Post by eckertc1 on Oct 3, 2009 8:53:01 GMT -5
Anyone who has been keeping up on my resto thread will know that I bought a blasting cabinet not to long ago to help with parts cleanup. Anyone who has owned a blasting cabinet will know, they are not always as good as they sound.
Since owning mine, I have done some searching on google and find that many blast cabinet owners face the same issues I have (had) with mine.
here is what my cabinet looks like.....
Problem 1 - dust escapes the cabinet and fills the air in the garage.
Solution - Empty the cabinet completely and wash it out. I did mine in the driveway with the garden hose and then let it dry out for a day. Once it is dry, hit all the seams inside and out with caulking. I was worried this would just get blown off in the process of using the cabinet so I applied a fairly thin coat on the seams with my finger and so far it has worked great. I also took the glass off and sealed it inside and out with caulking. this took care of about 80% of the dust coming out of various places in the cabinet.
Problem 2 - dust fills the cabinet and you cant see a thing you are blasting.
Solution - My cabinet came with plugs in the back and side that were meant for (I would assume) a breather system. So I made a metal plate to cover one of the plug holes and cut a hole in it just big enough for a shop-vac hose. I covered the end of the shop-vac hose with fine screen (like what you would use on your windows) so that it would not suck up any large chunks of junk from blasting and then squeezed the hose into the hole I made in the plug plate. When I first tied this out, the shop-vac would transfer the dust to the air faster then the cabinet used to so I put an extra filter on the inside of the shop-vac. Doing so reduced the amount of vacuum I was getting out of the shop-vac but not enough to make it ineffective and it got rid of the blowing dust from the shop-vac.
Secondly, I realized it was still difficult to see inside the cabinet even when I was getting as much dust out as possible so I mounted another light inside (just a cheapo drop light) right above where the glove inserts are. These two things have taken care of visibility issues almost completely. The only other tip I have in regards to visibility is DO NOT use the black diamond sand you can buy from Campbell's Supply in your cabinet. This stuff is only good for heavy parts like frame rails anyway and it creates a black dust so thick, no amount of vacuuming and lighting will allow you to see through it.
Problem 3 - The blasting gun plugs up all the time and you spend more time unplugging it then blasting with it.
Solution - This is caused by the rust and junk coming off of what ever you are blasting, being sucked up into the nozzle. to solve this issue, I removed the grate that the parts sit on from the cabinet and wrapped it with a layer of window screen (the finer the better). Now, everything that gets blasted off, stays right on the grate and the good sand that is reusable, falls back through into the cabinet.
Since owning mine, I have done some searching on google and find that many blast cabinet owners face the same issues I have (had) with mine.
here is what my cabinet looks like.....
Problem 1 - dust escapes the cabinet and fills the air in the garage.
Solution - Empty the cabinet completely and wash it out. I did mine in the driveway with the garden hose and then let it dry out for a day. Once it is dry, hit all the seams inside and out with caulking. I was worried this would just get blown off in the process of using the cabinet so I applied a fairly thin coat on the seams with my finger and so far it has worked great. I also took the glass off and sealed it inside and out with caulking. this took care of about 80% of the dust coming out of various places in the cabinet.
Problem 2 - dust fills the cabinet and you cant see a thing you are blasting.
Solution - My cabinet came with plugs in the back and side that were meant for (I would assume) a breather system. So I made a metal plate to cover one of the plug holes and cut a hole in it just big enough for a shop-vac hose. I covered the end of the shop-vac hose with fine screen (like what you would use on your windows) so that it would not suck up any large chunks of junk from blasting and then squeezed the hose into the hole I made in the plug plate. When I first tied this out, the shop-vac would transfer the dust to the air faster then the cabinet used to so I put an extra filter on the inside of the shop-vac. Doing so reduced the amount of vacuum I was getting out of the shop-vac but not enough to make it ineffective and it got rid of the blowing dust from the shop-vac.
Secondly, I realized it was still difficult to see inside the cabinet even when I was getting as much dust out as possible so I mounted another light inside (just a cheapo drop light) right above where the glove inserts are. These two things have taken care of visibility issues almost completely. The only other tip I have in regards to visibility is DO NOT use the black diamond sand you can buy from Campbell's Supply in your cabinet. This stuff is only good for heavy parts like frame rails anyway and it creates a black dust so thick, no amount of vacuuming and lighting will allow you to see through it.
Problem 3 - The blasting gun plugs up all the time and you spend more time unplugging it then blasting with it.
Solution - This is caused by the rust and junk coming off of what ever you are blasting, being sucked up into the nozzle. to solve this issue, I removed the grate that the parts sit on from the cabinet and wrapped it with a layer of window screen (the finer the better). Now, everything that gets blasted off, stays right on the grate and the good sand that is reusable, falls back through into the cabinet.