Just wondering if anyone uses one of these at home, it seems like it would be good for cleaning up wheels and smaller rusty parts. If anyone has any suggestions as to what to look for and what to stay away from I'm all ears as I'm seriously considering picking one up once I get my tax return check.

 

media blasting cabinets are GREAT. I used to work at a place where i could use the cabinets (steel grit or glass bead) and also had the luxury of having a blaster that was about 20x15x15 (LxWxH) to blast large things in. They are real nice to have around. But, if you are just keeping it in your garage they are kind of messy and also require some sort of air compressor that can keep it constantly fed.

 

Yes, very convenient.

Home built.

Only picture I have of it handy at the moment. It's old, but the general idea is there:


Its got some holes with gloves attatched to pick the stuff up inside.... and a big funnel deal at the bottom that empties into a 5gal bucket. Easy resifting of the sand. It's hooked up to a group of compressors that we have linked together. Nice to be able to sandblast while someone else is using the air for other stuff.


-Bud

 

How much can you afford? That's the biggest question... Everything from $69 Harbor Freight el-cheap-o that I've got on up to a multi-thousand dollar one that you can walk into with a car inside the room kind of blaster.

The cheap ones tend to not have lights inside the cabinet and poor ventilation/collection ability, but if you're doing just a few parts here and there they work fine. The gray metal one with two side doors is the one I have from Harbor Freight. Don't get the red one with the clear plastic door on the top from Harbor Freight because the top door never seals. The gray two side door one has clips and seals just fine. I did replace the clear plastic tubing feed with 5/8" heater hose though 'cause it kept kinking in cold weather. These gray ones even have provisions for a collection vacuum bag assemly...

 

I made mine outta plywood and some plexi and got the gloves from Eastwood comp...works great

 

for you guys that made them yourselves..


what do u use to spray the media? did you have to buy a special gun or somthing or do you just throw the bead at the metal reeeeeeeally hard?

 

we just used our backyard to blast. of course we had a new sandbox when we were done

 

I have the cheapo red one from Harbor Freight (someone gave it to me) and it is a POS. The ones I hear about being tops are from www.barrelblaster.com. Eventually, I'd like to go with one of these.

 

My dad has one at his work, its probably from eastwood which is a pretty good company and I believe it cost around $300. Everythings good except the exhaust system for it blows it into a bad and would sometime get a little on the floor so he created a system that blows it all outside. We also decided to use that same blower for my exhaust which works great. The only problems we have had with it were having to put lenses on it and cleaning the light bulb because it gets very hard to see at times.

 

Man, that's the best quote I've read on here in a while!

My dad made his own blast cabinet using the gun and hoses from a Harbor Freight portable blaster, like this one here.

 

Yea I throw the sand at the parts real hard.. just the smaller ones though.

...bigger parts I use a pressure washer and put a little sand in the mix

 

Alright heres what ya do. You need a air compressesor, a good length of big air hose, and spray nozzle with a decent size opening, lots of duct tape, a small funnel, four iron, bucket of ice, and a moose probably stuffed for safetys sake.

Take that hose, connect it to the compressor, splice the hose in a V shape on top, stick the funnel barely in the hose, wrap it around and around using an entire roll of duct tape. Then stick the nozzel on, go steal some sand out of your kids sand box, stick it in the funnel and there you go. You got a venturi-style makeshift thingymajigger sandblaster. Then make the cabinet if you need one out of some cardboard, old folders, newspapers, and duct tape. Trust me, it works.

 

u diden't use the moose dont forget about him. what does he do for the blaster