Are plastic sand blast cabinets any good.

I was just wanting a small table top cabinet. Nothing around. Did not want to spend money on new.

So I posted a wanted ad on craigslist. A guy sent me a text saying he just posted one. But it was $100. And it's a bigger one on a stand. Long story short. I got him down to $50.

Well on the way back from another cl pick up the guy texts me. So I pull over to text him back. I pulled over and ended up in a frikin sink hole. I was buried down to the frame. Watch for the full story in my motorcycle in the house thread coming soon. I just new I was going to miss out on that deal. But luckily he still had it and I went and got it at 900M.

So I get there and it's plastic. But the damn thing look really good. It is not as heavy duty as the harbor freight unit. But for motorcycle stuff who cares. And for $50 I think I did ok.

Or are these plastic cabinets junk. Hell. In the pic you can see it is still wet from where he washed it. Can you do that with a metal one with out it rusting. Oh ya. It matchs my tool box nicely.

So did I do good. Or get good and screwed.

ETA: Check out post #17 for the sink hole story.
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?p=387982#post387982



Here's a link of it new.
http://www.isconline.com/product/PK36/Cyclone-Top-and-Side-Opening-Steel-Blast-cabinet.html?cid=287

Here's a pic of mine and of the new one that sells for $275.

$50??? By the time it wears out you can find another one for another 50 bucks Bummer 'bout the sinkhole. Happy ending though.

Oh, I think you did really well. The plastic construction shouldn't be a problem. You rarely blast directly against the walls and using glass beads is less abrasive than sand anyway. You will probably need to add some "tweaks". If there isn't a grate inside to set the parts on, you'll want one of those .....



Putting a light inside is also very helpful but I usually drag mine outside in direct sun light. And you'll see what I mean about the need for a water filter once you start using it. You'll get very good at disassembling the blaster gun to clean out the clogs without a filter. I made my filter "portable" so I can move it outside along with the blast cabinet.





The coiled yellow 25' air line between the cabinet and filter doesn't generate much condensation, not like the 25' rubber line running from the compressor to the filter.

Looks like you got a nice deal.

I've been looking at this metal one from Tractor Supply. Looks well made albeit made in China like much of their stuff.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/jobsmartreg;-vertical-abrasive-blasting-cabinet-32-lb-capacity

YL76 said:

Looks like you got a nice deal.

I've been looking at this metal one from Tractor Supply. Looks well made albeit made in China like much of their stuff.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/jobsmartreg;-vertical-abrasive-blasting-cabinet-32-lb-capacity

Click to expand...

I was looking at those awhile back. It seems like, iirc, that it had more features than the harbor freight version. But it was more money. I think I said I would pay for the extras. I don't know. I'm confused. I had a rough day.

Check out post #17 for the sink hole story.

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38635

5twins said:

Oh, I think you did really well. The plastic construction shouldn't be a problem. You rarely blast directly against the walls and using glass beads is less abrasive than sand anyway. You will probably need to add some "tweaks". If there isn't a grate inside to set the parts on, you'll want one of those ....

Putting a light inside is also very helpful but I usually drag mine outside in direct sun light. And you'll see what I mean about the need for a water filter once you start using it. You'll get very good at disassembling the blaster gun to clean out the clogs without a filter. I made my filter "portable" so I can move it outside along with the blast cabinet.


The coiled yellow 25' air line between the cabinet and filter doesn't generate much condensation, not like the 25' rubber line running from the compressor to the filter.

Click to expand...

5twins.

It has all the tweaks except the water trap. See the light in the left corner.

Below is a pic of the trap on my compressor. Do you think I should move it to the blast cabinet, or just use the cheap inline one from harbor freight at the cabinet.

http://www.harborfreight.com/disposable-inline-moisture-filter-68224.html

Well, you can try your set-up as is but I think you're going to find as I did that having the water filter right next to the compressor does little if any good. Most of the condensation takes place in the rubber hose, and the longer your line is, the more of a problem it will be. I never tried one of those little in-line filters but I suppose it couldn't hurt. You can test your current set-up by continuously running a die grinder for a few minutes. Do you get water spitting out of the grinder's exhaust after that time?

I have a couple compressors, one in my garage and one back in my work shed. I acquired a couple water filters after encountering the condensation problems and mounted them like yours, right next to the compressors. They did little good. The filter needs to be closer to the tool for best results. You can see the semi-portable one I made up for the shed above. I can hang it in a bracket on the outside wall or a similar one in the shed. For the garage, I often have the air line run out in the driveway for working on vehicles. I needed an even more portable filter set-up so I constructed a little tripod stand for the filter. I can take and use this one anywhere, attaching it to the end of the rubber air line no matter how long it might be .....





How about the gauntlet gloves that clamp to the round holes on the front of the cabinet? I see you have the hose clamps for them in your 1st pic. You'll need them if you don't have them. I think HF sells them, probably Tractor Supply too.

Ya. He told me it needed new gloves.

$15 on ebay free shipping.

I see the filter unit you have now by the compressor is a combination regulator and filter. You won't need that in a secondary filter, just a filter alone will suffice. It should be cheaper than a combo unit too. Another nifty little HF air accessory I like is their 3-way splitter. It allows you to hook 3 tools at once to the end of your air line ....

to be honest i think your version might be better than the metal hf unit. mine leaks outta every seam! the blue plastic on yours seems to be all one molded piece.

Yes, I needed to re-caulk all the seams on my HF unit, lol. It was like "sand through an hour glass" when I got it, leaving little piles of media where ever it was parked, lol.

deadchef said:

to be honest i think your version might be better than the metal hf unit. mine leaks outta every seam! the blue plastic on yours seems to be all one molded piece.

Click to expand...

5twins said:

Yes, I needed to re-caulk all the seams on my HF unit, lol. It was like "sand through an hour glass" when I got it, leaving little piles of media where ever it was parked, lol.

Click to expand...

Ya. With the HF unit I had there was always sand to deal with. When ever you opened the door you would get a nice treat.

At least this plastic one has a channel on the side door to do block the sand from accumulating.. And it's a top loader as well.

I'm not knocking the HF stuff by any means. But I think those will end up in the land fill from rusting out way before mine gets there. Time will tell. I do admit the HF is much sturdier.

5twins said:

I see the filter unit you have now by the compressor is a combination regulator and filter. You won't need that in a secondary filter, just a filter alone will suffice. It should be cheaper than a combo unit too. Another nifty little HF air accessory I like is their 3-way splitter. It allows you to hook 3 tools at once to the end of your air line ....

Click to expand...

I didn't know the moisture was coming from the hose. Which mine is 50'. I thought it was the cheap ass HF water trap was junk.

So what I'm going to do is try the cheap plastic one for now and if it doesn't work I'll get a better filter.

To eliminate clogging issues (whether its glass beads or soda), I've found that hooking a filter filled with loose silica gel dessicant right next to my sprayer works great for me. The silica gel stays dry. When I had the filter w/silica installed right off my compressor, it would take on quite a bit of moisture.

Perhaps not conducive to using like this in a cabinet cause its bulky/awkward, buy hey, I don't have a cabinet anyway. Yes, I go through a lot of spray media...

I think I got the filter at Northern Tool.