Home use Sand Blasting cabinet--recommendations

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 12:52 am

Thinking of purchasing a Sand Blasting Cabinet for home use as my dealership option has gone away with a job change.

Can I get recommendations please?

Brand of Cabinet

Size/model number

What size compressor do I need?

What brand of compressor and model / size.

Want a GOOD set up but don't need a $1,500 SnapOn set up Smile

.

Any input appreciated.

Thank you

Hawk Joined: Dec 03, 2016 Posts: 368 Location: New Zealand

Mine's all Harbor Freight. Love it. Compressor is this guy; https://www.harborfreight.com/5-hp-60-gallon-165-psi-two-stage-air-compressor-93274.html

I built a sound cabinet of four inches of solid drywall (same as the door) with in and out fans for cooling. Helps maintain neighborly relations as this thing is loud. I cooked the motor by accident and replaced it with a cheap HF 3hp motor and runs just as good.

Cabinet is HF - just make sure you use a ton of sealant when assembling it. I have their extractor also. And the soda blasting kit - I also buy my soda there. As you can tell - I love Harbor Freight! Buy everything on separate days and use the 20% (or 25%) coupons. I don't use their fittings though as they are crap - leak really bad. Milton work really nice and I bought all my brass fittings from supplyhouse.com.

I bought 1/2 and 3/4 inch copper tube from Home Depot, bought all the copper fittings and soldered it all together. About 60 feet until it hits my filters. I run air grinders for hours and never once got water in my air tools.

If you need any more info just ask.

Cheers.

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 2:01 am

Ricardo - Michael's advice is very good. If you don't need to blast really large parts, that HF cabinet will do the trick. There's a good gun/pickup tube upgrade available from TP Tools that makes it work even better. CFM is the key to a good blasting setup. 10-11 CFM minimum else your compressor is going to run constantly. A larger tank will help too. The HF 2 stage compressor that he has will be great for your blasting needs and will come in handy with various air tools as well.

I have a different setup altogether, due to the amount of blasting I do, as well as the size of the parts that have to fit in the cabinet. Rather than use copper or cast iron for air lines, I recommend RapidAire lines. It's very easy to work with, cut and bend, and the fittings are all compression with no soldering needed. There are kits on eBay and Amazon that come with a good length of line along with numerous fittings.

Once you have a blasting setup, you'll wonder how you ever got along without one.

Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:12 pm

Be careful and spend good money on saftey equipment to prevent silicosis. You have to cover up all of your skin, eyes, ears, in addition to having a respirator. Your clothes need bagged afterward and you need to shower immediately afterwards. Its scary stuff.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicosis
I just take my parts to a place in town and let them deal with it.
If your just removing paint and grime, soda blasting is safe. Set it up in a tub and get one of those siphon guns. Mix in some water and have at it.