A few months ago I was making a list of the contents of all my parts storage tubs and quickly realised I had a lot of parts (custom brackets, exhaust pieces, Mini parts and modified parts) which have developed a healthy amount of surface rust on them in the last 4 years of being stored away and not painted. I quickly figured that the cost of getting all the pieces blasted was going to be too high for my liking so it was time to start searching for a (second hand) sand blasting cabinet to buy and install. I had already assigned some floor space, power and air outlets for a cabinet next to my lathe, so I needed only to find and buy the cabinet.
Searching around online and Gumtree ads for over a month yielded nothing and when my local auto store Super Cheap Auto had a big sale on with 40% off their small 100L (76cm W x 50cm D) sand blasting cabinets, I jumped on it. The cabinet is similar to many other suppliers including Harbor Freight in USA so there is a lot reviews, information and potential improvements available on the internet and YouTube.
The first step was to make a stand. I measured up the appropriate height so that I wouldn't be slouching or leaning in awkwardly when using the cabinet and built a stand from some leftover timber I had from my paint booth, and gave it the obligatory paint job in the same grey colour as everything else I've built in the workshop.
The viewing window at the front of the cabinet came held in place by a series of M4 bolts and nuts. Removing the window to replace the protective plastic film on the inside of the glass would normally involve leaning inside the door to hold the nuts by hand. To make the glass and trim easy to remove, I replaced the nut/bolt arrangement with some rivnuts around the opening so the bolts can now be easily and quickly removed with electric screwdriver or drill.
According to my internet reading and video viewings, two of the biggest downfalls of the cabinet is lighting and dust. The small 12V flouro supplied in the cabinet (measured at a measly 6 Watts) was very dim so I replaced the flouro with four 50cm strips of bright cool white 12V LEDs above and below the viewing window. The LED strips provided a dramatic improvement compared to the old flouro with very little casting of shadows. I also had to use a new 2 Amp power supply as the LEDs used a total of 1.4 Amps but the power supply that came with the cabinet was rated at 1 Amp. These photos below were taken using the same camera on manual settings to get a proper comparison of light levels for this post.
The four LED strips, each strip with 30x cool white 5050 SMD LEDs (IP65 rated - important to prevent dust ingress) with all of the lengths of the wiring covered in heatshrink to protect it from any blasting media :
Before (6W 12V Flouro) :
After (16W of 12V LED strips) - a night vs day difference.
For dust extraction, I purchased a small plastic cyclone dust collector (approx 300m high) and screwed it to the top of a small 5L tub as the receptacle for the heavier media/dust to drop into (which could possibly be reused). I chose a clear tub in the hope I can easily monitor the level of media in it without having to remove the tub lid. To join the cabinet to the cyclone I used some PVC reticulation fittings and old vacuum cleaner hose, and my workshop vacuum cleaner connects to the cyclone outlet.
In terms of what blasting media to use, I had the choice of various types - sand/garnet, glass beads, crushed walnut shells. Sand works fine, is a little more aggressive on the parts however the dust created by sand contains silica. Silica exposure can cause silicosis and not something I want to risk as even with a dust extraction system in place, Safety First! Glass beads are non-toxic, do not contain silica, can be used at a lower operating pressure and doesn't pit the material surface as much so leaves more of a "matte" finish rather than the more "grainy" appearance left by garnet. I'm not dealing with heavily rusted parts, so glass is the media I chose.
I am yet to use the cabinet, however I will post about the results and opinions when I do.
Searching around online and Gumtree ads for over a month yielded nothing and when my local auto store Super Cheap Auto had a big sale on with 40% off their small 100L (76cm W x 50cm D) sand blasting cabinets, I jumped on it. The cabinet is similar to many other suppliers including Harbor Freight in USA so there is a lot reviews, information and potential improvements available on the internet and YouTube.
The first step was to make a stand. I measured up the appropriate height so that I wouldn't be slouching or leaning in awkwardly when using the cabinet and built a stand from some leftover timber I had from my paint booth, and gave it the obligatory paint job in the same grey colour as everything else I've built in the workshop.
The viewing window at the front of the cabinet came held in place by a series of M4 bolts and nuts. Removing the window to replace the protective plastic film on the inside of the glass would normally involve leaning inside the door to hold the nuts by hand. To make the glass and trim easy to remove, I replaced the nut/bolt arrangement with some rivnuts around the opening so the bolts can now be easily and quickly removed with electric screwdriver or drill.
According to my internet reading and video viewings, two of the biggest downfalls of the cabinet is lighting and dust. The small 12V flouro supplied in the cabinet (measured at a measly 6 Watts) was very dim so I replaced the flouro with four 50cm strips of bright cool white 12V LEDs above and below the viewing window. The LED strips provided a dramatic improvement compared to the old flouro with very little casting of shadows. I also had to use a new 2 Amp power supply as the LEDs used a total of 1.4 Amps but the power supply that came with the cabinet was rated at 1 Amp. These photos below were taken using the same camera on manual settings to get a proper comparison of light levels for this post.
The four LED strips, each strip with 30x cool white 5050 SMD LEDs (IP65 rated - important to prevent dust ingress) with all of the lengths of the wiring covered in heatshrink to protect it from any blasting media :
Before (6W 12V Flouro) :
After (16W of 12V LED strips) - a night vs day difference.
For dust extraction, I purchased a small plastic cyclone dust collector (approx 300m high) and screwed it to the top of a small 5L tub as the receptacle for the heavier media/dust to drop into (which could possibly be reused). I chose a clear tub in the hope I can easily monitor the level of media in it without having to remove the tub lid. To join the cabinet to the cyclone I used some PVC reticulation fittings and old vacuum cleaner hose, and my workshop vacuum cleaner connects to the cyclone outlet.
In terms of what blasting media to use, I had the choice of various types - sand/garnet, glass beads, crushed walnut shells. Sand works fine, is a little more aggressive on the parts however the dust created by sand contains silica. Silica exposure can cause silicosis and not something I want to risk as even with a dust extraction system in place, Safety First! Glass beads are non-toxic, do not contain silica, can be used at a lower operating pressure and doesn't pit the material surface as much so leaves more of a "matte" finish rather than the more "grainy" appearance left by garnet. I'm not dealing with heavily rusted parts, so glass is the media I chose.
I am yet to use the cabinet, however I will post about the results and opinions when I do.
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