very helpful, moisture must be kept to minimum or it will add to the clogging in the cheapo HF gun. That said it still not a stellar unit, but keeping the air dry and using finer media helped me. Have successfully blasted a couple sets of Honda mini trail wheels that I needed to repaint, took it slow and it did the job!

 

[rpcraft]

Start watching these videos and learn about the faults of the HF sand blaster. This guy bought a kit from a site that is not listing them right now but the kits are good and if you have the money and the time to get ahold of them it's the easiest process to get all the parts in one place along with supported advice and instructions. Likewise, after you watch these videos you will learn the parts are easily found on amazon for the upgrades.

 

[HotRodHudson]

There are a lot of good video's out there and I have watched most of Alvarez's videos, even though they are painfully slow. I have watched a ton of the other video's trying to figure this thing out along the way.

Mods thus far:
Caulked all seams when built, hinged the cabinet top with steel supports & gasket sealed, replaced the plastic for glass to view in cabinet, knurled nuts to hold glass in place and gaskets there too, lighting replaced with halogen, exterior electrical box with switch and outlets to turn on light and shop vac at same time, built a top cover for the back air port inside the cabinet & is the air entrance now, rectangular cover built with bottom air intake & installed at a 45 degree angle for the left side air port as exit now, plastic door holes covered, steel frame and plywood base built with casters under it to raise & roll it around, added a right angle to the air hose connection with high flow connections, replaced the air hose to the gun inside the cabinet, added a dust deputy before the shop vac, added speed control motor to the shop vac, cabinet grounded to prevent static shock, metal grate cut down for more interior space, pet **** on compressor tank replaced with a proper drain port that can be easily reached.

Even though I live in a low humidity environment, to control moisture I added an aftercooler to my compressor with a drain/filter between the aftercooler and the tank. The B&M ****** cooler I added to the compressor is my favorite mod this winter, took temps from 325 down to 9 degrees above room temp and that was after running it constantly for one hour! I also replaced all my hose connections & tools to the high flow 1/4" items to increase air flow.

The last things to do are:
change the gun, add a foot pedal control, meter control valve to the bottom of the hopper thus changing the pick up of media, a ******** motor to the hopper, a pressure regulator at the cabinet (currently at the compressor) and an additional air connection inside the cabinet for an air hose to blow off the finished product before removing it.

Yeah, just adding a blast cabinet... cant be that hard, Right?

 

[rpcraft]

I hear ya. The mods needed to make that cabinet function really well are what have prevented me from purchasing it. I don't want to buy it and have it sitting in the garage while waiting to buy the upgrade parts, lol

 

[gnpenning]

Look at the pick up tube from TP Tools.

 

[jabberwoki]

It`s made in china.

 

[HotRodHudson]

True. When I look back at what I really will be left with after having to make all of the changes.... is pretty much a cheap flimsy box on legs and even that isn't a good design.

When I consider all of the "TIME" I have wasted researching what needs to be done to fix all of the flaws this thing has and then spend more time trying to find the parts to fix it, wait for the parts to arrive, then figure out how to cobble together the different items to this cabinet, this thing has been the biggest waste of time.... bar none!

 

[rpcraft]

I had contemplated whether it would be worth it to just build a wooden box with the correct shape and size to do larger items and then just find the gloves and other spare parts as mentioned in the upgrade kits... I saw a video on youtube where a fellow made his own version out of plywood and then made his own HD leather blasting gloves and sleeves. He said it was his second time doing it and didn't go into specifics why the first one was gone but I think it was a matter of space and downsizing at that time. The cabinet he had was a top loader I think and was big enough that you could put a motorcycle frame, or dare I say, something like a truck axle, so I was thinking, if you can build it strong enough to drop a 14 bolt or dana 60 in there and sand blast it for paint, that would be kind of cool.

 

[rpcraft]

I think this is the fellow with the wood cabinet-

 

[Doc Moses]

I think this is the fellow with the wood cabinet-

The guy in the video has some good ideas. Thanks for the reference.

 

[rpcraft]

He does, I've just gotten to the point where I am shopping for shop air to do blasting and other projects so once I get that I'll probably make a decision on which direction to go. I'm leaning towards the wood cabinet like he has but am thinking I might make the bottom portion (aka hopper) out of aluminum sheet or at least lining it blending the edges together really well to ensure that the media returns to the hopper.

 

[HotRodHudson]

I pulled the black diamond out of the cabinet and put in the 80 mesh glass bead from TSC and got it working again. While it was spitting glass bead with some consistancy at 60psi, it doesn't want to clean the cast iron manifold like the glass bead from HF. Basically the TSC bead wasn't cutting the surface clean and after 20 minutes I cleaned maybe a couple inches is all, and even that wasnt the same color or texture of HF bead.

What am I doing wrong? Should I use different pressures, different bead, other?

 

[bochnak]

You can modify the existing pickup tube to prevent surging. I have info on how to do it here:

https://www.howtomotorcyclerepair.com/hfblastcabmods/

And youtube video on the 8 mods I have:

Matt

 

[Automag88]

Keith Rucker on YouTube posted a video a couple of years ago about installing an upgrade kit on his sand blast cabinet. I believe his cabinet as from Tractor Supply but it looks similar to the Harbor Freight model. I'll see if I can find a link to it

 

[HotRodHudson]

Matt, you made a great video on "must have mods" to the HF cabinet, I actually watched it the other day and your white board explanation on the pickup tube function was very good. BTW: I recognized your avatar right away from your video. It also reminds me of a great cigar, the CAO Flathead Gearbox which actually has a metal gear as a cigar band around each cigar. https://www.cigarsinternational.com/p/cao-flathead-gearbox-cigars/1509309/

Today I ordered up a proper media metering valve, an IDS to attach to the bottom of the hopper door and shortly I will be ordering the Eastwood - foot pedal and air gun kit at $59 it is a steal from all the good reviews I have heard.
Media metering valve: https://www.idsblast.com/sandblasting-supplies/713
Pedal and Gun kit: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-blast-cabinet-foot-pedal-and-gun.html

Finally, I believe I have found part of the problem I was having with the Black Diamond aluminum oxide the previous day. I believe the media is just too big for this original HF gun. When at HF a little while ago, I saw their aluminum oxide and it is a lot finer & much smaller particle. So I bought 50 pounds of that and their glass bead. If it doesn't work with that then I am off to make the pickup tube mod you suggested.

 

[plinker]

I've found crushed glass makes a better abrasive for cleaning rust/scale/paint then glass bead. Garnet works well too, more money though, it'll last longer though.

 

[HotRodHudson]

Crushed Glass would be an ideal one to use. I used the newly pruchased 80 mesh alum oxide and it worked well. I still get surging, sometimes hard enough it has a kick on the suction tube. So I will have to fix that next because it looks like the new gun and foot control from Eastwood wont arrive until the first week in June.

 

[HotRodHudson]

Does anyone know how abrasive or how "large" of an abrasive media the HF cabinet gun can handle?
The HF aluminum oxide at 80 mesh works but much too slowly for the 81 year old cast iron which I have been working on. The 12/40 Black Diamond alum oxide from TSC would not go thru the gun previously, I believe the media was too large of a particle size and would clog up & not work.

 

[xin]

I think this is the fellow with the wood cabinet-

I would build one because it is going to work. Now on the HF stuff (people buy it then spent TIME that is MONEY to rebuild some CHINESE piece of JUNK.

Plus the wood, would not rust, and it is going to work as you built the way it should work not some CHINESE imitation.