Harbor Freight Sand Blasting Cabinet Problems

[N2 Welding]

One of the pieces to the puzzle arrived today. The main piece to the new siphon set up I will be using. The Metering Valve. I placed a water bottle cap in two of the pictures for size comparison.

[Weld one]

I have the harbor freight cabinet I replaced the hose and put a gun they use on their sand blast pots the small plastic ones and it works well.

[N2 Welding]

So I go to Home Depot to buy a drill arbor for the hole saws I have and they don't have one that will fit my saws. So I have to buy a whole new set up. $30.00 later for a Milwaukee saw and quick arbor set up.

Any one ever use the Milwaukee Hole Dozer set up?

[N2 Welding]

I went to drill the 1-3/4" hole in the bottom of the hopper drain door and the bit grabbed and ripped the drill right out of my hand tossing it self about 6' across my garage. I was surprised how easy the Dewalt Drill wrenched it self out of my hands.

So any way I got that hole drilled and 12 other small holes drilled in the Frame I made out of 1/8" x 1" flat bar to support the bottom of the hopper since I am trimming and moving the bottom blasting grill lower into the hopper for more space to use with bigger parts. Pics are self explanatory.

[N2 Welding]

This his how the meter valve looks hooked up to the hopper trap door.

[N2 Welding]

Cost to date.

Cabinet $156.00
Metering Valve $61.00
Foot Pedal and Gun kit $67.00
1" x 3" Pipe $2.50
1" threaded Pipe Plate $7.00
1x Polyurethane Caulking $4.00
Foam Weather Stripping single sided adhesive $3.00
1x Can of Black Satin finish Rust-Oleum paint $4.00
Cheap Chinese Cyclone Dust collector $18.00
HD Rigid Shop Vac $54.00


Total to date : $377 ish.

I still need to purchase and or add the following: light switch, light sockets, bright light bulbs, a T fitting for air gun and blasting gun, air gun to blow off parts, make a screen to sift out debrit, hose fittings for vacuum system, regulator, air hose, vacuum hose, replacement glass for inside while blasting and I'm sure there is a few more things I am forgetting.

Edit: also need a desiccant bead air dryer.

[Mikel_24]

Cost to date.

Cabinet $156.00
Metering Valve $61.00
Foot Pedal and Gun kit $67.00
1" x 3" Pipe $2.50
1" threaded Pipe Plate $7.00
1x Polyurethane Caulking $4.00
Foam Weather Stripping single sided adhesive $3.00
1x Can of Black Satin finish Rust-Oleum paint $4.00
Cheap Chinese Cyclone Dust collector $18.00
HD Rigid Shop Vac $54.00


Total to date : $377 ish.

I still need to purchase and or add the following: light switch, light sockets, bright light bulbs, a T fitting for air gun and blasting gun, air gun to blow off parts, make a screen to sift out debrit, hose fittings for vacuum system, regulator, air hose, vacuum hose, replacement glass for inside while blasting and I'm sure there is a few more things I am forgetting.

Edit: also need a desiccant bead air dryer.

Great to have this breakdown here... When everything is said and done, anywhone should be able to figure out if it makes sense to do as you did or, instead, go the easier route and buy an of the shelf unit with all those features (if that creature even exists).

Thanks!

[N2 Welding]

Finally had a change to give the cabinet a trial run after heating and fitting a few abs/pvc 1.5" fittings to the cabinet and the cyclone dust collector system I put together. I'm pleasantly surprised and quite happy with the performance of the cabinet as it is atm. There is definitely room for improvement, but the blaster is doing exactly what it should be doing. I still have to address lighting and some other minor issues but I can finally use it for tasks I have intended using it for. Below are a couple before and after shots of some garden tractor weights I gave it a test drive on.

[oldfartrr]

I also have one of those sandblast cab. had the same problem, drove me nuts trying to figure it out till i put some real light inside so could see what i was doing. the suction hose is NOT strong enough and colapses on itself. took a larger screen door spring and stretched it a bit and slipped it inside the hose so the hose CANNOT collapse. worked fine after that .

[In Utopia]

Something like this works also, this is what I have on mine.

https://www.amazon.com/Vinyl-Tubing-.../dp/B000KKVXDI

[N2 Welding]

Last time I used the cabinet blasting some rail road spikes a glove separated at the seam around the mounting ring and glass beads started coming out at me on top of my left arm.

[Joker11]

I have the HF blast cabinet. My upgrades were less extensive than the Tacoma parts.

First thing I did was add two halogen shop lights in each top corner of the cabinet. They are self shielded as shop lights.

I then added a junction box where the lights were wired into and the extension cord came out of.

The best part was I grounded the cabinet to the junction box. That was great. Now I don't get static shocks from the air through the hose anymore!!!!

I cut out the left side of the cabinet so I could slide in longer pieces.

Replaced the hose from the pickup to the gun, I used heavy commercial heater hose and figured it was cheap enough to replace, but 10 years and it is still good....

I had a buddy with a glass company and had him cut me a ton of new windows for the cabinet. The glass was free and so was his time.

I added some self adhesive foam under the glass to keep dust in.

Hooked up my shop vac and sucked the dust out.

Added an air chiller after the compressor.

Added a dessicant filter.

I have not had the problems a lot of people report though.

[Moparfever]

I have a water separator at the compressor and the Motorguard paper filter installed after the water separator. I’m confident it is the pick up tube. Barely any air gets past the outside tube to create the cavitation or what ever it’s called for the sand to mix properly once it is sucked into the siphon tube.

It's surprising how much condensation you get in a line post-dryer. When the air first comes out of the compressor it's warm and holds moisture better. As it cools in the line the condensation happens. I had to put a dryer right at the inlet to my HF blast cabinet.

[N2 Welding]

I still have not got everything for it yet like the desiccant bead dryer and better lighting. For now when I use it I am using the motorguard paper filter for dry air which I borrowed form my plasma cutter.

[acourtjester]

If you want to use silica gel Desiccant beads go to Walmart and buy Mimi Kitty cat litter it is about $1.25 per pound and works great. I use it for my CNC plasma table to dry the air.

[N2 Welding]

If you want to use silica gel Desiccant beads go to Walmart and buy Mimi Kitty cat litter it is about $1.25 per pound and works great. I use it for my CNC plasma table to dry the air.

Thank you for the info

[pat h]

Tp tools I think their out of Ohio turnkey good stuff not 2 months of dicking around with junk blasters not bad prices either, I gotta respect people who are trying to save a few bucks I do myself but in the end it usually costs more

[N2 Welding]

I look at it like this. If I had a ton of money to throw away I probably would not be a hobby fabricator and I would never have to worry about learning anything new, I wouldent have to. Now since I am not ritch I am learning what makes these things tick so I will eventually be able to build one in any size needed for any of my hobby projects. I would like to think I could built with heavier guage materials at the same or a fraction of manufactured cost of same size/quality unit.

[hvw]

This is an interesting thread. I have one of the HF cabinets that I've never assembled. When I do, I want to upgrade it as it's assembled rather than go back and do it. How much do you figure you saved over just buying a Tacoma Co. kit? From what I'm reading it doesn't sound like too much. I've tried calling Tacoma Co. a couple of times but have nver gotten a call back.

[131re]

Yes, TP Tools is out of Canfield Ohio. They manufacture numerous sized blasting cabinets, if one is close worth going there to get ideas. They also used to sell plans to make your own blasting cabinet out of plywood- know several people who have built them using their plans and the 'kit' (containing the gun food pedal etc) that they sell or did at one time. They also sell various abrasive media. (No affiliation with them just have been there and own one of the pressure blasters the predecessor company made)

[N2 Welding]

This is an interesting thread. I have one of the HF cabinets that I've never assembled. When I do, I want to upgrade it as it's assembled rather than go back and do it. How much do you figure you saved over just buying a Tacoma Co. kit? From what I'm reading it doesn't sound like too much. I've tried calling Tacoma Co. a couple of times but have nver gotten a call back.

The savings was substantial enough for me to justify buying pieces of my own from several suppliers to form a kit that works for me. When you look at my total cost you have to account for all the things I have listed that does not come in the kits. Vacuum, dust cyclone etc. Some of the new parts that the Tacoma company are selling like the new style metering valve look to be made out of plastic. No thank you.

[N2 Welding]

This is the metering Valve I purchased for my kit.

https://www.idsblast.com/sandblasting-supplies/713

I just found this one.

https://www.cylinderheadsupply.com/1...xoCXXgQAvD_BwE

[Bonzoo]

Problems over.......unless you're tall.Add 6 inches to the legs ...http://www.barrelblaster.com/

[ronsii]

Problems over.......unless you're tall.Add 6 inches to the legs ...http://www.barrelblaster.com/

Heh heh heh... can't imagine where I've seen that before...