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Harbor Freight Sand Blasting Cabinet Problems

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Discussion starter · #21 ·
ronsii said:
That sucks!!!



Have had brand new air hoses from HF rated at 300psi blow in the first 2 minutes of charging them up to 120psi. any more I have a master ball valve on the main feed from the compressor that gets shut off at night... of course I have to remember to do it....:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I waited until the compressor cooled off to try and run the compressor again. It was able to fill the tank up and is not making any new strange noises yet any way.
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
Purchased a Rigid Shop Vac today at HD that has a lifetime warranty. It also came with a prefilter bag that lines the inside of the vaccuum canister which is a very nice thing to have when dealing with fine dust particles. I also purchased a cyclone dust collector trap that mounts on top of a 5 gallon bucket lid or other types of containers. I have my eyes on the Eastwood gun and foot pedal and I am also looking at a metered bottom feeding siphon valve for better control over the flow of the garnet or glass beads.

Going to do the best I can to save money and make this a nice professional grade blasting cabinet.
 
#23 ·
That dust cyclone is a great addition, I have a DIY one on my blaster cabinet and you will be shocked how fine the dust is coming out of the blaster.
I made another for my daughter's CNC router table to collect the wood dust, the first plastic 5 Gal bucket was not thick enough and it collapsed, had to get a stronger one:laugh:
 

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Discussion starter · #24 ·
The cyclone dust collector cost me $17 on Amazon. I should be able to duplicate it if needed like what you have done there a court jester. Does the homemade jobber work as good as the factory molded plastic ones?
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
Thank you HT2 I have both glass bead 80 grit and medium black diamond coal slag from tractor supply but can’t use either :(. It’s super frustrating to have a tool I’m not able to use.
 
#27 · (Edited)
The one in the image is about 40% larger then the plastic ones and the bigger on I have works great and holds a larger amount of debris. If you Google DIY dust cyclones you will find many different designs and sizes. Main thing is a top center outlet and a side inlet that has the air moving in a circular motion. This causes the dust to spin around the outside wall and the debris will fall out of the air stream before it goes out the top. I made mine out of a 30 Gal plastic Drum with a removable top cover. I copied this guys way of forming PVC pipe for the Vac hose sizes. Attached is a tool I made (his idea but smaller PVC) from spun MDF discs and sanded and clear coated. The small diameter is the size of the PVC inside and the larger is the size of my Vac hose connector outside diameter. Other images of my larger dust cyclone collector. Why buy when you can make here is the video of the guy I copied:laugh::jester:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TbXBlQjRl4
 

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#28 · (Edited)
I got a total of $.082 for a 90deg. elbow.
Had the other fitting and a 5 gallon plastic bucket.
Works great.
Only problem I still have is inconsistent abrasive feed.
Flex hose is not collapsing, it's pretty rigid.
Been lots of references to adding a hole somewhere, but there are no real details on how.
Looked at a thread on youtube using 2 tubes but can't find it now.

Some are recommending replacing the gun with one from TSC for around $20something. comes with pickup tube and hose.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
Hey jesture, how do you turn the MDF down to a precise round shape. I am thinking it may be possible by chucking it up in a drill and running it in the drill against a belt sander until the desired size is achieved. Or is there an easier or better way?
 
Discussion starter · #31 · (Edited)
I bought two tubes of the loctite roof and flashing poly eurothane earlier as well as placed the orders for the Eastwood foot pedal and gun as well as a metered valve that will sit in the bottom of the media trap door under the hopper. It will be at least a week before the cyclone, foot pedal n gun and metered valve arrive which gives me time to strip the cabinet back down to be sealed up good with the poly eurathane caulking. I still need a regulator and siphon hose for the gun. I have some air line from a hose that got damaged that I can use for the air supply to the gun. After all that the last thing to do is make a intake baffle and plumb the vacuum to the cyclone and back side of the cabinet at the vent cap. Oh yeah and I will also need to upgrade the piss poor lighting then it should be enjoyable to use. I would really like a flip up top lid. But I’m going to hold off on that mod for now until I get some use out of it and decide it would be worth the effort required to hinge the top lid.
 
#32 ·
acourtjester said:
The one in the image is about 40% larger then the plastic ones and the bigger on I have works great and holds a larger amount of debris. If you Google DIY dust cyclones you will find many different designs and sizes. Main thing is a top center outlet and a side inlet that has the air moving in a circular motion. This causes the dust to spin around the outside wall and the debris will fall out of the air stream before it goes out the top. I made mine out of a 30 Gal plastic Drum with a removable top cover. I copied this guys way of forming PVC pipe for the Vac hose sizes. Attached is a tool I made (his idea but smaller PVC) from spun MDF discs and sanded and clear coated. The small diameter is the size of the PVC inside and the larger is the size of my Vac hose connector outside diameter. Other images of my larger dust cyclone collector. Why buy when you can make here is the video of the guy I copied:laugh::jester:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TbXBlQjRl4
Click to expand...
if you want to increase the dust stopping put a few inches of water or oil in the bottom of the barrel.....
 
#33 ·
OK, I'm a simple guy, so simple solutions make sense to me.
Dust collection, copied this from someone who did it and it worked. I may have made a mistake by not putting the vacuum outlet in the middle of the lid (less turbulence) but so far can't believe how good it works. Cost, less than $1.
New plastic viewing glass. Not glass, free windshield from a golf cart.
Blast cabinet, free. Po got tired of messing with it.
Now for the good part.
Took a tip from another guy who said to shove the HF gun where the sun don't shine and get one from TSC.
Drove the 42 miles to get one, get there, they have one left, open the box, no hose or pickup tube. Result, paid $11.
Picked up 2 sacks $7.99 media, both grits.
Cleaned out the old media, put the new gun on, added some of the finer grit..................shazaam. Constant media flow that knocked both mill scale and rust in heartbeat.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#35 ·
N2 I used my lathe to turn the MDF plug down to size and then sanded it smooth before clear coating it. I did not state that you need to heat the PVC with a heat gun to make it soft for reforming.
Here are a few images of my blast cabinet, Whe lighting the inside use LED lights the old incandescent bulbs get hot and the dust sticks to it. I put some receptacles and a switch to turn the lights and vacuum on/off together. I have the air entering the cabinet using a quick disconnect outside and a "T" inside with the blast gun and a blow gun to clean off parts before removing. I syphon tube in internal to the cabinet too. I did change the shape and depth of the bottom to improve the syphon flow.:jester:
 

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Discussion starter · #37 ·
Starting over, pulled the glass beads out, pulled the glass gloves and gun and took it out to my lawn and hosed and wiped it down really good. Then Inpulled the legs and hopper off the cabinet. That is where I stopped. I will continues to break the hopper down in the morning. I think I am going to cut the floor screen down some like in the Alvarez vids.
 
#38 ·
Ive seen one of these Sand blasting cabinets sealed up and turned into a purged cabinet for TIG.. I think it was in a Covell video if anybody was interested its on youtube
 
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Discussion starter · #39 ·
Jester looks like you made your own cabinet. Originally I wanted to make one using tins from washing and drying machines. Would have saved me some scratch. I just don’t have the time or drive at the moment. Yours looks very user friendly.

I started sealing up the cabinet and hopper chute today. I also purchased the Gun at TSC and although it works 100 times better than the harbor freight gun it is still not 100%. I used it on my front lawn with the siphon tube stuck in a bag of medium black diamond coal slag. I figured it would be nice to have a portable gun for parts to big to fit in the cabinet.
 
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ronsii
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