Small Blast Cabinet

[doubleboost]

I keep spending the odd tenner / 20 quid .
Getting small parts blasted.
I have a good compressor with a dry air feed for the plasma table .
Been looking at one of these cabinets .
Space is my problem , this si small enough to move about when not in use .
Anyone bought anything similar .
They are sold in many places being Oriental in manufacture .

Pardon our interruption...

 

[scottmk1]

I had one and cleaned up a few parts using it. Apart from the fact it’s suction gun type, the limitations are size of parts you want to blast and the dust extraction, size of the parts obviously is dictated by size of cabinet but if you sort out some air flow through it you will manage brake callipers and brackets etc no problem, it just takes time.

 

[Morrisman]

I bought something very similar from Screwfix 20 years ago, but could not get it to work properly, it didn't 'suck' the medium from the bottom of the funnel. They took it back without question.

Later I heard that I'd put far too little blast media in, and another couple of bags would have made it work perfectly.

It got very hard to see, in use, with rust dust blowing about inside, but the wife's Dyson hooked up to the vent tube soon sorted that.
Until it killed the Dyson after 20 minutes use.....

 

[ajlelectronics]

Been looking at one of these cabinets .
Space is my problem , this si small enough to move about when not in use .
Anyone bought anything similar .

They come flatpack and need assembling with lots of sealant as they leak terribly. Also you need vacuum extraction connected. Apart from that, they are not bad. This is the smallest cabinet with a pair of lever latches which are not so special. Spend a bit more and get the bigger one with the single side door and over centre type latch.

 

[ajlelectronics]

This one is far superior and doesn't occupy bench space.

 

[brightspark]

This one is far superior and doesn't occupy bench space.

and still pretty much rubbish using a suction gun. best used with a pressure pot thats been uprated with a decent grit valve and a carbide blast nozzle

 

[brightspark]

i use the small cabinet just for bead blasting small parts with the suction gun but altered the the hopper on it and pickup to take more media and put a 4 inch duct on it to extract the dust with a fan on the end my larger one i made takes car wheels and use a pressure pot at 28 cfm 90psi and use a 4 inch woodchip extractor to clear the dust

 

[scottmk1]

This one is far superior and doesn't occupy bench space.

And occupying floor space instead

 

[optima21]

Ive got one of the small ones, its fine for smaller items if you're not in a hurry, but you need to modify the pick up to bleed air into blasting media to make it more fluid.

benchtop blasting cabinet modifications.

I've had one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200472037005 for a while now so thought I'd best start tweaking it so I can use it for blasting small parts. for many years Ive been using one of these blast guns (originally from Anglo Scot Abrasives)...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[Alan Reynolds]

I’ve got one. The seal around the top can allow media dust to escape. I put a better foam seal around it.
The ceramic nozzles wear quite quickly but you can get them on Ebay in bulk.
You need a good compressor to save running out of air.
The sacrificial sight windows are expensive. I use A3 printer film the right way around with double sided tape. You have to make sure the tape covers any gaps as the media will find any crevice. I make a few up in advance.

 

[gaz1]

you would get more use out of a barrel

 

[scottmk1]

you would get more use out of a barrel

Use it as a BBQ in between blasting

 

[Ross365]

I keep spending the odd tenner / 20 quid .
Getting small parts blasted.
I have a good compressor with a dry air feed for the plasma table .
Been looking at one of these cabinets .
Space is my problem , this si small enough to move about when not in use .
Anyone bought anything similar .
They are sold in many places being Oriental in manufacture .

Pardon our interruption...

Yep, bought exact same a couple of years ago and fairly happy with it.
You can do some useful mods fairly easily. The outlet filter is best removed and an extraction pipe fitted (true of all blast cabinets). The light tube shines in your face to some extent and is best replaced with LED's under the lid and facing downwards. Like all things, there's a leaning curve. Seems to work best at about 90psig. Glad I bought it.

 

[bourbon]

got to be done. https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/sb30-large-blast-cabinet/

 

[addjunkie]

I would recommend the bigger sized chinese ones. https://www.sgs-engineering.com/ssb...4LSYjMe86CTdSaPnNDFmMO2aGpOgn8xhoCBQcQAvD_BwE
If you get one, one of the best modifications is a stainless steel mesh that goes over the glass and a dust extractor. I made a thread somewhere on the stainless mesh. Someone should sell them as a kit because it's the best thing I did to my blaster.

half the machine mart price, must be that expensive red paint they use pushing the price up!

 

[addjunkie]

Got to pay for those old school paper receipts with the holes somehow. I'm sure they have a specific name

Dot matrix printers are they not, been a few years since Ive bought anything there!

 

[JohnH]

I've got the Machine Mart version. Had it for 20+ years. Works well for me doing the odd tool box or car part.
Its not the largest of spaces inside so you need to get things organised inside before you start.
Make sure you have plenty of blasting material under the grid as well.
It helps visibility a lot if you attach (poke in) your Henry into the side filter as you blast..

 

[ajlelectronics]

And occupying floor space instead

Which is not usually at such a premium. Plus it can be moved if need be, you could even fit castors to the legs. The improvement over the small cabinet is well worth the slight inconvenience.

 

[MetalMonkey]

I'd suggest, if you are tight on space as I was, consider building one to suit the space you have. The small ones are very small and the bigger ones take up a lot of unnecessary space.

The cheap suction feed ones are not great. A lot of people end up modifying them, changing them over to the mixer type and adding extra lighting.

But you can easily buy or make a mixer, and pick up the footpedal, gloves, and glass on eBay and you can build one that performs a lot better and fits your requirements and space.

One thing that makes all the difference is decent dust extraction. A cyclone isn't a bad idea to try and trap and recycle the media.

 

[Ali]

Look out for used dental units if you want something with a small cabinet