My latest addition to my "want list" for tools is a Sandblasting cabinet. I have searched the internet and egay and I am gravitating towards purchasing a large cabinet with approx 6 foot width to use to blast doors, fenders, and other large parts....The 2 brands I am looking at are from TP Tools and Badboy Blasters. My questions before dropping 3-4 grand.... Do any of you Hambers have a larger sand blast cabinet that you use regularly? If so ,what should I look for or avoid ? Do these things perform well without clogging ect.? Which has the best vac system /best visibility ? I am leaning more towards the TP Tools unit as it is made in the USA - Not sure about the other brand....Any suggestions? Thanks for your input. Bob
Bought a smaller TP Tools cabinet. Works great. Great shipping and packaging. telephone clerk spoke good english and cut a hell of a deal on shipping. I would buy from them again in a heart beat. Wait for their sales. I have no connection with them other than they were great to deal with.
The key to blasting is the size of your compressor, it's recovery time and dry air. The blast cabinets themselves are pretty simple. I've found that a 48" cabinet is big enough for most of stuff. Large parts like doors or fenders generally need to go to a blasting shop. They have bead/sand recovery systems that cut down on their costs and they are less likely to warp the metal. You just need to ask around to find a reliable blast shop. Having your own cabinet is really a convience thing, smaller parts and unanticipated needs. Most larger parts can be planned ahead.
BenW455 says it like it is, it takes a lot of air capacity to keep up with a blast cabinet of any size. And no matter how good a filter system you have or how hard you try you will get dust out in the room. I had a big Davis blast cabinet in the highschool auto shop that I taught in and it did a great job but used a lot of air and we had an 80 gallon tank with a 10hp compressor. If you have a "dirty room" or a corner or side of the shop where you do the dirty work that is where I would put one. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
We have an 36" long/wide Empire brand cabinet with a dust collector/filter. You really don't want a blast cabinet without one. And you will need a large compressor if you expect any kind of 'production', our DeVilbiss makes 30cfm and all is well. .
Subscribing. I'm working on building a cabinet this Winter, and using proper plumbing and driers, etc... And running a Tee to an outside quick connect for blasting out behind the garage. What I've found so far is TPtools is the place to go. Here's one I wish I had: http://davepropst.com/Article/Art5/Article5.htm
I have the 960 T from TP Tool. It is great. I love it. As was mentioned earlier, it's all about the air. I would recommend though getting the foot pedal. I had the trigger on the gun. Hand gets tires real quick when doing alot of blasting. Went with the foot pedal and added another flood light inside. TP tool is about 1/2 hr from my house. Great service and very knowledgeable staff. I go there quite a bit. They will be having a loading dock sale the Monday after Fall Carlisle which is going on now. Great deals.
A friend of mine has a metal fab shop. I was telling him I'd like to have a large cabinet, he said what they did was cut some holes in the side of the shop for window and gloves, and stood inside, blasted outside. No need for vacuum, and no dust in the shop, and you could blast any size you want. Of couse, he doesn't have any neighbors close by either.
I was going to build one out of a vw bus, cut the body off at the rear of the sliding door. You could even leave wheels on, make it easier to move. Just an idea...
There is a BIG difference between hobby grade tools and actual PRO Grade tools - this is VERY apparent in sand blasting equipment. My buddy has replaced a few items on his "NEW" unit while my OLD unit just hums along. The FIRST item is the NOZZLE -cheap metal is crap - there are several ceramics that are good and some KILLER carbide nozzles that last many times longer, but you PAY for them. As been said - AIR is everything with these - don't suffer with an underrated compressor - sensless frustration. Talk with people who are using a VERY similar unit to what you are interested in. Also I'd buy USED - save you a ton if you shop right. YMMV
My cabinet came from ACE here in Michigan, http://www.ace-sandblasting.com/ . I've been happy with it. You have to make sure you have a 100% duty two stage air compressor to push it. Make sure the CFM of the compressor exceeds the CFM of the blast unit. I'm pushed for room in my shop so a huge one was out of the question. Besides, How often would I need something really large blasted and would it be worth just taking it a few miles to a pro sand blaster when I do.
I have a TP....About 5 feet wide. I have a seperator between the cabinet and the filter. I have a 6 bag filter with a 1 hp motor on it. Absolutely no dust in the shop...I have an outside exhaust for the filter but wouldn't need it. I tape up half of the glass inside until the half I look through gets foggy, then pull the tape and use the new side.
what ever kind you buy it needs to have a pressure pot, be able to recycle the media, and should have an adjustabe dust collection system, i helped pick one out for a company i worked for, a new show demo that cost about $8000, it worked beautiful, the one i have built for my own use is pretty simple but does just about as good a job.
WOW what a response ! I appreciate the advise. I'm a one man operation (home shop) with a two stage 5 horse compressor 80 gallon 14.6 cfm @90 psi- max pressure is 175 psi. Seems to recover pretty fast for general bodywork. Glad to here most people are happy with the units they have in their shops. I have been using a little Harbor Freight pressure pot 10 gallon job outside....Tired of crawlin around in the black magic sand. Just wanted to make sure that having this huge metal box taking up space was gonna be worth it. THANKS Again, I've met some awesome people on this site. Bob
Hey Bob, I'm a one man shop as well with the same compresser stats you have. I've been using a TP cabinet (950?) for over 10 years now and extremely happy with it. I should have bought the next size up and may do so when money & time permits the change. Good thing I restore very small cars. Even with the dust collector and exhaust filter bags I still get fine dust throughout the shop so if you can poke a hole in the wall and keep that filter outdoors, do so if its practical. Well worth every penny buying one of these and you WILL use it everyday once you have it. I do. The down side is you will be looking at more rusty stuff at yard sales and swap meets knowing how you can change them into more valuable crap.
I like the refrigerators and double barrel collector! Trick! After piddling with designing/using automated blast cabinets at work, the one I'm building out back will actually have 3 seperate blast systems, isolated by air valves on the front. In addition to the hand gun, there will be blast nozzles mounted inside the cabinet top and bottom. Many workpieces are actually easier to blast with fixed nozzles, I'm not trying to run a bunch at once. For fixed nozzles you can't beat a polyurethane body with a carbide tip. I'd really really really like to know more about that home made collector though.
I had a TP (recently traded it for some other stuff)...worked great and a great company to deal with. I would buy from them again if the need arose
Sometimes I get lucky. I have a Trinco Master Model 36, with the 400 cfm dust collector. A local "artist" had it, and let it fall into disrepair. The glass was broken, gloves were shot, all of the seals and long since dried out. I traded a case of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for it. He only wanted a 6-pack, but I thought I'd be "generous". I dropped about $75 in parts and have it up and running just fine. It rocks in every way! I love trustafarians some times.
+1 I'd like to see how these went together also. Those things look awesome and I'm guessing they aren't as expensive as they look either.
I've got a powdercoating shop, so you can imagine I use my cabinet a ton. I have a TP and have been very happy with it. One reason I'd advise getting a major brand unit is parts availability. If you use it much, a cabinet will consume significant parts. You will be regularly changing lenses and protectors, gloves, nozzles and gun parts. Buy carbide nozzles. They are very expensive, but much cheaper in the long run when you're not replacing it every couple hours of use.
The Jalopy Journal
