DIY Blast Cabinet...?

[The Z'eer]

Looking at the possibility of building a blast cabinet, I'd be opting for 18 mm ply in the construction with a sturdy frame built from timber.

I have done a little research into the DIY approach and it would appear to be a feasible option with good results. If anyone has taken this route and can comment if there's any serious draw backs, please relay your thoughts?

I have never used shot/media blasting equipment, though it is something I'd like to try, I'm very a much a novice in this area. I do have a Dakota 90 litre 14CFM compressor, will this be suitable or should I be looking at something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/26448256...MI0bON2Iit7wIVU4BQBh1CSwJ6EAQYAyABEgLHGfD_BwE for the job ? Mostly, looking to clean up small automotive body panels/parts and get them ready for paint.

As mentioned I have very little knowledge in this area, if those in the know could share the basics/advice is most definitely appreciated. Thanks

 

[gaz1]

go thin steel it will be cheaper and lighter in the end

 

[The Z'eer]

go thin steel it will be cheaper and lighter in the end

Yeah, I had a look those over the past couple of weeks, quite informative. Alas I don't have any welding equipment let alone the talent for the job. A little long winded but I gathered a fair amount of info from this one

(three in total)

 

[gaz1]

3mm angle iron all bolted sealed by silicone and 3mm angle iron bolted up for the corners to seal them

thin sheets can be used as the framework is all 3mm angle iron

 

[The Z'eer]

3mm angle iron all bolted sealed by silicone and 3mm angle iron bolted up for the corners to seal them

thin sheets can be used as the framework is all 3mm angle iron

Thanks for the info I'd probably use metal as opposed to to timber but I do have a fair amount of off cuts left over from making the workshop. I'm planning on having a clear out soon, it'd be a shame not use them.

 

[gaz1]

 

[vw1]

Looking at the possibility of building a blast cabinet, I'd be opting for 18 mm ply in the construction with a sturdy frame built from timber.

I have done a little research into the DIY approach and it would appear to be a feasible option with good results. If anyone has taken this route and can comment if there's any serious draw backs, please relay your thoughts?

I have never used shot/media blasting equipment, though it is something I'd like to try, I'm very a much a novice in this area. I do have a Dakota 90 litre 14CFM compressor, will this be suitable or should I be looking at something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264482565489?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338767030&toolid=10029&customid=eb:g:vms:eb:264482565489;EAIaIQobChMI0bON2Iit7wIVU4BQBh1CSwJ6EAQYAyABEgLHGfD_BwE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0bON2Iit7wIVU4BQBh1CSwJ6EAQYAyABEgLHGfD_BwE for the job ? Mostly, looking to clean up small automotive body panels/parts and get them ready for paint.

As mentioned I have very little knowledge in this area, if those in the know could share the basics/advice is most definitely appreciated. Thanks

Hi I'm not an expert by any means but not sure your compressor will be up to the job.

 

[optima21]

my first blast cabinet was made form a large plastic storage container......is was a bit rough but it worked...... you could have said it was a ghetto-blaster

there are loads of posts on here about blasting cabinets, unless you want something special just use a commercial one, they can work quite well with a few tweaks, one of the main ones being having adequate dust extraction. Ive got small benchtop cabinet that has been modified and works quite well. If you want a large cabint or to do large parts I'd be looking at using a pressurised system rather than a syphon system as it works much more efficiently.

you could just use the shed you've built as a walk in blast cabinet and work in a toilet tent

Grey Pop Up Toilet & Utility Tent 1.2M

Description . 2 YEAR WARRANTY ON THIS PRODUCT . . .The OLPRO Pop up Toilet Tent. Great for use with a portable toilet or for extra storage. The Spacious design is perfect for storing all your camping essentials for that additional living space inside your tent or for a privately screened area...

www.olproshop.com

 

[badabec]

Isn't Izal tough enough for you?

Joking aside, that looks the business

 

[Wallace]

Look into more CFM compressor wise before you spend a lot of time and effort building and get disappointed. I have two suction gun cabinets and they are only really adequate for hobby use with a 14cfm compressor on a 3mm nozzle at 90psi.
I planned on building a bigger one than the wee Clarke bench top opening jobbie then someone posted a link to a cheap version similar to the larger side door Sealey etc so I bought one of those to modify and saved a lot of time building but waste more time as I can get bigger items in!

 

[Ross365]

You know for sure that there will be lots of air going in to whatever you build; be sure to give due consideration as to how that air leaves and where it goes and takes all the dust with it. The small cheapy cabinets (like mine) are fitted with an exhaust port with a smallish filter element on them, which I reckon will start to block quite quickly. I've taken that filter off and fitted a pipe that goes to an extractor fan and that then blows outside my shed. It's kind of a "work in progress" at the minute, but it's something I hadn't given much thought to went I started out. Without a good exhaust, the cabinet will start to pressure, then you get dust squeezing out.

 

[optima21]

for home use you can use a smaller nozzle size and allow more time for the blasting process. also sometimes you want to do some delicate blasting too, like these steering parts for my radio controlled matchbox lorry, these parts were blasted at 25psi (with a pound coin for scale)

and at low pressures you can use insulation tape for masking without any issues

bit for most things people on here will be just turning up the pressure to remove as much material as fast as possible, if I blasted these steam engine boilers at 90psi, I dont think there would be much left of them.

 

[Ross365]

for home use you can use a smaller nozzle size and allow more time for the blasting process. also sometimes you want to do some delicate blasting too, like these steering parts for my radio controlled matchbox lorry, these parts were blasted at 25psi (with a pound coin for scale) and at low pressures you can use insulation tape for masking without any issues

bit for most things people on here will be just turning up the pressure to remove as much material as fast as possible, if I blasted these steam engine boilers at 90psi, I dont think there would be much left of them.

What media were you suing for that delicate work?

I haven't gained much experience yet, but presumably, as well as working at lower pressure, the force behind the grit falls off quite rapidly as you move the gun away from the work?

My compressor is in a different shed to my cabinet, so that's set with the regulator at ~120psi, but I have attached a valve to the cabinet which allows me to reduce that without going walkies.

 

[optima21]

What media were you suing for that delicate work?

its just crushed glass started off a 0.2-0.5mm, been recycled a few times, so its basically fine dust. I just turn the pressure up if I need to clean rust from steel.
I nearly forgot I also got some new LED bulbs for my kitchen a while ago, but they ended up being more like spotlights, so blasting the plastic lenses at low pressure diffused the lenses and give much more even lighting (like the halogens they replaced)

and yeah as you go further away the force falls off dramatically, but even at low pressure there were blasted maybe 100mm away

 

[Wallace]

You know for sure that there will be lots of air going in to whatever you build; be sure to give due consideration as to how that air leaves and where it goes and takes all the dust with it. The small cheapy cabinets (like mine) are fitted with an exhaust port with a smallish filter element on them, which I reckon will start to block quite quickly. I've taken that filter off and fitted a pipe that goes to an extractor fan and that then blows outside my shed. It's kind of a "work in progress" at the minute, but it's something I hadn't given much thought to went I started out. Without a good exhaust, the cabinet will start to pressure, then you get dust squeezing out.

I fitted a big filter on one side of the cabinet and vacuum on the other side to give a cross flow of air. A baffle plate in front of the vacuum port reduces stray media escape so mostly dust goes out.

 

[bricol]

I thought about a building a cabinet a few years ago - looked at the cost of the timber, the time, the effort. . . so bought one of the many cheapo bolt together ebay/amazon cabinets - bolted it together in the living room one saturday night, as you do . . dismantled it again to to get it out, and reassembled in the shed. Used it once, then applied sealant to every joint - if I was doing it again, I would miss out their sealing tape and just use sealant.

I figured I had no interest in reinventing the wheel to a worse degree than someone else already had - so for minimal investment, a bit of sealant, I had a working cabinet to do the stuff I really wanted to do. I've tweaked the lighting, the extraction etc since - but I would have done that on a home build.

 

[Matchless]

I made my cabinet big enough for a small bonnet or boot lid, when it came to it I had them done professionally as it just takes tooooooo long and the small pressure pot I have goes through the grit at such a rate you have to keep stopping to sieve the grit and refill the pot, dust extraction is the other problem, I have a woodists extractor and judging by the outside of the shed wall where it extracts to it does move some air but the cabinet and especially the window fogs up in no time, I have taken to blasting with the front of the cabinet open and wearing a big hood, ear defenders, dust mask, jacket, etc. that works a lot better, so don't get over ambitious, you need very good air extraction, you can add several large gas cylinders to the air supply and then be able to blast for much longer before putting the kettle on whilst it builds up air again, you won't blast anything largish with a suction system, get a blast pot and make or buy a new bottom valve,

 

[James1979]

my first blast cabinet was made form a large plastic storage container......is was a bit rough but it worked...... you could have said it was a ghetto-blaster

there are loads of posts on here about blasting cabinets, unless you want something special just use a commercial one, they can work quite well with a few tweaks, one of the main ones being having adequate dust extraction. Ive got small benchtop cabinet that has been modified and works quite well. If you want a large cabint or to do large parts I'd be looking at using a pressurised system rather than a syphon system as it works much more efficiently.

you could just use the shed you've built as a walk in blast cabinet and work in a toilet tent

Grey Pop Up Toilet & Utility Tent 1.2M

Description . 2 YEAR WARRANTY ON THIS PRODUCT . . .The OLPRO Pop up Toilet Tent. Great for use with a portable toilet or for extra storage. The Spacious design is perfect for storing all your camping essentials for that additional living space inside your tent or for a privately screened area...

www.olproshop.com

I like that idea. I’ve just bought one for painting in. Cheers.

£20 off the bay

Pardon our interruption...

 

[brightspark]

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I made my cabinet big enough for a small bonnet or boot lid, when it came to it I had them done professionally as it just takes tooooooo long and the small pressure pot I have goes through the grit at such a rate you have to keep stopping to sieve the grit and refill the pot, dust extraction is the other problem, I have a woodists extractor and judging by the outside of the shed wall where it extracts to it does move some air but the cabinet and especially the window fogs up in no time, I have taken to blasting with the front of the cabinet open and wearing a big hood, ear defenders, dust mask, jacket, etc. that works a lot better, so don't get over ambitious, you need very good air extraction, you can add several large gas cylinders to the air supply and then be able to blast for much longer before putting the kettle on whilst it builds up air again, you won't blast anything largish with a suction system, get a blast pot and make or buy a new bottom valve,

if you put a rubber mat on top of the base mesh in cab and just cut it short all the way round the spent media just drops down and doesnt get blown about and back up causing the dust cloud

 

[Matchless]

if you put a rubber mat on top of the base mesh in cab and just cut it short all the way round the spent media just drops down and doesnt get blown about and back up causing the dust cloud

I will give that a try, blasted the rear callipers and associated handbrake gubbins off the Mk2 Jag today, did that with the cabinet open and the dust was not too bad, main issue with cabinet closed is the dust covering the window, it works so I will carry on using it,