Blast Cabinet Plans

[MNAirHead]

I've been looking at building a blast cabinet large enough to put a front beam into...

Stumbled into this link

http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/ ... binet.html

[Ol'fogasaurus]

There are several of them posted but I couldn'f find one tonight. Mostly they are of plywood. The flying/bouncing media will attack the soft wood but one thing you can do is put some rubber sheating over the sides (walls).

I am now seeing ABS blast cabinets but I am not sure how resistant to the media they are.

The price of the cheap, home units, keep going up and my disposable income is going down. I am back looking at making one. From what information I have been able to gather, the side loads units have a little smaller area to work with... all other things being equal.

I have use one with and without a pedal control and the pedal control is much nicer to have. A vacuum, a light inside, and a cover over the window are a must.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

http://www.joeshome.com/projects/blastc ... page01.htm

http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/ ... binet.html

http://www.dougbraun.com/model_a_galler ... temId=1244

[MNAirHead]

I forget where I saw it..

Somewhere there's a cool post about how to use a dishwasher.. ingenious idea.. very tight door..

T.

[carljackson47]

Hi guys, I am just concern with the use of plywood. Is there a special plywood I should use or would ordinary ones will do? I would really like to build my own as perfectly as I could.

[fusername]

well in the blast cabinet at work we use a piece of plywood to protect sofer parts from the steel grating. it gets eaten up after a few years, but we are only using glass bead. however it is being blasted pretty directly pretty often, and is used daily, so i think plywood would be fine. esp for home use

[Bugfuel]

I made a sand blasting cabinet from plywood. No problems for occasional hobby use, sometimes heavy use. The plexiglass lid got "milky" real quick, buy enough material to make a spare or two. My store bought cabinet came with stick-on clear plastic sheets that you can peel off when visibility gets too poor. The lid is glass, not plastic.
Anyways. You need a sealed light fixture inside the cabinet, I used a fluorescent light tube from Lowes, it was like under $10.
You also need to seam seal all the seams, sand and finer media likes to come out anywhere it can. The dust too. You need a vacuum hookup, and run a vacuum during blasting. Another hole opposite of the vacuum hole would provide replacement air and then you have decent ventilation. Use a filter of some sort on the vent hole so dust doesn't fly out of there when vacuum is not on.

If you can, make a versatile cabinet that you an load from the top, end, and front. You will always find parts that are shaped just wrong for your choice of door opening

For some LONG objects, I have been thinking of a cabinet that opened from both ends, and you could have just some blankets draped over the openings. Then you could blast parts like bumpers, section at a time. Sure, most sand would end up on the shop floor, but you can scoop it up and screen it for reuse.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I have looked into this also and from comments made, you could line the plywood with a thin sheet of rubber to protect the plywood. I'm not sure if a paint on coating would work.

Lee

[Piledriver]

The spray on rubber trim coating works,(verified vs. the bead blaster at work ) but is expensive.


Anyone try truck bed liner???

[Ol'fogasaurus]

A lot of people use 55 gallon drums that have been modified.

I saw this for sale; South King County (Seattle area)

;http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/tls/1925436149.html

It could be too far a way for you though.

Lee

[fusername]

pro tip: vent the top by cutting a long rectangle hole on the top back of the cabinet. now on the inside make a false roof to the cabinet that is missing a side that ends right by the veiwing window. now as fresh air is drawn into the cabinet it will immediatl pass by the glass and keep your vision clear. also the false top will act as a baffle stopping glass from escaping.

outdoor boat house lights, like yo usee in old movies with a incandecesnt inside a screw on glass bulb, will work quite well, dunno what they cost tho.

[stkrmtr]

A friend used the back of a totaled bus, Cut the entire rear end off, the rear window was used to look at the part the rear door was big and perfect for large parts. the cargo area floor was cut out and steel grate put down. He made a funnel out of sheet metal and used an old shop vac. I had an old craftsman blaster, we used the gun and hose off of it and got gloves from eastwood.com. It might not work good if your using real aggressive media but for us its perfect.