[Shop-talk] Blast cabinet, media

[Benjamin Zwissler]

I bought a middle size/quality floor mount cabinet from Greg Smith
equipment (model sbc42) about 3 years ago.  It's great and I don't regret
it in any way.

To answer your questions:

1.   I use it about how I expected and do lots of suspension and other
similar components. Probably an hour a week on average.  You need lots of
air, I have an 18 cfm compressor and it mostly keeps up. Usually I don't
need the bigger cabinet, but I also clean wheels, driveshafts and other
larger parts that's wouldn't fit in the smaller cabinets.

2.  For heavy cast parts I mostly use coal slag sold at Menard's around
here.  I've also used glass beads and walnut shells for finer material but
they're about 4 times the cost.  They're all reusable but are slowly
consumed.  After a while it's a good idea to change it out with new.  A
good filter/separator will pull out the dust and fine particles.  Nozzles,
filters and plastic window shields are the other major consumables.  I've
debated whether the plastic shields are better than just replacing the
glass periodically.

3. I use ear plugs to fill tapped holes and tape threads as you mentioned.
I would not blast any part that you're not going to completely tear down
and clean thoroughly.  The grit will get everywhere so I always degrease
first, blast, detergent wash and repeat as required before painting.

Good luck, Ben

On Sat, Dec 26, 2020, 2:07 PM Darrell Walker <darrellw360 at mac.com> wrote:

>
> I’m thinking of using some Christmas money on a bench top blast cabinet.
> I realize the small size will limit what I can blast, but that is about all
> the space I’m willing to allocate, and it should handle most of what I
> would be looking at blasting.
>
> So a some questions for the list:
>
> 1.  For those of you with blast cabinets, do you find yourself using it
> more than you expected?  My first project would be cleaning up some
> suspension parts (mostly paint removal).  I think enough projects come
> along that it would be worth having one, but I would love to be surprised
> to find additional uses.
>
> 2.  What is a good all purpose, reusable media to use?  I would mostly be
> removing paint, and some surface rust.
>
> 3.  The first parts I would be cleaning have some machined surfaces
> (threaded holes, tapers, etc).  How careful do you need to be to protect
> those areas?  And what if the best way to do that?  One of the parts will
> be a strut tube, which includes the stub axle.  I’m thinking that wrapping
> that area in duct tape might be a good idea.
>
> Thanks!
> -Darrell
>
> --
> Darrell Walker
> 66 TR4A IRS-SC CTC67956L
> 81 TR8 SATPZ458XBA406206
> Vancouver, WA, USA
>
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