Lookie at What Followed Me Home Today

[Flyingw]

Daddy's got a brand new toy!!!!! and it's black and red. Its a sign from the Gods, the Honda Gods. A while back I bought a pressurized blast cabinet but my Craftsman 33gal compressor fell way short of powering it. The other problem I had was nowhere to put an upright compressor except for in my shed but to do that would have cost me about 2k for electrician and concrete work plus the cost of the compressor. The solution!!!!! a gas powered compressor. I'm building a dolly it will sit on so I can move it around if I need to. My Craftsman will work fine as it has for my everyday air needs but when I need a bunch of air to run my blast cabinet, this will fill that requirement very nicely. I have my garage cat guarding it. She's locked and loaded.

[jays375]

Nice unit!Motor will last a lonnnnggg time.

[Dave Little]

Jeez, you coulda incorporated that into your carb test bench, you know 'vertical integration':beer....and then train the cat to run it while you're using the cabinet.

[TrickShot]

Thats one Fat garage cat! She must be good at the guard duty, because it looks like nothing gets passed her! :)

[JasonB]

hahahahaha you feeding that cat mcdonalds or what


nice compressor setup , im jealous!

[Xowner]

I was always under the impression that a sandblaster couldnt be ran on one of those little compressors ? How does that one keep up when your 33gal one wouldnt? Does this one make more air per second? ( if that is even a term. HA!)

[Flyingw]

I'll find out X. The blaster uses about 15 CFM and the compressor puts out about 25 CFM with a 100% duty cycle. I may have to add an external storage tank for added volume but I can handle that if need be. My Craftsman is an Oilless single stage putting out about 6 CFM with a duty cycle of about 50%. I've run the snot out of the Craftsman over the years far exceeding its duty cycle requirements so I'm surprised its lasted this long. I still have to finish the prep on it later today before I can put it to the test. Last night I built a dolly for it and got an external battery mounted and wired up for the Estart. The compressor is designed to be mounted to a service truck using the trucks onboard battery for the starter so I mounted a battery to the dolly.

[Outlaw #24]

I am jealous I want the cabinet. Is the cat for sale? :lol:

[robertc]

Need to get some racks for Big White

[Flyingw]

The cats labor rates can be cost prohibitive......

[Chopsaw]

The cats labor rates can be cost prohibitive......

You mean the food bill !!

[taiterator]

That's a really nice compressor you have there Flyingw! I've been looking at the same model to replace my 80 gal. Ingersoll Rand. I was amazed at the performance of this unit. It definitely outperforms my current unit, and I like that it is easily made to be portable.

[ama009]

Nice setup!! Looking to get something similar : )

[MattDragontamer]

Hehe... Fat Cat...

IIt will be interesting to see if that little compressor will do the trick.
Its all about the CFMs @90 PSI. If you can get 12-15CFMs out of it @ 90 psi, then you should be good.
Your tank capasity just dictates the overall storage of air you have.
I don't know all the jargon, but if your cabinet needs 15 cfm, you should run a 12-15cfm compressor.
You should be able to use the cabinet constantly. The larger the storage tank, the langer you can run before the internal pressure drops to the point that the compressor needs to turn on to refill.
If you put a gauge and a Regulator on you cabindet, you will be able keep an eye on your pressure.
If it drops below 90 psi the effectiveness of the media will be lost.

[Flyingw]

I did allot of looking around at different gas powered compressors and for the money, this is the one I kept coming back to. Even without the tank, the motor/compressor combination has the capability to make enough air to run my cabinet. Blasting with glass bead is best at 50-60psi. Anything over that destroys the glass faster with no added benefit. This cabinet is made by SCM and it was designed for doing glass, wood, and stone etching. Retails for about $4000.00. I got it for $1500.00. I bought a larger tip, added three 36" florescent light fixtures and patched up a few leaks. The size is perfect for the space I had allocated. I re-piped the pressure tank as some of the fittings were leaking and I put a new regulator on it. Last night I built a dolly for the compressor but I didn't have a chance to finish the prep on it so I haven't fired it up yet. I have to run it for 20 minutes unloaded with the tank valve open to break it in but one that's done, all that's left is to add a regulator and QD.

[Dave Little]

Nice set up. Whenever I get a piece of equipment like that one of the first things I do is slap an hour meter on it.

[Flyingw]

I already have one on order Dave. Everything related to maintenance is per hours of operation.

[Flyingw]

Today I cranked up my new compressor and ran it for break in. Then I built the outlet manifold and regulator. After that I tossed a few things in the blast cabinet and started testing. I had bought a 1/4 tip and with the valve wide open, it holds a constant pressure in the cabinet at about 45PSI. Not bad for glass bead but I want a little higher pressure. I tried a slightly smaller tip and it held pressure at about 55psi. Much better but the blast pattern is a bit small for my desires. Then I tried the tip off my sand pot which is about a 3/16 hole but the end of the hole is flared out (worn from sand) but that worked the best so my plan is to take a new 3/16 tip and see if I can find a way of flaring the ceramic. That should give me what I'm after.

[ama009]

Ok, now you lost me! so my 50 gal craftsman compressor won't keep up with a 100gal pressure blaster? looking to get this one = http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-100lb-pressure-abrasive-blaster.html. Don't mean to steal your thread, but just wanted to ask since you were already on topic. Your compressor is obviously much better!! I was planning on using more walnut shells and aluminum oxide.

[Flyingw]

Your fine asking here. You mean your blasting pot is a 100 pound not 100 psi. According to the specs on it, it uses 10 CFM. Look at the specs on your compressor. If its 10 CFM or greater, you'll be ok. These pots and blasters are two fold, volume and CFMs. Say for example you have a 30 gallon tank with a compressor that puts out 6 CFM like my Craftsman, you will deplete the volume in the tank faster than the air compressor can replenish. This is the problem I had. Now, the larger the hole in the tip means air will escape out of the hose faster and visa versa. Even with my new compressor, the tip I'm using jacks the CFMs required from about 15 to about 22 CFMs so I'm actually tasking my new compressor at its upper limits. I've been playing with different size tips trying to find a good balance between blast pattern I want and not depleting my air supply faster than the pump can replenish and I think I'm there.

[Dirtcrasher]

Very nice setup Jim, I love that cabinet!!

I had the 6HP craftsmen with a 30 gallon tank and DEEPA blew it up. It was so loud and ran forever!!

Now I have a 80 gallon cast iron/dual cylinder/230V compressor and it's great.

This THING -
Ok, now you lost me! so my 50 gal craftsman compressor won't keep up with a 100gal pressure blaster? looking to get this one = http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-100lb-pressure-abrasive-blaster.html. Don't mean to steal your thread, but just wanted to ask since you were already on topic. Your compressor is obviously much better!! I was planning on using more walnut shells and aluminum oxide.

Pressure pot blaster wastes more media and it gets in your ears/nose/throat, I left it on my front lawn as it clogged yet AGAIN and the valves were worn out AGAIN. I hate them; Some guys try to catch it on a tarp (outside in the wind), yep, that's fun........ Cabinet does most everything but a frame and I can have a local guy bang that out and powder coat it......

[ama009]

Your fine asking here. You mean your blasting pot is a 100 pound not 100 psi. According to the specs on it, it uses 10 CFM. Look at the specs on your compressor. If its 10 CFM or greater, you'll be ok. These pots and blasters are two fold, volume and CFMs. Say for example you have a 30 gallon tank with a compressor that puts out 6 CFM like my Craftsman, you will deplete the volume in the tank faster than the air compressor can replenish. This is the problem I had. Now, the larger the hole in the tip means air will escape out of the hose faster and visa versa. Even with my new compressor, the tip I'm using jacks the CFMs required from about 15 to about 22 CFMs so I'm actually tasking my new compressor at its upper limits. I've been playing with different size tips trying to find a good balance between blast pattern I want and not depleting my air supply faster than the pump can replenish and I think I'm there.

Yep, Mine is 6 cfm at 90psi. So this thing will run constantly and not keep up. : (

[ama009]

Dirtcrasher -"Pressure pot blaster wastes more media and it gets in your ears/nose/throat, I left it on my front lawn as it clogged yet AGAIN and the valves were worn out AGAIN. I hate them; Some guys try to catch it on a tarp (outside in the wind), yep, that's fun........ Cabinet does most everything but a frame and I can have a local guy bang that out and powder coat it......"

Planning on sending my frame out, but wanted the pot blaster to use with the cabinet. What would be better to do all the small parts?

[Flyingw]

Yep, 6 CFMs would cause your compressor to run constantly with a drastic pressure drop when the volume runs out. Now, with that said, you can buy an inexpensive syphon cabinet and plumb the pressure pot in to it. Basically the same type of setup I have. You would need to make a few changes to the pressure pot to make it more convenient to use with a cabinet but very doable. Tomorrow I'll be out on my lawn with my pressure pot doing a frame and swinger. Normally I take them to my guy to PC but this build is for a friend on a budget so I'll use the Black Beauty I had left over from a couple of projects and hit the frame and swinger with rattle can appliance paint.

A syphon cabinet will do small parts ok but it doesn't have the power a pressure type has. I'm spoiled with the pressure type. I had one at my last job and I used the snot out of it. It truly makes easy work of it that's for sure. I spent about an hour and a half in front of my cabinet today and got about 95% of the hard parts stripped and ready to PC and that's what I'm getting ready to tackle. I'll use my little syphon cabinet to handle most of the little parts.

[ama009]

Thanks for your info Flyingw!!! good stuff!

[Flyingw]

If you have never been, go to Garage Journal and sign up. Its free. There is so much info there for building your own cabinet or converting a syphon cabinet to a pressure system. Tons of other great info there covering just about all topics concerning blasting, powder coating, painting, tools and anything else garage related.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

[Flyingw]

This is what you need to make.

[sledcrazyinCT]

This is what you need to make.

What are you showing us?

[Flyingw]

Opps!!! wrong thread

[Dirtcrasher]

Dirtcrasher -"Pressure pot blaster wastes more media and it gets in your ears/nose/throat, I left it on my front lawn as it clogged yet AGAIN and the valves were worn out AGAIN. I hate them; Some guys try to catch it on a tarp (outside in the wind), yep, that's fun........ Cabinet does most everything but a frame and I can have a local guy bang that out and powder coat it......"

Planning on sending my frame out, but wanted the pot blaster to use with the cabinet. What would be better to do all the small parts?

Get the cheap Harbor Freight cabinet. I had to reinforced my legs and put it on wheels and built a better grate for it as red paint from it got on everything I wanted to powder coat. It BLASTED everything for my 200X 20 Day build. You can find it on Google using "dirtcrasher" easier than the 3WW search button but regardless, it blasted a ton of stuff!! This will be a suction feed and with the new nozzle and plenty of plastic clear protectors to save the glass from the blast.

Jim has a VERY NICE cabinet but it isn't a cheap one; Well worth it though!!

I found that pressure pot blaster to be useless and a waste of media. It also feels lovely in your eyes and ears :lol:.....

[Flyingw]

I broke my pot blaster out today and blasted the frame for the SX I'm working on. I had just enough Black Beauty to do the frame. I did manage to PC the swinger though. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it in and out of the oven but it worked out just fine. Last night I blasted and painted most of the black PC. Now I'm getting ready to tackle the red stuff and the small parts.

[ama009]

Thanks Flying! reading through it tonight!


If you have never been, go to Garage Journal and sign up. Its free. There is so much info there for building your own cabinet or converting a syphon cabinet to a pressure system. Tons of other great info there covering just about all topics concerning blasting, powder coating, painting, tools and anything else garage related.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

[ama009]

Get the cheap Harbor Freight cabinet. I had to reinforced my legs and put it on wheels and built a better grate for it as red paint from it got on everything I wanted to powder coat. It BLASTED everything for my 200X 20 Day build. You can find it on Google using "dirtcrasher" easier than the 3WW search button but regardless, it blasted a ton of stuff!! This will be a suction feed and with the new nozzle and plenty of plastic clear protectors to save the glass from the blast.

Jim has a VERY NICE cabinet but it isn't a cheap one; Well worth it though!!

I found that pressure pot blaster to be useless and a waste of media. It also feels lovely in your eyes and ears :lol:.....

Too Funny, I just happened to buy these today before seeing your post! I know you do not favor the pressure pot, but I figured I would give it a shot because I have heard others that say they love it.

185259185260

[ama009]

Hey Flying! Are you drying the frame out with that heater? I have seen the infrared heaters used for curing the PC, but does that get it up to 400degrees? This answer may be in that link to the garage journal, but I have not gotten to that yet.


I broke my pot blaster out today and blasted the frame for the SX I'm working on. I had just enough Black Beauty to do the frame. I did manage to PC the swinger though. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle it in and out of the oven but it worked out just fine. Last night I blasted and painted most of the black PC. Now I'm getting ready to tackle the red stuff and the small parts.

[Tomcall]

Hey Jim
Just curious. How are you going to vent the exhaust for your new compressor?

[Flyingw]

Its on a dolly. I roll it outside when I use it.

[Tomcall]

Duh! But do your neighbors love you?:naughty:

[Flyingw]

I don't run it after 9pm so screw my neighbors. Its not too terribly loud so screw my neighbors. I only use it to run my blast cabinet.

[Tomcall]

Yea, so screw those neighbors!!!:D