Topic: What kind of blasting cabinet?

[prsman23@hotmail.c]

Thinking about getting a blasting cabinet. Any suggestions on models? I don't really want to spend much over $200 bucks. Can it be done for this price?

[MRieck]

You won't get much at all for that price if you want something with room.

[prsman23@hotmail.c]

How much would I have to spend to get something decent to work with. I don't mind saving up a bit more if I need to.

[Noel]

Harbor Freight, IMO, is your best bet. I'm using a cabinet and compressor from them. Cabinet is on the small side -- my headers don't quite fit -- and compressor is just barely able to drive it, although it does the job. Whole mess was about $250, I think.

There are plans available for building a box out of plywood, which would probably save some money. Someday I'm going to experiment with a cardboard box for a one time use with larger items.

< edit > Actually, you can see my cabinet in my pic. Upper right.

[MRieck]

Blasting cabs are difficult....room is the most important issue BUT having the compressor to drive it is BIG too. Cleaning pistons etc doesn't take much juice but getting stuff really clean like F2 heads etc takes a big, 2 stage compressor in my experience. It depends on what you want to do.

[bill440cars]

                        I've got a sandblast cabinet similar to the one at Harbor Freight and it works quite well.
           I could stand to get a larger compressor ( mine's a 5hp, 20gal, Campbell Hausfeld from Wal Mart,
           on sale bout' 10 years ago.) and I'll probably be checking out Harbor Freight for mine.
                                                                  Later on, Bill

[Glenn Stauffer]

You might take a look at tptools.com.  If you live near any of the major auto shows, they are usually there and you can sometimes get good show deals.  They have one for less than $300 that is a bench-top 25" wide cabinet; maybe too small for what you want.  You could make your own out of plywood and sheet steel - you can get a lot of the parts from tptools and they might even sell a kit with the blast gun, valves, and build plans.  I think they used to.  I have one of their pressure blasters which works great, but is only really useful for big heavy steel things since it would rip apart anything aluminum.

[MRieck]

You might take a look at tptools.com.  If you live near any of the major auto shows, they are usually there and you can sometimes get good show deals.  They have one for less than $300 that is a bench-top 25" wide cabinet; maybe too small for what you want.  You could make your own out of plywood and sheet steel - you can get a lot of the parts from tptools and they might even sell a kit with the blast gun, valves, and build plans.  I think they used to.  I have one of their pressure blasters which works great, but is only really useful for big heavy steel things since it would rip apart anything aluminum.

TP is good. My friend bought one on my recommendation. Like I said...what do you want to blast?

[bill440cars]

                TP has a wide selection of tools but just a tad too expensive for me. I got their catalogs for
       a while and it got to be more of a wish book, in my situation. If I could set up a sandblast business 
       and make money at it, I could see it. Just for my own use, toooo much money for me. Buying
       parts from them might work.     Later on, Bill

[prsman23@hotmail.c]

As far as what I want to blast, I've got a bunch of little parts I want to make shiny again, so I don't think I'd need a big one. Didn't know if it would be more economical in the long run to buy one, as I don't know how much it would cost to take it somewhere.

[Noel]

As far as I'm concerned, the blasting cabinet is practically a necessity with an old bike. Assuming that I could have found all the replacement bits for my old rusty stuff, I think it would have cost more to buy them than I spent on the cabinet and compressor.

IOW, I'm very happy that I bought a cabinet and would do it again in a heartbeat. If anything, I might "break the bank" and spend more than I did, if I were to do it over again.

[putnaja1]

I'm not sure if you can call this a replacement for a blast cabinet, but if you have a bunch of small parts you want to make shiny again, check this out:

Get a tumbler.  They are used for polishing the cartridges of spent ammo, reloaders re-use these..
http://www.berrysmfg.com/82.php

I bought one, and use it for my other hobby- I restore old pinball machines..  There are many parts in an old pinball machine that are metal, and that can get corroded, greasy, dirty, rusty, and otherwise funkified.  Hand polishing sucks.  If you already own a sand blast cabinet, then that's pretty cool, but you may still have to finish polish. 

I just fill the tumbler bowl about half full with corn cob media (available at Kmart or Wallmart stores in the pet section) then throw the handful of parts that I need to polish (polishes bolts great too!)  Finally put in a healthy squirt or two of brasso and/or Turtle Wax chrome polish, put on the lid, and switch on the tumbler.  I usually just leave it over night, but two or three nights might be needed for super rusty or screwed up parts.  They come out looking NEW!

You certainly won't be able to fit a handlebar or other large part in here.  I'd say offhand the bowl is about 12" in diameter, maybe 6" deep, but the center of the bowl comes up to fasten the lid to, so the entire bowl isn't open.  You'd easily be able to do nuts and bolts, springs, brackets, etc.  As a test, I've used mine to polish up forks and spoons bought from an antique store that were brown/yellowed.  They came out brillant silver looking.  Pretty amazing.  Silver dollars, coins, belt buckles, you name it.

Anyways, like I said, maybe not a blast cabinet replacement, but for small parts, brackets, springs, nuts and bolts, etc, it will work pretty well.

[Chris Liston]

A buddy of mine has this unit from Harbour Freight  http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=39170  Its pretty good but does need some air to push it.  $299.  I've used it plenty of times - works very good..

[TwoTired]

I made a blast cabinet out of an old refrigerator. Free.
Added some angle steel legs and electrical conduit bracing, as I used the gutted box on it's side and then tilted on it's back edge.
Fitted some glass to the front door to see in.  And, I got some long gauntlet chemical gloves on sale, I forget where.
The blast gun is from sears.  And, I got a foot pedal from a surplus place.  Small flourescent lamp from Hardware store.
I use the shop vac to suck out very small dust particles.

It works pretty well, and takes pretty large items.   But, it really taxes my wimpy sears air compressor.

I used alot of stuff I already had on hand. I'm sure I have less than $100 into it. Not counting my time, of course.

Latlely, I've been thinking a different gun/nozzle would work better than the sears.  Maybe I'll try the one from TP.  Most likely though, the wimpy compressor is the biggest problem.

Never a problem finding new projects. 

Cheers,