I've got a new blast cabinet and...

[lennylogknob]

...I'm not sure how to rig it up.
It's quite an old thing but looks like it'll do the job if only I can put it together properly.

I assume that this is where I plug the airline in:

One of the smaller pipes goes to the gun, the other goes to nothing at the moment. Is it supposed to be somehow plugged into the front of this?

The large pipe coming from the top of this goes up to the bottom of the cabinet (like a drain for the grit) and has a smaller pipe inside it that goes to the gun.

By the looks of it the gun is dead. Will it be easy enough to get a replacement? Any idea where from?

Cheers in advance,

Lenny.

 

[rtbcomp]

That silver thing looks like a seperator for the grit, I would guess you fit a vacuum cleaner suction hose to the pipe on the side.

I would guess the thin pipe inside the thicker one is the grit feed to the gun, the other pipe to the gun will be the compressed air supply.

On the 2nd picture, is the thin pipe from the bottom of the T-piece the same one that goes into the side of the chamber?

Where does the upper branch of the T-piece go to?

 

[lennylogknob]

On the 2nd picture, is the thin pipe from the bottom of the T-piece the same one that goes into the side of the chamber?

The thin pipe from the bottom of the T-piece currently goes to nothing.

Where does the upper branch of the T-piece go to?

This goes straight to the gun. The air supply I suppose.

The other pipe you can see in the second picture is the smaller pipe that comes up inside the big black tube from the canister thing. It exits the bigger tube towards the top, loops around the back, into the side of the cabinet and into the gun.

 

[rtbcomp]

The thin pipe from the bottom of the T-piece currently goes to nothing.

I suspect that thin pipe is the air inlet and a pressure gauge may have been fitted into the vacant bit of the T-piece. (Assuming it is a T-piece and not a dismantled gate valve?)

This goes straight to the gun. The air supply I suppose Yes.

The other pipe you can see in the second picture is the smaller pipe that comes up inside the big black tube from the canister thing. It exits the bigger tube towards the top, loops around the back, into the side of the cabinet and into the gun.

That'll be the media feed to the gun.

Hook it up to a vacuum cleaner, air supply and buy a bag of kiln-dried sand and give it a go. If it works throw the sand away and get proper abrasive.

Is there a replaceable film on the inside of the glass window to protect the glasss?

You can get a cheap & cheerful gun from Machine Mart, or have look through here for more info on media and equipment suppliers:

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=15735

 

[lennylogknob]

Hook it up to a vacuum cleaner, air supply and buy a bag of kiln-dried sand and give it a go.

Beautiful. I'll do that.

What does the vacuum cleaner do?

Is there a replaceable film on the inside of the glass window to protect the glasss?

Not at the moment. I've put a new bit of toughened glass in but it's not covered in any way yet.

 

[rtbcomp]

What does the vacuum cleaner do?

Keeps the pressure in the pot down to reduce leaks and sucks the dust out. There may some form of vortex in the silver bit to seperate the heavier grit from the dust.

Unless you just use it for bead blasting, the glass will very soon become frosted over. May be as well to put some acrylic or thick film on top of the glass, so if it does break you won't get fragments flying off in your face.

 

[graffian]

is that a cement mixer?

 

[Country Joe]

is that a cement mixer?

I thought that, too.

 

[lennylogknob]

When I first saw it I thought of this:

 

[graffian]

wonder if you chuck a load of glass bottles in a cement mixer,
lob the things to blast in and leave it running 10 minutes or, if it
would leave a reasonable finish.

I have something to powder coat tomorrow and have a cement
mixer[might be able to scare up a few bottles], but my brother will
sulk if I cut out the metal bits inside the drum;-)

 

[brightspark]

wonder if you chuck a load of glass bottles in a cement mixer,
lob the things to blast in and leave it running 10 minutes or, if it
would leave a reasonable finish.

I have something to powder coat tomorrow and have a cement
mixer[might be able to scare up a few bottles], but my brother will
sulk if I cut out the metal bits inside the drum;-)

whelabrator make drums for taking burrs of machined parts .they fill them with cone shaped pebbles and water there u go a new concept a cement mixer dual purpose

 

[rtbcomp]

What are you hoping to powder coat? I don't thing items made from sheet metal would last very long with bottles breaking over them.

There is a method of coating removal that involves rumbling the workpiece in a container full of sand. Hot sand is sometimes used in this way to remove powder coating.

 

[graffian]

Rear stand off my bike, it's a pair of steel forgings with a tube welded between them, bottles beware....

 

[pedrobedro]

There is a method of coating removal that involves rumbling the workpiece in a container full of sand. Hot sand is sometimes used in this way to remove powder coating.

One of the foundries I worked in used to make zinc anodes and they were cast then cleaned up in what we called the rumbler, a drum with a hole cut in the end with a few shovels of coarse gravel and some water chucked in and it rolled on wheels turned by a geared down motor. They were put in and left to roll for a few hours and came out shiny and the pebbles in the gravel wore perfectly round making good catapult ammo as well.