Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

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revrnd
Posts: 366
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:38 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by revrnd »

I purchased a Hazard Freight blasting cabinet about a year ago. After using cabinets over my working career that had internal lighting, it was frustrating using 1 w/ no lighting.

I added a 24" fluorescent fixture. It has made a world of difference. I needed to have a friend use a plasma cutter to remove some of the venting baffle to fit it Cut edge is covered by the duct tabe in the pics.
Blasting Cabinet Lamp Installed.jpg
Installed
Blasting Cabinet Lamp On.jpg
View thru the glass
revrnd
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by revrnd »

You may have noticed that I replaced the very OPEN mesh w/ perforated sheet metal. Allows for smaller sectioned parts to be worked on w/o fear of them falling thru.
spro
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by spro »

Looks like serious improvement. Thx for sharing.
revrnd
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by revrnd »

Thanks
choprboy
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by choprboy »

How many lumen? I have the larger version of the HF cabinet, was planning to add LED lighting and an exhaust fan/filter. I came up with a value of something like 3000 lumen... but that seemed high.
revrnd
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by revrnd »

I can check. But the bulbs are 15W T8s. When I'm using the cabinet, I have it hooked up to my shop vac, cuts down on the dust immensely. I blasted a couple of rusty & painted covered hinges. I was quite pleased w/ the view now. Just like I was using 1 of our work cabinets.
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warmstrong1955
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Location: Northern Nevada

Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by warmstrong1955 »

All the low priced blast cabinets seem to suffer from poor lighting.
I had a Horror Freight bench-top, and I added a flood light to it.
Same thing with my larger one I have now. It came with one floodlight, and I added a second one. 100W each.

I got tired of dragging my big Shop-vac around, so I built a dust vac system, out of mostly leftovers.
Only thing I bought, was a Bucket Vac and one hose at Lowes. 30 bucks for everything.
Blast Cabinet Vac.jpg
Two stage contraption.
First bucket with the green lid has a regular Shop-vac filter in it.
The Bucket Vac has a Hepa Filter in it. I've cleaned out the first bucket & filter many times. but I've never had to empty the Bucket Vac itself though. I look, and it's clean.

Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
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BadDog
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by BadDog »

I had a small HF unit, then I bought a pretty decent commercial blast cabinet some years back. Pretty nice comparatively once the "worn out" was mostly fixed, but strikes me more as "Carolina" grade commercial rather than premium, though I could be wrong since the vacuum is cast iron and driven by a 1 HP Baldor motor. That motor drives what looks much like a turbo impeller and moves a LOT of air. Unfortunately the grit it sends back to the hopper arrives at such a high rate it basically blasts a point inside the hopper constantly. It had eroded a hole there and at a few secondary points of constant impact. Welded those up and coated the inside with silicone adhesive caulking. I figured with the grainy blasted cratered surface it would adhere well, and provide a surface that might withstand the constant assault. But it's a huge task lifting the top off with impeller and motor, and haven't needed to go back in to change or add abrasive, so not sure how it's holding up. The worst thing is that the exhaust ejects fines into the air like a cloud, and the worn impeller (has holes in fins at consistent locations) is horribly loud. But it is quite good at evacuating the blasting area to keep good visibility with 2 guarded lights inside. The hip-bar valve was janky to start with and shot by the time I got it, so I changed the air control to a spring loaded ball valve, and the gun nozzle to carbide. The whole front is 2 sliding doors that run in tracks to either side allowing good access for larger parts. It would test the strength I'm sure, but volume wise I could get an stripped engine block in there with room to work.

No idea if any of this is useful to anyone, but my impulse buy turned into quite a big project even though the cabinet itself was quite solidly built and in good shape. There is a LOT of complexity to getting these things working. In the end, I have a pretty functional unit that sucks down an insane amount of air (keeps a 2 stage 80 gal Curtis running), and has to be used outside WITH a particle mask and ear protection, but it otherwise works quite well.
Russ
Master Floor Sweeper
revrnd
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by revrnd »

choprboy wrote:How many lumen? I have the larger version of the HF cabinet, was planning to add LED lighting and an exhaust fan/filter. I came up with a value of something like 3000 lumen... but that seemed high.
The tubes are 1175 lumen.
revrnd
Posts: 366
Joined: Sun Dec 18, 2011 10:38 pm
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by revrnd »

warmstrong1955 wrote:All the low priced blast cabinets seem to suffer from poor lighting.
I got tired of dragging my big Shop-vac around, so I built a dust vac system, out of mostly leftovers.
Only thing I bought, was a Bucket Vac and one hose at Lowes. 30 bucks for everything.
Bill
What did you use for hose from Lowes? Any idea on a SKU #? The corrugated hose I got is a VERY industrial grade type that wants to flex & 'move' the shop-vac where it wants the vac to be. Looking to replace the hose with something w/ less 'memory'.
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warmstrong1955
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by warmstrong1955 »

No idea the SKU #.....been quite a while, but I know it's a genuine Shop Vac brand 2-1/2" x 8' hose.
Both the hose and the Bucket Vac, also made by Shop Vac, were on sale at the time.

Is your vent open? If not, that could make things move around....

Bill
Today's solutions are tomorrow's problems.
CaptonZap
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Re: Sand Blasting Cabinet Modification

Post by CaptonZap »

A cyclone is a great help in removing the media and dust from the exhaust.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=cyclone+se ... sp=4&ghc=1

Being a tinner, I built a small one to use on the HF blast cabinet. It hooks to the shop vac, and reduces the amount of media that goes into the vac.
I return the collected media to the hopper when the bottom of the cyclone gets full.

CZ
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