Small sand blast cabinet NEED FILTER IDEAS

[TecateDan]

Have a small 50 pound blast cabinet at my house that works great but the filter that somes with it clogs in 2-3 minutes. It's the one built into the side of the container. I run a hose from the outlet port into a bucket of water then into my shop vac. The water does a decent job of collecting a lot of the tiny dust that gets past the filter. I know there must be an easy way to make a large home made filter but wanted to see what people on here have already come up with and then build something from there

[Flyingw]

Are you running glass in the cabinet? I have my B&D Stinger vacuum plugged directly in to the side of the cabinet with no cabinet filter. I let the vacuum filter handle that job and when the filter gets clogged, I dump the vacuum and clean the filter but only after 1-2 hours of runtime. On the opposite side of the cabinet, I have a 1/2 inch hole partially covered with tape providing airflow across the cabinet directly in to the vacuum port. It works very well.

[TecateDan]

I was running glass bead but I mostly run aluminum oxide 80 grit now b/c it cuts through paint like a hot knife through butter. Do you reuse the media from the vacuum? DO you just screen it and use it again or do you throw it out because that seems expensive to me if you only get to use it once

[xman2rman]

I have a harbor freight table top cabinet and I put a K&N style filter on it. ($20 bucks at Advanced Auto) That cabinet has about a 4" hole in the back top and it is shielded on the inside. I had to wrap elecectrical tape around the filter to get a snug fit, it just plugs in and works good. I also siliconed every crack I could find and I use glass beads.

[TecateDan]

I was thinking of something like this .. any chance I could see a pic

I have a harbor freight table top cabinet and I put a K&N style filter on it. ($20 bucks at Advanced Auto) That cabinet has about a 4" hole in the back top and it is shielded on the inside. I had to wrap elecectrical tape around the filter to get a snug fit, it just plugs in and works good. I also siliconed every crack I could find and I use glass beads.

[Dirtcrasher]

I reuse the aluminum oxide and run it out the bottom into a 6 gallon bucket with a screen on it. When the media gets worn down (almost like silt) I add to or change it.

I run a moisture filter at the compressor and at the cabinet.

I use a shop vac for the dust storm in the cabinet.

The biggest PITA is when the window film gets dirty and has to be changed, I wish the top were hinged, I'll add it to my list.......

I also tossed the gun for a TP Tools gun. I use a 60 gallon tank with dual cast iron cylinders.

The light stinks, I had to add wheels to it as well as a handle.

The whole process starts with me power washing the part as well as using oven cleaner to keep the debris down.......

[TecateDan]

I read some where that it will wipe out a vacuum if u don't pre filter before it hits the vacuum.. is that just nonsense

[jeswinehart]

A trick we use on the shop sand blaster is once flow starts to diminish from tip, let off the air + cover the tip with thumb/finger and put the air to it.
It back blows itself and then back to sand blasting.
On the company's particular cabinet it takes surprisingly little effort to keep thumb/finger in place to "back blow" to get 100% capacity from the tip.
Not sure if you folks do that, or even have tried it,,, just wanted to mention.
We ditched the factory rubber sealed in glass a long time ago. Made up a quick change housing that is very user friendly and have regular glass cut to fit. If I recall the numbers we can have about a dozen regular pieces of glass cut for what the cost of 1 of the units factory piece (and the royal PITA changing out is no more). And before you scoff at using regular glass for viewing, it last just as long before becoming "blasted" + fogged over at one heck of a savings.

john

[daniel_250r]

^^ i do that all the time only one filter at the compressor

[Flyingw]

I run a quality #10 glass bead. I dont need anything real aggressive so glass bead suits my needs well. I have a big pressure fed cabinet at work and I run #10 glass in it too. I have a shop vac hooked up to the big cabinet and a small vacuum hooked up to the small cabinet. Both are directly plugged in with no filter between. As long as the filters in the vacuums arent clogged, they pull the pulverized glass bead in without damaging the vacuum. To answer the question, no I do not reuse the stuff in the vacuums. Thats spent media and is useless. I change the media in my cabinets about twice a year depending on runtime on the media. The thing with glass bead is its most effective running it at no greater than 50psi. Above that just destroys the glass faster with no added benefit. For you guys running these inexpensive syphon type cabinets, don't run sand in them. When sand impacts something, its done so its basically one time use whereas glass bead and aluminum oxide will take multiple impacts before it breaks down. In my little cabinet, one design problem with the cabinet is the glass will load up on one side of the cabinet so I would have to stop and tilt the cabinet over to get the glass back on the pickup tube side. What I did was cut some pieces of stiff cardboard and formed a ramp so as the media falls back to the bottom, it loads the bottom on the pickup tube side. I taped it all down with duct tape. It works very well. I also fill the bottom of the cabinet up to the screen so there is always plenty of media for the pickup tube. I installed four undercabinet 120v puck lights. Solved that problem. I also installed a water seperator on the inlet and I have two large dessicant bags laying inside of the cabinet.

Whenever I talk about blast cabinets, I always tell people....DO NOT BUY MEDIA ESPECIALLY GLASS BEAD FROM HARBOR FREIGHT..... it so full of garbage, filler and especially lead. It comes from China so dont waste your money. Find a local supplier for clean US made glass. If you compare Harbor Freight and quality glass side by side, you will see a huge differance. None of the changes I've made to my cabinet cost a whole lot but it sure makes it more efficient.