sand blast cabinets

[frostype400]

Gday guy's, a general question does any one have their own sandblasting cabinet?

 I am thinking of buying one for my shed so I can blast things and take it around the corner to my panel beater mate and spray painter mate and get most stuff done local with out having to go into town, thanks Michael.

[YZ250H]

Excellent investment Michael.  Glenfords have them cheap,  the only trouble is you need a pretty big compressor to keep up with them.  You won't regret it.  Lots less time hosing hot paint stripper off  your skin , and your parts will look brilliant.

[frostype400]

Ok cool I have finally got a big shed to do some work in so I thought one might be the way to go can you also set up bead blasting in them? Thanks alot Michael.

[YZ250H]

Yes, mine has beads in it.  Better for those more delicate "bike" kind of jobs IMHO.  If you get the frame sandblasted, the rest fits into the cabinet .  There are not that many parts on a bike that need the crap blasted out of them with Garnet.  I'm sure someone will correct me though  .

[LWC82PE]

I only use glass beads. Gives it a nice shiny finish. The beads do get contaminated which is ok for rough stuff that’s gonna be painted, but if its something in alloy you want to leave bare, well then go over them with a clean set of beads.

Sand blasting Is a bit harsh  for anything that’s not steel. For things steel things like frames, fuel tanks and other tinware, I take it to a sand blaster who has a big industrial sand blaster and the stuff gets done in a big shed and not in a little cabinet. Your biggest expense will be the compresser, you really want a decent high capacity one which can often cost a couple $1000 but I think you can get reasonalble ones for $1000-$1500. If you get a good one it will last you 20 years or more.

Also be prepared to replace a nossil tip every so often as they do wear out.

[FAT-TOY]

  Michael I purchased a med size cabinet off ebay last year about $300 delivered to my door from Melbourne I think.  Will fit a motor or wheel if needed, I use beads about $50 a 20kg bag mixed with about half a bag of garnet its about $25 a 20kg bag and this gives me the finish I'm after.  I also purchased a home powder coating kit  and a second hand oven around the same time and I now do most of my blasting and coating in house.  The powder coating has been easy to master just making sure everything is clean, I blast then wipe with prepsol and no finger prints etc just the same as you would for painting. Then after about 15 min in the oven and when its cool enough to touch you can bolt it on the bike, no having to wait 24 hours and its about 10 times harder than paint.  I know not everyone likes using powder but it suits me and if you make sure the cover is not to heavy then there are no problems.
                       Zane

[Mike52]

Made my own out of scraps Frosty , running a 18cfm comp but it,s not big enough.
You have to be very patient with the smaller ones, takes a bit of time.
Am using both beads and garnet but seperately.
The black stuff you buy from Super Cheep is a bit messy and you end up with black dust everywhere.
Beads are cleaner but slower too.

[HL500]

I brought a smaller one to start for around $170 and quickly found it a bit of a problem.  Leaked sand everywhere which was partly due to my quality construction.  The other issue was the perspex viewing screen which clouded after a while even with protective plastic covers.
I then brought a better unit from around $350 and it had a toughfened glass  viewing screen and the side opening door.  Capacity was larger and I can easily fit an exhaust in there.  The secret I believe to these is sealing everything to prevent leakage.  I also made a suction system with a cheap industrial vacumn so that the fumes and dust are extracted always.  This has allowed me to operate the unit with a dust mask which is absoluetly essental as the beads are dangerous.
Since setting up the new unit sandblasting is easy where as before I had to consume a dozen beers to get in the mood.

[crash n bern]

I had a home made one from a kitchen sink and bits I scavenged of a tiki raft from the tip.  Then I upgraded to a benchtop one and had the same problems as HL500.  Then I upgraded to a large free standing unit with built in vacum from QLD Trade tools for around $700 and as my 30 year old compressor died I bought the largest single phase one trade tools makes.  I can't remember how much but well under a grand.

Two of the best tools in the shop.

[dkupf]

I bought one of the cheap cabinets off e-bay..It  works good enough for anything I want to blast. I put a $30 vacuum cleaner in the side of it with a small car air filter on the inside to keep the dust down.At the moment I'm using the glass beads they use in road line marking paint. They seem to work well and I can pick them up cheap Darcy