Blast Cabinet Question

[geezer]

I had another thought, but it may well not pan out.

I have a roll of cling wrap that I wrap my extra engines in after cosmoline and before storage, maybe a layer of it on the glass would do the trick-lots of static, but maybe a squirt of fabric softener will take car of that!

Will

These are the plastic peel & stick bordered window films I am using. I will stop in and find out how many come in a package and the cost, if these will work for anyone. They measure 21 1/4" X 9 3/4".

Will, I think that the plastic screening may have an advantage over the stainless mesh. I may be wrong and have not heard of any comparison trials, but I think the energy absorbing properties of the plastic will outlive the rigidity of the stainless mesh in a blasting cabinet. I do hope you try it, so we will know.

Has anyone here made or used a water filter made from a 5 gal bucket to capture the dust before reaching the shop vac. Here's a few pics I rifled off the net of someones home made variety. Supposedly, if built properly, zero dust makes it to the shop vac and you simply hose out the muck between blasting sessions. This serves to keep all the dust out of the atmosphere and greatly expands the life expectancy of your shop vac. I'm planning on building one and will report back with my evaluation.

[hls30.com]

These are the plastic peel & stick bordered window films I am using. I will stop in and find out how many come in a package and the cost, if these will work for anyone. They measure 21 1/4" X 9 3/4".

Will, I think that the plastic screening may have an advantage over the stainless mesh. I may be wrong and have not heard of any comparison trials, but I think the energy absorbing properties of the plastic will outlive the rigidity of the stainless mesh in a blasting cabinet. I do hope you try it, so we will know.

Has anyone here made or used a water filter made from a 5 gal bucket to capture the dust before reaching the shop vac. Here's a few pics I rifled off the net of someones home made variety. Supposedly, if built properly, zero dust makes it to the shop vac and you simply hose out the muck between blasting sessions. This serves to keep all the dust out of the atmosphere and greatly expands the life expectancy of your shop vac. I'm planning on building one and will report back with my evaluation.

Ron,

I thought of using the water filter, but dropped it when I realized I had an old shopvac. With your pictures, I will add that to the mix-I would just as soon not have dust everywhere and not have the ultimate need to buy a new shop vac!

Thanks!

Will

Edited June 1, 2009 by hls30.com

[hls30.com]

I have some digging to do to free the roll of mesh. It looks fine enough to be of use, and I will pull it out later today.

I am going to round up the parts for the water filter before I blast wed/thurs to see just how well it works-a $2 pickle bucket from Firehouse subs will be the first part, and I'll pick it up at lunch shortly!

I am thinking a head with several small holes will allow more media capturing than a head with one big hole, so I am going to drill a pvc cap for a head, and give it a test against an open PVC pipe. Maybe I have too big a hole in my own head...

Will

[geezer]

I am thinking a head with several small holes will allow more media capturing than a head with one big hole, so I am going to drill a pvc cap for a head, and give it a test against an open PVC pipe. Maybe I have too big a hole in my own head...

Will

Good idea. That may disperse the inertial cavitation of the water more effectively. On the other end of that pipe in the cabinet, I plan to copy this... a friend has an older clam shell style blast cabinet that still works great and I noticed it was designed with an extention pipe that was slotted along the length on the bottom and capped at the end. He said it was the best he had seen for capturing the dust but allowing the heavier media to fall back into the cabinet.

I checked the price on a package of the peel & stick window overlays. A bit on the pricey side, I thought. $29.99 plus tax for 8. They are 22" x 11".

Edited June 3, 2009 by geezer

[geezer]

This is the 5 gal. water filter for collecting dust that I built for less than $10.00. I used a kitchen strainer from the dollar store to break up the large air bubbles and also cut down on the turbulence. This should in theory also prevent any sludge from being drawn into the shop vac. Just need to mount the snorkle in the cabinet, fill it halfway with water and connect the shop vac to it. The slotted side of the snorkle will face down, allowing the heavier media to drop back into the cabinet and only the dust being evacuated from the cabinet. I'm considering making the snorkle "tuneable" so the amount of suction can be regulated. I'll put up some pics of it installed and give an evaluation report after a good blasting session.

[geezer]

The water filter is complete. Next, I have to devise a method of getting my pressure blaster hose & nozzle routed inside the cabinet so it is easily removable. Will be nice for those heavy cleaning jobs.

I sealed all seams while assembling, added better lighting (work lights have 150W bulbs for now...seems to be enough light), mounted a small squirrel cage blower to bring in additional fresh air and put it on wheels, so it's one complete portable unit. The small vacuum is from the '50s and still works great. The vacuum & water filter can be removed from the cabinet in seconds and used for cleaning up drywall dust also.

Edited June 6, 2009 by geezer
swapped for a better pic

[Mike B]

Looks great Ron! I need to do something similar for mine.

-Mike

[texasz]

I failed to mention that I'm using glass beads from Harbor Freight in my cabinet so it's a very fine media that a screen may not work for. I'll be awaiting to see the outcome of Will's tests.

Looks like what I got from TAP but not for that much $$$$!!! Its cut the same size as the glass and just has the glass laying on top of it. PM me the size of the glass and your address and I will send you some.

Dave...

Dave, so to put this in you removed the glass put this in then replaced the glass over it?

I'm also quite interested in this water filter idea, I've never seen one before and would love to know more about the construction of one once you two have completed your tests and refined the design.

[hls30.com]

My tests were postponed onacouna rain-I have the HF glass bead in my cabinet at the moment too.

I'll move the cabinet to a larger dry space tomorrow, weather cooperating!, and with any luck get to the testing a few minutes later.

Will

[hls30.com]

I did have another thought(such a rare occurrence I chose to record it here!)!

What about using the clear "slit bar clamp" type report covers covers? 50 run about $15 or so, and would give 2 shields each when trimmed...painters tape would affix it to the glass.

Will

Edited June 6, 2009 by hls30.com

[DeesZ]

This is what I want to adapt to my cabinet. After reading your post John, I looked in the Snap-on catalog under blasting accessories for the screen, or a kit, but they only list the window replacement films. Do you have a part number for the screen or can you describe it? How is it held in place?

Hi, Ron (geezer) and anyone interested. Sorry I didn't get back to this sooner. The mesh that protects my blasting cabinet window is NOT plastic, it is a tightly woven metal mesh. (I apologize for mistakenly advising that it is plastic. A friend has one that has a plastic mesh, and I confused the two I guess). It's a rather stiff mesh, too. It is held on with nuts, bolts, and washers - a very simple set-up. Under normal use, the cabinet window won't be taking a direct blast from the gun anyway, so what it is deflecting has already lost a fair amount of its speed and impact power.

I checked the parts list that I have and it only lists "window glass covers", not a screen. My unit, although a Snap-On system, was actually manufactured by a company known as "dee-blast" in Stevensville, MI. The owner, Al Johnson has been quite helpful to me several times. Their web-site is/http://www.dee-blast.com/ I'll attach a picture so you can see what I'm talking about.

This is looking in from the side and up at the window.

[geezer]

Thanks John. Your blast cabinet has been used quite a bit over the last few years. How do I know that? I look in at your gallery every so often. If the metal mesh you are using has held up this long, it may be the answer. I'm pretty sure that nylon, steel, or stainless steel mesh would all serve to protect the glass. I used steel mesh to protect the glass on my lights, but at the time never thought of using it for the window, because I was using the plastic overlays that came with the cabinet. Now that I realize how often the overlays have to be replaced and at what cost, along with the resurrection of this thread, I have become interested in alternatives. Thanks for the deeblast link...nice equipment, but out of my league for my limited usage. I will keep them in mind for a possible source of the steel mesh....just in case my man in Savannah falls flat.