DIY homemade sandblast cabinet

Mborso1029

New Member
Oct 2, 2009
403
5
0
SouthEast MI
im not sure if anyone has showed this yet but i recently built myself the home made sand blast cabinet, ive seen a few variation of this on the web since i made mine but i believe mines the best. after building this i THEN seached the internet and found other people had the same idea just not as good. this will work good for smaller items depending on the size "cabinet" you purchase. i recently purchased a 150 dollar project that needed major paint work, so i decided i would blast them my self and have someone PC. i could of jsut bought a regular cabinet, but why spend the minimum 150.00 when you can spend like 15, put that 150 towards a stroker like i did. this is a great alternative but if you need something a little larger it gets real tight. things needed

1.Minimum of a 18 gallon Rubbermaid container
2.4in PVC coupler
3.Sandblasting Gloves. harbor freight
4. Cheap sandblasting gun. harborfreight. the one with the bag
5. some vacuum line or 1/2 hose optional
6. small funnel optional
7.plexi glass
8.5in band clamp
9. 1 in or so PVC pipe


1. thing i did was cut 1 in smaller than the size of the plexiglass in the top of the rubber made container, enought to leave about 1.2 to glue to on the inside of it, i used some 20 second epoxy (thanks FORDMC) to glue the window in and it worked great. sealled tight
2. was to cut in inlet about 1/2 for the air hose to be inserted into the container. i purchased a smaller HF twisty airline which was smaller in diameter so the hole didnt have to be to big.
3. i cut a whole to accept the pvc pipe as a vent,sealed 20 second epoxy stuffed it with steel wool and put a panty ho on the end, little still blows by but media can be saved alot easier.
4. i traced the 4 in coupler onto the front of the rubber maid container and cut the circle out as tight as i could....inserted the coupler in the hole, and sealed tight with 20 second epoxy. be sure to leave enough room on the insidde to use the band clamp, but no to much or it will limit your area even more....band clamp a glove to the inside and your good. i used only 1 arm hole and glove bc of the small container, use a bigger one and you can use 2
NEXT steps are optional.
5. i got a funnel and traced it out on the bottom of the rubbermade, cut it, 20 second the epoxy it in and it will act like a good recircultory system, put your hose on the bottom of the funnel outside the box, drill a 1/2 or so hole comming back IN the box right next to where it went out. now instead of using the bag that comes with the harbor freight gun, attach your vaccum line to the media inlet, i used a pipe cutter and cut it down a little bit to make it easier to move in the small area. now you have a little bit of a recirculatory system, to keep moving the sand around depending on how big of a funnel you use.
6.put a grate or chicken wire in the bottom if you'd like

this little things works pretty well, it catches just about everything and recirculates it pretty good too. overall it worked great did the smaller things i needed to do. cost about 15 bucks to make it. also depending on what container you get...you may leak out of the top, i would advise getting one of the ones that locks with the little latches. i think i covered pretty well.

best thing was i didnt have to wear a ski mask, goggle, long sleeve shirt and pants to blast.

2j2732h.jpg


oqis0l.jpg


IMG]http://i37.tinypic.com/2mepndl.jpg[/IMG]
 
cool. i was hopin not....all i could think about was someone jumpin down my throat about how its already been done....but ne way i should of taken progress pics, but i totally forgot to. it would be alot easier to explain with them.
 
it works really good. the little recirc thing i came up with works great, i originally purchased the plastic blast media from HF and that gun with the bag, didnt use the bag just the steel tube that goes into the bag but the plastic media was way to thick and was gettting clogged up and stuck, only reason i did that was bc the bagging place wasnt open to purchase some BLACK BEAUTY on the weekend and i couldnt wait. harborfreight.com wont work for me or i'd link the gun
 
Sweet!
That was a great idea!
But this just means less room in the garage..................
Hummmm.
Maybe I can put it.................in the shed!