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by **TheHOODLUM** on Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:37 pm

Harbor Freight Tools sells a blasting cabinet in the $200.00 range. But you need a compressor, and a vacuum to get the dust our of the cabinet so you can see what you are doing. I wish I could get one but I have no place to set one up.

by **mcha9797** on Thu Jun 20, 2013 11:49 pm

Wow, $200 sounds reasonable, but a place to stash it when not in use could be a problem.

by **khardy** on Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:16 am

Hi Guys,

We bought our last cabinet at Harbor Freight for about $180. It is Chinese made but versus $1100 for a domestic bigger box, this does us fine. We buy the near correct plastic film glass covers at Northern Tools along with extra tips for the gun. The plastic film covers have a self-adhesive seam on them to adhere to the inside glass but I also run blue masking tape along the edges to help keep sand out from between the plastic and glass. Without the plastic film, the glass will get pitted and you will not be able to see anything in the cabinet. I have replaced the gloves with thicker gloves in the cabinet since the originals tore after about ten uses.

Recently, we replaced the gun in the cabinet due to extreme wear. We blast a lot of items in a year. For an el-cheapo box and even with replacing parts, it is worth it to us. We don't have stop whatever we are doing to gather everything we want to blast and take to someone else. We can blast items at our convenience.

We already have an 80 gallon two stage compressor that we use for various air tools. So the compressor is not an issue for us. Since we built the outhouse for the compressor, there is enough room for placing the blast box in when not in use.

Whenever I use the blast box, I use eye and respiratory protection since the box does have some leak-by of fine dust. This last box I installed an explosion-proof light fixture on the inside to illuminate the interior. Since the barn is overwhelmed with tools and equipment, I am not able to perform many jobs inside. The blast box when in use is on a small wheeled cart which I will use outside. Since I do use it outdoors in an open environment, I do not use a vacuum system. Have found the shop vac filter clogs very quickly. Besides, there are air intake and suction ports on the box and with little air circulation I am able to see the item I am blasting without any problem.

As to using beach sand for a blaster..... first the sand has to be shifted and then dried before use. If your sand is anything like that of Panama City Beach where I lived for 26 years, it would be very fine sand. A 50lb bag of 60 grit at the home improvement stores is about five bucks. Easier to buy the sack instead of filtering sand.

Just my thoughts...

Cheers!

by **BigTbird1974** on Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:59 am

mcha9797 wrote:Wow, $200 sounds reasonable, but a place to stash it when not in use could be a problem.

ARRRRGHHH!! You'se guys are killing me!!!

Half a dozen yrs ago, probably, somebody gave one of my co-workers one of those Harbor Freight outfits. Long before I stumbled into this ~~addiction~~ hobby, so I didn't actually have any particular use for/interest in it at the time.

Nor did anybody else, it turns out. It sat around for a year or so, getting shoved from place to place every so often (damn thing was heavy!) but I don't believe anybody ever actually tried to use it for anything.

And then one day I noticed it, upside down, piled amongst all the other trash in the dumpster on its way to the curb...

:rob:

by **mcha9797** on Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:20 am

I thought the media, glass bead etc. would be a bit expensive.

I guess not. :Phil:

by **vaughn** on Fri Jun 21, 2013 2:26 pm

I don't think that's a dumb question. Could you use the sand from your back yard as Media? Maybe Glass Media is better for blasting a light but let's say your blasting an old header or something. I'm thinking you could shovel some nice sand on a tarp for a day or 2 just to get it dried out then use it for media, right? Or does it need to be really fine sand :scratch:

by **mcha9797** on Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:23 pm

Ok, I stopped by Home Depot to pick up a bag of media/sand to try in my new blaster gun. All I found was bagged sand for concrete use, and nothing designated to be used for sand blasting. I also called Lowe's and they said that they don't have anything to be used for that purpose either.

I thought someone on the forums said that blasting media is available at the home centers. :scratch:

Where do you buy blasting media??

Thanks, :hello:

by **jab8356** on Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:33 pm

Try Harbor Freight.

by **Old-Timer** on Sun Jun 23, 2013 4:07 pm

Bought my glass bead at Harbor Freight.

by **mcha9797** on Sun Jun 23, 2013 5:31 pm

Just checked, I have a Harbor Freight about 20 miles south of me. I guess I could check out the $200 blasting cabinet while I'm there.

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