Converting a Small Blast Cabinet to Soda

[mtt.tr]

put some kiln dried sand in its more abrasive but still wont have much power even on ally being a suction gun run it through a pressure pot at 90 psi and it will skin you alive a steel car wheel can be done in no time

I wouldn't due to the silica production

 

[brightspark]

I wouldn't due to the silica production

I use a 4inch woodchip extract ducted outside and also wear a dust mask not that its needed outside blasting I have the shotblast air fed helmet was just doing a test here with new bigger grit valve I cast and made for using heavier 1.5mm grit

 

[mtt.tr]

I use a 4inch woodchip extract ducted outside and also wear a dust mask not that its needed outside blasting I have the shotblast air fed helmet was just doing a test here with new bigger grit valve for using heavier 1.5mm grit

Fair cop

 

[JonnyAlpha]

build a bigger one to take car wheels etc and use your small one for beads soda will clean but it wont peen the surface and give a shinier finish

So use the Soda with the blast pot and Soda Conversion kit. What's the best way of converting the Blast Pot gun to get it into a cabinet, I was thinking of removing the blast put gun (as you have mentioned before) and running the hose into the side of a cabinet with something like a Hose barb with threaded end to secure it into a hole in the side of the cabinet and then another one on the inside with a short piece of hose and the nozzle.
With this nozzle how do you easily switch it on and off, without the expense of a foot pedal (I am a hobbyist).

Glass beads in the small cabinet using the standard suction setup of should I modify it like in this thread where he adds a drain at the bottom into suction tube with an addition Air Inlet to aid flow?

 

[brightspark]

what I did was put the poker in the beads and drill a hole maybe about 1/8th of an inch 6inch up the suction hose that lets air in and it stops the gun from sucking and pulsing the media out of the gun. crude but works ok . give it a try. if it still pulses enlarge the hole and allow more air in

 

[JonnyAlpha]

what I did was put the poker in the beads and drill a hole maybe about 1/8th of an inch 6inch up the suction hose that lets air in and it stops the gun from sucking and pulsing the media out of the gun. crude but works ok . give it a try. if it still pulses enlarge the hole and allow more air in

Sorry lost me, by poker so you mean the metal pick up tube in the cabinet? And did you drill a hole in the metal pick up tube or braided hose?

 

[brightspark]

Sorry lost me, by poker so you mean the metal pick up tube in the cabinet? And did you drill a hole in the metal pick up tube or braided hose?

metal pick up tube dips in the media and 6 inch up the braided hose out of the media drilled the hole to let air in

 

[JonnyAlpha]

metal pick up tube dips in the media and 6 inch up the braided hose out of the media drilled the hole to let air in

Ok thanks

Ref Glass Beads, where and what size?
Found these on eBay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fine-Gra...200034?hash=item593c445322:g:bKsAAOSwk8JdyoX8

 

[brightspark]

that isnt glass beads its crushed glass and says for etching .beads are a perfect sphere and round and peen the surface the stuff needed is fairly fine . I might be wrong it could be

 

[JonnyAlpha]

that isnt glass beads its crushed glass and says for etching .beads are a perfect sphere and round and peen the surface the stuff needed is fairly fine . I might be wrong it could be

What about these, is that a fair price. Says 250 450 microns for cleaning lightly soiled and polishing aluminium?

 

[JonnyAlpha]

Any help finding some well priced Glass Beads for cleaning up Carburettors and Aluminium Engine Parts. Looks to be about £40 (inc shipping) is the best price I can find?
Not sure about what grades to buy , so some advice about that would help. I want a nice clean (non peened surface).

Also I cannot seem to find a 3mm nozzle for the stock gun fitted to the small Clarke / Sealey Blast Cabinets, is there an alternative with 3mm nozzles that I could use?

 

[brightspark]

are you on about the blast nozzle on a Clarke suction gun or the air nozzle

 

[JonnyAlpha]

are you on about the blast nozzle on a Clarke suction gun or the air nozzle

It's the suction gun in the small Sealey Cabinet that I posted earlier in this thread here

 

[JonnyAlpha]

So today I had a break through, I spent some time and did the same mods to the cabinet as modified by @optima21 as inspired by @brightspark

I don't have a decent pipe bender but did have a couple of flexible hoses kicking around - not sure how long they'll last :-) I managed to make everything up using parts that I had in the workshop. The only thing I did not have was a thin nut for the 'T' piece but made up one by sawing and filing down one of the compression joint nuts.

I used some Restofine G500 but turned the compressor down to 80 PSI and then again down to 50 PSI.
I cleaned up some aluminium parts and it worked really well, the only issue (and it is a fault in the design of this model of cabinet, is that the media once used around the inlet does not naturally fall back so easily so I had to tip the cabinet up a few times.

Here are the results:

From this:

To this:

And these:

It is a little peaned which would be great for painting but I want to try and polish these with glass bead, I wonder how they will turn out if I got some glass bead?

 

[brightspark]

did u notice what I did with mine I made some tapered panels for the sides to funnel the media down to the center

 

[brightspark]

the glass beads give a peened finish giving the ally a satin finish but still not suitable for highly polishing it. the parts are cast ally and would require cleaning up with abrasive wheel or disk to a fine finish then polish all the scratches out . a time consuming job . here's the hopper sides I made https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/small-clarke-blast-cabinet-improvement.20261/ heres the finish on a head that's been sandblasted and then beadblastedhttps://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/aluminium-cleaning.34936/

 

[Wallace]

When you get the cabinet sorted, keep an old pair of pliers in the cabinet as it will save the gloves wearing through on small parts and add a couple of sheets of steel in the back corner (or a 90° cut to suit) as a sacrificial panel to save wearing through the cabinet and having to repair it.

 

[JonnyAlpha]

the glass beads give a peened finish giving the ally a satin finish but still not suitable for highly polishing it. the parts are cast ally and would require cleaning up with abrasive wheel or disk to a fine finish then polish all the scratches out . a time consuming job . here's the hopper sides I made https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/small-clarke-blast-cabinet-improvement.20261/ heres the finish on a head that's been sandblasted and then beadblastedhttps://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/aluminium-cleaning.34936/

So those parts I blasted with crushed glass (which I think the Restofine is) should Bead Blast OK? Been advised to get some from here: https://oro2u.com/advanced_search.php?search=glass+bead

When you get the cabinet sorted, keep an old pair of pliers in the cabinet as it will save the gloves wearing through on small parts and add a couple of sheets of steel in the back corner (or a 90° cut to suit) as a sacrificial panel to save wearing through the cabinet and having to repair it.

Will do thanks.

 

[JonnyAlpha]

Just need to sort the lighting and extraction now.

 

[JonnyAlpha]

Today I decided to make the hopper sides for the cabinet, so I brushed off my fabrication skills and made up a cardboard template:

Yeh I know - I didn't bother to empty out the media.
Next transfer the template to the metal, I had a spare piece left from an old security cabinet, bee holding onto it for about 5 years!!

And cut out the shape:

The next job was to mark along the fold line and bend it in my DIY bender that I made after learning how to make repair panels for my classic mini on the Retro Rides forum.
Sorry no picture of the bender :-(

Then check and adjust the fold and test fit:

Then mark and drill the holes for the three screws to hold it in place and screw it in:

Now what can I do to stop the media going under the hopper side? Should I seal it with something like silastic?

Need to get cracking as I have my first customer :-)