[Shop-talk] Blast cabinet, media

[Karl Vacek]

Not a bench top cabinet, but the Harbor Freight floor standing cabinet I 
bought about 2007 is  probably the best thing I've ever bought there.  
Sturdy, powder coated, big enough for most things I need.  I've even put 
longer things in there and just put an industrial strength garbage bag over 
the projecting parts, taped to the cabinet.

I put it on a welded steel base with large casters.  I appreciate the 
greater height and mobility.  Could use a foot pedal instead of the 
trigger, easy enough to do if I ever bother.  The single door is mostly OK, 
but I'd prefer doors on both sides.  A lift top door might be okay, but not 
my preference.

Blazing does need lots of air.  A real 2 HP compressor was always fine for 
conventional paint spraying, but with the higher pressures required it's 
barely enough for blasting.  Works if you don't mind blasting for a few 
minutes and then waiting at least that long again for recovery.

Certainly something like an oleo strut needs the sliding surfaces 
protected.  Threads are usually ok, but probably not overly fine ones.  I 
mostly use glass beads.  Changing media isn't as fast as you might expect, 
unless you don't mind the last media contaminating the next media you use.

On December 26, 2020 1:06:07 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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