I'm way to cheap to buy one of those large blast cabinets. Therfore, I'll have to make one. Anyone else had success? How about a way to add on a section to do a long piece? If you've built one before, what would you do different next time and why.
i bought a smaller metal blast cabinet and welded on a 20 gallon drum to the door so i could fit a rear end in. was much easyer and cheaper to do then making one that big from scratch.
I think Scat blast has kits. You can buy the hardware from them and build the cabinet out of plywood or metal. A friend of mine built a big one this way. Works good. overspray
Easy...get an old coffin, a shop vac, cat litter, your neighbor's bedroom window and those glove thingys from the local nuclear test facility.
Try TPtools.com They sell plans for one made of plywood. You can change the dimensions to fit your needs. Todd
Look on Fordtrucks.com in their articles section under misc. articles. There's one for building a grit blasting cabinet, has drawings w/measurements of everything.
A friend of mine made one based off of a 500 gallon fuel oil tank. (I think it was a 500 gallon one, it was a big old residential one) Anything big and steel is a good start. You'll blast through plywood pretty fast if you use your cabinet much. Go to your local recycling yard and start looking for a big steel container, and start chopping.
I'm gonna puss out and buy one from tractor supply for $100 when I get my new compressor. I'll just do the big parts out behind the shop!
I bought the big cabinet from HOMIER for $100, threw the gun and fittings away. Bought the innerds from TP Tools and a Dust collector from lowes.
get a bix cardboard box, and a piece of clear plastic, cut two holes in the side for your arms, and the hose, then, place the the clear plastic on top and your done...then whenyour finished, you can dump the sand back in the hopper and start over...total cost aobut 20 bucks... tok
My blast set up which has served me for years is extremely simple, 4 sheets of 4'x6' 1/4" tempered hardboard with 4 -2x2s joining the corners. This gives me a 6'x6' 36 sq. ft. work area, one sheet is the front panel with arm holes, and a 1'x2' glass view port. I set this on concrete with a tarp in under it, for small projects, I just leave the top open when blasting, most of the dust escapes and most of the reusable media remains confined. when the hopper runs low I lift off the cabinet, pick up the tarp and dump it back in. (As I never blast directly on the hardboard, and it is always quite a distance from the nozzel it has survived very well.) Sometimes when blasting large parts and to much media is escaping, I'll use a piece of plywood or a tarp to cover most of the top (have to clean the window more often then though) and light up the interior with a floodlamp or two. This set up works great outdoors, but allows too much dust to escape to be practical for inside use. Advantages are that very large pieces like fenders may be blasted with very little loss of media, the set up is cheap, simple and very adaptable, taking 3 screws out of each corner allows it to be stored compactly against the wall. Disadvantage is that it must be used outside and well away from neighbors. Of course it also precludes blasting when the weather is inclement. However it has worked out so satisfactorily, that I've never yet got around to buying a "real" blast cabinet.
There are some good (free) sites with plans- big or small. I was really going to build a plywood one, but I went to a buddy's house and he had a cheapo that he Dr'd up like banziatoyota.....he loves it...so, I'm going that route and spend the extra on a good compressor..........................................................................................................................................................some day
hey I build one out of plywood about 10 years ago. made it the size I wanted works great just buy the gloves and hose kit. I think I've got less then $50 bucks in mine. If you can measure you can build one Good Luck
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