I'm what some people would call "cheap". That being said, I really dont wanna spend $200+ on a metal cabinet to do my sand blasting in, considering the blaster itself is bought separate. Has anyone made their own cabinet? The construction of it seems pretty elementary, but I was wondering if making it out of MDF would suffice? Im not a welder, so I was trying to steer clear of making a metal case. I figured $40 for some 3/4" MDF, maybe another $15 in plexiglass and hinges, and $20 in odds and ends, alot cheaper than the store bought ones, though maybe not as pleasing to the eye... What cha think?

EDIT: I did find another way of putting it together, and alot easier too!! Although I dont see the point of the 2" hole for a shop vac, if its already got a drain on the bottom...?

sand blasting sink

 

wouldnt last very long as the sand will eat away at the mdf. the hole for the shop vac is for dust control.

 

Yeah MDF wouldn't be a great choice. It would defeat one of the great positives of a sandblasting cabinet (recycling the abrasive) because the MDF would be removed and mixed with the abrasive. You can do metal without welding. However, by the time you buy all that steel and invest all your time, you really wont save a whole lot of money. The factory purchases materials at a very low industrial grade price, while you would have to pay the store price (I'm assuming this about you). The only real positive to making your own, is you can tailor it to your needs.

 

Wow! I really like it. I made one out of a clear plastic container made for holding bread. I dont have a fancy bead blaster or anything just a gravity feed unit I bought off of JCwhitney. I cut the holes for the gloves and one for the lines and it worked pretty good. The container was about 40"x20"x20 I dont know how sturdy it was because I only used it a few times to blast my brackets and pulleys.

 

I've built one out of MDF. I've only used it with walnut shell so far though, and that hasn't abraded the MDF any. You could probably cover the inside in plastic sheet if you're worried about it. I like that sink idea though.

 

I havent blasted anything before, ya think the sink idea would hold up? That seems to be some pretty decent plastic, so I would imagine that it wouldnt come apart as easily as the MDF boards

 

I think the sink would hold up fine and long as you're not purposely blasting the walls. The media loses inertia pretty quickly and anything bouncing off the part you're blasting is going to be pretty harmless to the plastic. I don't know what you're planning to blast, but take into account what you can fit comfortably in there; the one pictured looks kind of cramped.

 

The one thing that I didnt thkn of is the foot pedal. Im guessing that it's on on/off switch as well as a sort of pressure regulator? Those damn things are goin for $100 on eBay, I guess this isnt gonna be a cheap build afterall!

 

You can build one CHEAP from an air nozzle. The threaded tip is removedand is plumbed up to the pistol in the cabinet. Mount it to the base and make a sheet metal cover to actuate it. That is how they made the foot valve on my MBA sand blast cabinet.

If you're not up to fabbing one, I've used the 9781K12 (currently $52.22) from McMaster-Carr for several years to power an air-operated cylinder on a piece of my manufacturing equipment.

http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?pagenum=942



Lon

 

I thought about making one, but then came across a kit on ebay for $100. I couldn't build one for that price. It's a full-size cabinet and came with everything but the media. Sure it may leak a little, but it's paid for itself a few times over already.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45411

 

I've seen many MDF cabinets, it's pretty common. At my high school and I think at university that's what was there. Unless you hold the gun against the wall 2" away it's never gonna wear away the MDF. 1' distance of ricocheting sand? Not gonna do a damn thing. 3/4" is super overkill, 3/8" should be fine, this doesn't need to have a lot of strength. I'd use 2x4's for the frame then MDF or plywood (cheaper) to build the enclosure. Seal it with silicone.

1/8" plexi for the window, and a holesaw to cut the holes for the gloves and gun.

Now you just need an air compressor with enough moxy to keep up. $$$.

 

I made this one..works great.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=143854

I made the window bigger, and welded in some 6" round sheetmetal inserts that the gloves hose-clamp onto. I also used a syphon style blaster with the pickup tube taped to the bottom of the barrel. The sand holds it in place.

 

Im diggin that setup alot better than my original idea! I got plenty of 55 gal drums, but none with the removable top. I might have to work something out with it though.

Whats the main performance difference between siphon style blasters and presurized? Syphon seems to he a hell of alot cheaper than the pressurized, but I guess I assumed that they both did the same job and there wasnt any main difference between the two

 

Usually the pressurized ones are for larger blasting..
The syphon one works fine for the cabinet. Get some extra tips when you buy your gun. They wear out.

I cut a door in the top of my barrel and welded on a piano hinge and some backing strips to keep the sand from blowing out the cuts. You could use sheetmetal screws instead of the welding.

 

do you have a picture of your setup? If I can get away with using a standard "welded top" drum, Ill do it because we got 30+ sitting outside the shop at any given time

 

Yes, The plexi gets forked after awhile of blasting. Try using metal window screening about 1/4" away from the plexi to keep it lasting longer. I made one from plywood awhile back and it seemed to hold up pretty good. I really like the sink idea though. It would drain into the supply bucket betterf or the siphon fed guns.

 

I still have the sink, but I went ahead and picked up a 55 gal drum this weekend, brand spanking new only $10. The drum seems like I would be able to work around parts alot easier, but Im not sure what type of blaster I want to get. If it's syphon, Im gonna have to figure out a way to gat the sand to drain from the barrel on the bottom

6speedIROC: do you have a pic of your drain pipe that goes into your syphon blaster? Curious about the drum being flat on the inside, how well does the sand fall down the drain? or do you have so push it in while you work?

 

Spills, I don't have a picture, but can get one.
Mine looks almost exactly like the one in the link I posted above. I have the drum horizontal, so the bottom is curved. I just taped the syphon hose down in one of the 2 'grooves' in the barrel. The sand on top keeps it there.

Everything is in the barrel, the sand never gets out of there. It doesn't drain out. I also used real glass for the window, plastic would pit up waay to fast...

 

Were you ever able to get a pic of your setup? I was able to cut out the window as well as make the wood frame for the glass. I might just screw the plexiglass on top of the frame instead of cutting a slot for it, seems to be an easier solution.

Another question for ya, what did you use to connect the gloves to? I thought about some kind of PVC coupler with a flat mounting surface that goes to a 4" coupler, but then I thought about the drum being ROUND! How did you get past this?

 

When I was 16, I helped my buddy sandblast his Farmall. We went down to taylor rental and got a big 6ft tall sandblasting tank, with the funnel on top. He also rented a huge diesel powered air compressor with like 2" air lines. The thing was a trailer that hitched up to his truck.

We parked the tractor on a big plastic tarp, and parked the air compressor on the other side of the yard and ran the air lines. Poured in a couple bags of the sand, and started blasting away.

The only problem was that the neighbors started coughing when the big yellow cloud drifted over their house!

 

yea! I finally finished my 55gal drum blast cabinet! Let me know what cha think!!

 

more

 

last one

All I need to do is build a stand, and get some sort of grille to put inside to lay parts on. All this cost me less than $40 including $10 for the drum!!!

Note: If you build this, dont just rivet the gloves on. I used 4 rivets and 4 sheet metal screws to just make sure everything would function properly, but it feels like the gloves want to pop out sometimes. Im gonna go back and take out all that and put in some 1/4" bolts to really mount them in there secure. FEEDBACK PLEASE!! I was very pleased with how this turned out, and hoping some others on here will build some like this

 

That looks almost the exact same as mine. I don't have pictures as it is at a buddies house that is working nights.

Seal everything with silicon. Don't bother with a grate, you'll just have less room in there and you won't be able to move the sand around when it accumulates in the corners.

Get blasting..

 

just ordered my Maxus 10 gal blaster yesterday, once that gets here I should be in business. Im thinkin about makin some sort of quick disconnect so I have a decicated hose and gun on the inside, that way I can just disconnect 1 line and move the barrel outside when I dont need it. That thing does take up some space!