Hello,

I've been looking on several threads and it seems like most people have built their own blast cabinets. I was wondering If anyone knew any good store bought brands and any recommendations on which ones I should get. I will be sandblasting/powdercoating many of the metal parts on the C3.

Thank You.

 

Skat is one of the most popular blast cabinet brands, made in USA. I've used their cabinets and they're good. If you pick up a Hemmings, you will find some other in there also.

Here are some from Harbor Freight (China made), that you might consider:
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...=blast+cabinet The industrial cabinet would be my pick, but you need the space for it too. If you are serious about a blasting cabinet, strongly consider a dedicated vacuum for it. Using a shop vac tends to kill the shop vac pretty quick vs a special designed unit, from my experience. Personally, by the time you make one and figure in materials and your time, it would be a tough argument to not buy the H/F red one.

Mark G

 

I bought the Harbor Freight cabinet. I also picked up the exhaust vacuum system and the connection kit (hoses, clamps, inlet/outlet fittings). Without the exhaust kit, the cabinet dusts up very quickly and to the point that you cannot see what you are doing.

Good Luck

Terry

 

http://www.barrelblaster.com/BarrelBlaster1.htm

I've had one about 10 years, $299, can't beat it.


Frank

 

I've got a skat blast cabinet and am very satisfied with it. It includes a light in the cabinet, vacuum system, air filter and foot pedal which permits use of both hands when blasting parts. I also see a similar model to the one I have went up $500.00

I see where they now have kits and instructions on how to build your own cabinet which may be worth looking into if your talents include cabinet building.

Skat Blast

 

I got the Harbor Freight cabinet, upgraded the gun, and piped it into my dust collection system. I wish the cabinet was bigger, but for the money I have invested, this has been a very good purchase.

If you go the HF route, make sure you get the 20% off coupon, they are in many performance magazines (Hot Rod, Car Craft etc.)

Don't buy blasting media @ HF! Way overpriced. If you have a Menards near you, they sell a coal slag blasting media ("Black Diamond" or something like that) that I have found is a good all-around media. Its $7 or $8 for a 50lb bag. If you are going to be removing heavy rust from large parts you will probably want something more aggressive

 

my father bought a sanblasting cabinet about 20 years ago at a tool auction for 7 bucks! it is great and occasionally we change the sand, we use black beauty sand and has worked well for us

I would hunt your local craigslist or want ad, see what is out there

 

I have the Harbor Freight blasting cabinet and find the lights are terrible, has anyone found a better lighting system for this unit? I tried some other lights but they create too much heat. Hard to see when using the Black Diamond media even with a vacuum system.

 

I have the HF cabinet also. For the money, it was a good choice and I was a newbie to using one when I bought it. This is what I discovered once I put it to work:

The compressor I had was a small 20 gal Sears unit. Ended up wearing out the 5 or 6hp motor as the VOLUME of air at 90 psi was barely adequate therefore, ran the motor constantly during blasting. My blast sessions would lasts hours, depending what section of the car was queued up to clean.

The solution came when I bought a small-shop-sized 60 gal, 3.2hp unit. The volume at 100 psi was the difference and reduced the motor run-time. Made parts cleaning very effective and fun again.

The fine dust created during use, gets everywhere. Wear a mask. Your lungs and family will thank you for that.

I have an 18 gal wet-dry shop vac w/6hp motor and have had zero issues with it after blasting. I leave the hose connected to cab exhaust port. Once the visibility through the window nears zero, I usually crack the cabinet door and hold it open with a finger, then turn vac on for a few seconds to clear the air then shut off vac. With cab door latched, the protective gloves balloon inward too hard and risk separation at their seams or mounting on cab wall.

The fluorescent light supplied with cabinet fails (turns off) when the power supply overtemps. May need better quality components or switch to incandescent bulb. A bright light shows progress and small dropped hardware.

I used the aluminum oxide media in 70 grit. I tried shell and plastic media but on steel or iron parts, esp heavy items, the alum abrasive was superior.

The cab kit supplied these visor-looking tear offs to shield and protect the view and light windows (IIRC, windows are plastic, not glass). Once the inside is coated with dust, I'd use a dry paper towel and gently wipe the tear off clean from inside. Never made time to replace a tear off so cleaned the mounted one over and again. Cleaning the windows after use was messy, to say the least.

Now that I'm between blast sessions, I plan to disassemble mine to clean the inside of the cab. Then I will caulk the seams with silicone and then lay a strip of duct tape over that to attempt better dust control. The cab has a plastic pop off looking valve on the rear wall to purge excess pressure and I'll want to mount some kind of hose, over that into a cardboard box with a replaceable paper filter, in the name of dust control. We'll see if that helps.

Otherwise, these cabinets can make an ugly, difficult job more professional in their intended appearance.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the info guys!

I've decided to go with the barrel blaster, numerous positive reviews. I think one main problem that I've seen from posts online is a Air Compressor / Media Blaster combination? Any thoughts on what I should look into as far as compatibility? Hopefully I can get pointed in the right direction

Once again thanks for the information! Its very helpful

 

Bigger is better as far as air compressors and blasting. The best investment I ever made in tools was an 80 gal 7.5HP dual stage unit. A small compressor will drive you crazy when blasting as you will blast for a couple minutes then have to wait for the compressor to build back up.

Also my big compressor is way quieter than my old 30 gal 1-1/2 hp single stage pump unit.

Do not get one of the air compressors that does not have a piston pump.

HF has a 60 gal two stage 5HP for like $799. Not sure of the quality but this would be the type and size I would recommend.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-hp-60...sor-93274.html

 

Couldn't agree more!