Technical Bench top sandblasting cabinet

Anyone use this Eastwood item ?

https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-b...ickedid=629947571437&wickedsource=google&wv=4

I'm not looking to break the bank and I've heard the harbor freight equivalent and it's cohorts get clogged up often. Most likely use baking soda or other fine grade silica for valve covers before polishing but I'm sure at some point I'd use more aggressive grits for rusty metal parts.
Don't really have the room or compressor capacity for a floor model, although that would be nice to get the bigger box to hold larger items.

 

Waiting with baited breath.

 

Best thing you can do to make these things work is to replace the gun with the one from TIP along with tuning up the pick-up tube. Second step is adding better lighting. Third is to put a cyclone between the box and your vacuum.

I have never looked close at the construction of the HF unit; but the slanted front window looks more comfortable to work with; but the top load on the Eastwood may make the difference for tight places.

 

Just be aware, all of the sandblasters I have ever used make a mess. Sand and dust ends up everywhere outside of the cabinet. We have 3 different cabinets at work, one is brand new, and I have a small one in my shop. They all make a mess in the room they are in.

 

The size of the box won’t affect your need of an air compressor, as Rich mentioned above it the gun. I bought my cabinet dirt cheap because it was “worn out”. Well , the cabinet was in nice shaped, the hole in the tip was huge. I guess the guy didn’t know you could replace the ceramic nozzle.
I guess what I’m saying if your compressor won’t run a large cabinet, it won’t run a smaller one properly either.

 

I destroyed a Small HF shop vac over time to suck the dust out. But never have a mess around the cabinet. Well, there’s a mess, but I digress.
I did come across a post on the HAMB that someone did some creative plumbing from the cabinet to a 5 gallon bucket with water and to the shop vacuum. All the residue settled in the bucket.
Wish I could find that thread, otherwise it’s about time for another HF shop vacuum.

 

I have had the best luck using a Kirby vacuum.

 

I have two Jeg's benchtop cabinets. One is for soda and the other for medium glass bead. They each have a 5 gallon cyclone and I use one vacuum. I move the hose back and forth between the cyclone buckets.

Soda doesn't work well as they come. No flow to the pick-up tube. I cut the top out of a gallon jug to make a big funnel. It fits under the perforated floor. A notch in the neck fits over the tube. I cut a piece of cardboard to fit the floor of the cabinet. I cut a hole in it over the funnel. As the soda piles up, I sweep it back to the funnel. You can keep working much better.
Glass bead works way better. The pick-up hole is off to one side. You end up moving material end to end to keep going. Mostly, I tilt the cabinet.
They each have their own regulator/water separator. I run the small nozzle and 75psi for soda and a medium nozzle at 90psi for glass. The soda won't etch the plexi lid. I don't even run a tear-off. Gloves will last forever. Glass eats the tear-offs up. One carb and you are looking through fog. The gloves are 7x bigger than I need. I waste a ton of time and effort fumbling. I've taken to wearing cloth gloves to fill up the mitts a little. I have a 5hp-60gal-150psi compressor. Between soda, glass and blow off, it will run 8-9 times to do one 2bbl. It is hard on your compressor. Soda makes a total mess. Some goes right through the vacuum. I have a router speed control on the vacuum. I found that you can have too much suction. Wastes media. I probably use about 75% on my rig (Home Depot "Bucket Head" vacuum, both glass and soda). Run the exhaust outside if you can. I still have to put a hole in my wall. It also blows out of the smallest leak in the cabinet. When you work on shoveling it around you will get covered and the dust goes everywhere too. It's part of it. At least it makes everything "fresh" Glass, while still a mess, is not near as bad. I can feel it on the floor around the cabinets. It gets around. They both get continuously finer. I have re-used the soda out of the cyclone bucket. You keep getting finer, and dustier. The stuff in the vacuum is finer than talc, you'll make a mess just throwing it out. Moisture is the enemy of soda. It won't flow at all. I keep a 2 pound bag of desiccant in the cabinet. I dry the bag in the oven often. With glass, not near as much gets sucked out of the cabinet. I add some fresh occasionally, keeps up the grit content. I have not looked in the cyclone bucket. The fine soda works great on carb bodies. It won't touch rust on steel at all. That's why I added glass. Glass has worked good for that. I have done ~150 carbs with the soda. I've used about 50#. I've done ~25 carbs with the glass and am about 1/2 way through 35#. The glass doesn't go away as fast, most of what I have used was to fill the cabinet. The Jeg's guns seem ok. The soda gun will last forever. I can see the glass working on the nozzle. It's not going to last forever.
It would suck to empty out the soda and switch to glass. The soda it a total mess to move around. Two cabinets is way better. Jeg's are only $117 these days (came way down between my first and second).
https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/81502/10002/-1
The cabinet, media and a spare gun made free freight. I did spend some money on plumbing and regulator/water separators. Blasting is so much better than the alternatives, I put up with it.
Mike

Edit: The Jegs cabinet is welded and mostly assembled. It only leaks around the lid.

 

I have the Tractor Supply version, it works ok but is hard to see into when blasting. The light should be thrown out as soon as you open the box. I have a bright white LED I use on the out side pointed into the box. As stated above, some sort of vacuum will be needed. I have a pipe welded to a flange on the side for my vacuum hose. It's not a tight fit, 1 1/4" pipe and 2 1/2" vacuum hose, this lets the vacuum keep it's volume up and not heat up the motor. I use glass beads till they quit working, then add more, the worn out beads make a nice finish on aluminum. Mine is not mounted to anything, I need to keep tilting it to keep the pickup tube in the beads. I also tape the lid shut with cheap masking tape to keep dust out of my face. By extra plastic lens covers, they get dirty pretty fast and replaced often.

 

So it sounds like I should put the cabinet outside to use it and it may take a few tries to master the technique of getting the media to recycle down the pickup tube.
Funny that the ones I've used in the past with glass bead I gave it no thought.

 

We do a lot of blasting at work and have found that I feel better if I wear a mask when blasting. If I forget, my lungs feel tight and I blow crap out of my nose afterward. This can't good for a person. On our new cabinet we bought the accessory vibrator that attaches to the underside of the bottom. It helps to move the media from sticking to the sides of the cabinet down to the pickup tube.

 

I have a hf top loader cab and it works fine....

 

I also have a Harbor Freight bench top. I was told the best thing to do was buy a tube of silicon and apply it to all the seams before using it the first time which I did. Still makes a mess so I always take it outside to use. I plan to buy a new gun and Cyclone see if that makes it work better. Seems like a safety glass top would be an improvement over the plexiglass.

 

I had one of the small tabletop HF blasters years ago. What I found was that it was very cramped inside when you get a part inside. The hose and gun didn't want to co-operate due to the cramped space. I sold it and got the next larger size. The blaster needs to be inside to help keep the media from absorbing moisture. I also have a very large cabinet that I got at an auction and refitted it, so I gave the HF unit to my son. I had modified the pickup tube per the Utube videos for making it work better. Simple modification but you need to watch several of those videos to get a good idea what mods you want to do. My son bought a Dust Deputy to use with it, and he says it works very well.

He has wheels on it and can move it out easily and quickly from his storeroom into his shop. Doesn't leave any mess to speak of and I don't think he has any real clogging problems. My opinion is don't get a real small one..............

 

A cheap cyclone set-up makes a world of difference on dust reaching the vacuum.

Never have found a problem with any of the cabinets I have built leaking during operation; a strong shop vac seems to provide enough airflow so the box doesn't overpressure with volume from the gun. My gloves usually inflate when I turn the vacuum on; tells me everything is tight and vacuum filter clean.

Still can have somewhat of a mess from loading and unloading stuff, changing media, emptying the cyclone and vacuum, etc.

Good lighting is important; I use a pair of halogen 90 watt flood lights set to swivel in both directions. I tried the LED version of the same bulb and found it didn't put out the same light.

Yellow one is the one I have now; material cut from aux engine cover, going to paint it one of these days. I made it top load due to lack of space for a side door. The greenish one I made for my father-in-law a while back; pieces cut from the sides of an old trash bin with a rusted bottom.

 

For a cyclone I got an old dead central vac unit from the dump, removed the motor and use the cyclone part. mounts on the wall, then plum up to my shop vac with pvc

 

I have a benchtop version, don't remember the brand. I also added 12V LED lights inside the cabinet and have it on top of a rolling cart that holds extra media. I added a water trap as well to keep the moisture out of the air and always sift the media to keep out any chunks or debris. It's not an industrial/professional grade blaster, so it's going to have its little issues, but I'd rather deal with those minor inconveniences than have to pick wire strands out of my clothes and skin. I roll it outside to do any blasting because it does leave a mess. I'd like to add a vacuum but it's not a necessity for me.

 

I have the H F table top blaster and like everyone else has said it is just ok. My neighbor threw away a worn out BBQ grill that I picked up and cut the top off . Put plywood where the burners were and set my little blaster on it. Has room for vacuum underneath and is portable to roll anywhere.

 

I find my HF floor model even too small. Always fighting the hoses to get a good position. Sealed it up as well even with tape around the glass and door. It does leak a slight amount and because my face is usually pressed up right against the glass, I tend to wear a mask as I don’t want any fine dust in my lungs. Replaced the crappy HF gloves with a set from Amazon which was a night and day difference. The light they supplied never worked, so use a halogen light which hangs down from above. Need to upgrade to a tube siphon and add a cyclone, but other than that it does the job.

 

This might be an option.
https://www.barrelblaster.com/

They were around $200 before last years inflation spike.....now they're a lot more.

 

Neat piece but $500 bucks by the time you add shipping, I wouldn't use it enough to warrant the cost.

 

HF has a good one.....=Stand up, for like a buck twenty. Many vid's on how to improve it= intake/exhaust, tip's and tricks to maximize......BUT, just like building that new garage..... Once it's done, youd'e wish you would've built the bigger one........

 

I bought one from tractor supply. $100. Didn't use it a lot, but it worked. Gave it to a buddy, he still uses it. I changed the window in the lid a couple of times

 

I ordered that Eastwood unit, thanks for the comments and insights.

 

I built one like the barrel blaster, no kit I made the hoper and window myself and parts from tp tools. All in I have about 250$ in it and use it a LOT more

i built one like the barrel baster, no kit. I made the hooper and window myself and parks from tp tools. All in about 250$ and I use it a LOT more thought I would.

 

X2 on Barrel Blaster. I didn't get the foot pedal when I first bought it but I upgraded to the foot pedal later and like it much better than the hand trigger.

 

Home Depot used to have a cyclone that fits on a plastic bucket. I have been using it for several years and it works very well hooked up with hose from cabinet and then hose to my shop vac. Have enough vacuum to keep blaster clear and very little floating around in shop. Use it with glass beads and black magic slag on heavier rust..

 

I've got a homebrew one that's about 70% done. I built it out of plywood.

I made it big, as in almost 30" deep and 48" wide. Got the main body built, most of the parts needed except the expanded metal for the floor and the large top loader door.

Metal and wood got expensive during the covid ordeal I just stopped right there. It's now one of my summer projects but first I've got to finish my welding cart which I'm down to about 85% done. I've only been on the cart about 6 weeks vs. yrs on the sand blaster.

Plan to have the cart done in the next 2 weeks, it's big enough to hold my 4 welders, 2 bottles and some accessories.

Wish me luck !

.

 

Regarding removing the dust from inside the cabinet, and creating a vacuum within it to keep dust and media from escaping:

I have a friend who is in the HVAC business, and whenever he scraps out a furnace with a draft blower on it he takes them off to throw in his "electric motor" pile. I grabbed one from the pile and mounted it to the outside of my blast cabinet, directly over the hole where the dust collector would connect. Then I run a shop vac hose from the draft blower output to the outside of the shop. The blower is wired to the light switch on the cabinet, so when I flip on the light the blower starts. The blowers have PVC impellers and deal quite well with the abrasive dust and media that go through it and out the hose. It worked so well I have since grabbed a couple more as spares, but after three years the original is still working fine.

 

Save your money and buy a good used stand up blast cabinet for about 500 bucks. They have good lighting and a blower motor to suck out the dust. Mine is a Hotsy brand.