Blast cabinet, Advice needed Please

[Shawzy]

Hi, and thanks in advance for any help and advice which any one can give.
I have had a garage full of Lambretta's for restoration for longer than i care to mention and its about time i pull my finger out and start work.

A large part of the work will involve my blast cab setup, which i have also had for a while and recently setup to do a little work on a boat engine, and while it worked to a fashion it wasnt as i quite expected and would greatly apreciate any advice on how to make the system work better for me.

My system consists of a SBC420 blast cabinet :specs here- ( http://us104436258.trustpass.alibaba.com/product/109855336-0/ATLAS_SBC420_Sandblast_Cabinet.html )
and an AF13/150 Compressor: specs ( 3hp motor, 150 ltr tank, Dispacement CFM 13.9, Fad CFM 9.0 single phase)

at the moment my compressor is running from a different shed to my cab and is supplying air via a 50ft hose which isnt ideal and will soon be putting right and installing next to each other. The gun that is supplied with the cab is fitted with the smallest nozzel which has a 6mm diameter hole but still seems to empty ther air from my tank far to quickly and i have had a play with adjusting the screw on the bottom of the hopper valve which regulates how much media is mixed with the air and still not getting decent results. The media i have been using is 300-400 glass bead wich a friend kindly got me from work but am not sure if this is what i should be using as i will be using the setup to clean metal, brass ally etc and also remove paint.
I have tried doing a bit of research and am wondering if running a seperate blast pot in conjunction would help or if i am just flogging a dead horse with the compressor i am using?
Once again thanks in advance for any help and advice anyone is able to give.
Cheers Dave
P.S. if anyone is interested the Scoots i have for restoration are: TV175 series 3, Eibar 150 special, Li 150 and an Li 125.. also a 1997 Vespa T5 and my everyday ride a Vespa PX 125

 

[rtbcomp]

Welcome to the forum.

You're better of with a pot.
Your compressor should work a 3mm nozzle in that cabinet OK.
You want grit, either J-Blast Supafine or glass grit (not beads) to shift paint of steel. Slightly more expensive is aluminium oxide which is also OK on aluminium.

There's a heck of a lot of information on blasting & cabinets on this forum.

 

[malcolm]

Bit of info on the pots here: http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/sandblasting.htm Search eBay for "20 gallon sandblasting" - that's the sort of thing. One heck of a lot less air hungry than the syphon guns. I've got much the same setup as you and it's fine for blasting wheels.

Wouldn't use J blast superfine in a cabinet - too dusty - you can't see what you are doing.

 

[Engineer]

The compressor is much too small............pressure pot needs less air , but blast media gets everywhere, and not really ideal unless you want to blast items which wont fit into a cabinet.

 

[Shawzy]

So, ebay 20 gallon pot, used in conjunction with the cab and just use the cyclone for dust extraction and the hopper to catch the grit and then reload the pot... that the idea?

I really do apreciate the swift replies, Many thanks once again in advance.

 

[rtbcomp]

So, ebay 20 gallon pot, used in conjunction with the cab and just use the cyclone for dust extraction and the hopper to catch the grit and then reload the pot... that the idea?

I really do apreciate the swift replies, Many thanks once again in advance.

Yes, that's how I do my bead blasting.

Malcolm's right about J-Blast, it's ok outside or in a blastroom, but too dusty for a cabinet.

Chilled iron is great, but it's expensive as you don't get as many litres/£ because it is very dense, on the other hand you can use it 3 or 4 hundred times. Its biggest drawback is that it rusts very easily to form homogenous clumps so your air needs to be dry.