sandblasting cabinets

[cbudvet]

Are sandblasting cabinets with the built in handpiece and hoses any good? I think the work by the siphon of media as the air passes through the hand piece. Harbor Frieght is having a sale on both a table top and floor standing unit. I have a lot of parts that I would like to clean and repaint. I have a nice air compressor that should give me plenty of power. Carl

[webdawg1]

You'll probably like the floor model better...Table top units are ok for the small stuff, but if you get anything of any size and weight you'll be banging around inside the table top unit all the time...

webdawg1

[JimmyZ]

I have a Harbor Freight table top unit. It's OK but it leaks glass beads in a few places. (Before filling yours seal the seams.)The ceramic nozzles require a decent sized compressor if any sustained blasting is to be done. To me, such a cabinet is a real help.

The main pain is the need to ventilate and evacuate the suspended media. If you don't use a shop vac or some means of sucking the air to an outside place your shop will develop a cloud of blast media. This is not good for your health.

My 2c

[Nissanman]

I agree with previous comments.

I have a table top cabinet which is fine for most items but it can only do so much.

You will need a big sucka compressor to power it.

I have a 3HP motor filling a 58L tank and when grit blasting at 90 - 100psi it runs flat out.

Cabinet sealing is paramount.

I use garnet sand [40/60 mix] and it will get everywhere when reduced to a dust:rolleyes:

I replaced the seals on my cabinet and now it doesn't fart any dust when I work.

For large items, like the air plenum on my '73 240Z, I used another gun which you just run out of a bucket of sand.

Now that WAS messy, but it did the job.

After the event, I swept up the grit and re-used it in the cabinet

Depending on how much real estate you have and how serious you are, I would go for a free standing model.

One pain, which is a never ending problem for me, is visibility.

I use plastic sheet tear offs over the window, on the inside of course, to protect the perspex from damage.

Unfortunately, they don't last that long and you can't see JACK until you replace it.

Beads may not cause this problem, I can't say because I've never used glass beads.

[JimmyZ]

Re media and compressor size...

I like glass beads as the really fine grades root out rust better and don't remove as much good metal as sand. My 5hp compressor can't keep up with the gun and gives 1 minute of good blasting before it needs to catch up. My 7hp compressor keeps up with the cabinet's siphon gun though. Got the 7hp at Harbor F. on sale for $350!!!

I had a larger cabinet but used it so infrequently that I chucked it. (Needed space) Shop space is valuable so get the big one only if you know that you'll need the capacity. You can always remove the mesh floor on the tabletop unit for more capacity.

[texasz]

Do a quick search on this, a few of us have discussed the Harbor Freight blast cabinets before.