HF blasting cabinet

[chuck hahn]

Si basically whats happening is the black stuff is so course and heavy it wont suck up the tube...right??? How is glass bead sizes graded??? Bigger the number the bigger the size of the beads???

[WolfworksCustoms]

I think glass beads are rated/scaled like shotgun shot pretty much....so the more "O"s, the smaller they are....could be wrong though....the one thing about glass beads, is that they are slippery....so tend to flow better.....and since you have a cabinet, you can reuse, right ?....might be worth a try....but they aint cheap....I wanted to blast a 1962 Harley tank, went to get the beads, and it was like $30 for like a gallon container....I pay $7 for a 40 lb bag of the Black Diamond....

[WolfworksCustoms]

Just found this....this guy did the same as i did and bored out the orifices.....mebbe you can do similar to your setup ?....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eUeB6uwvNs

[chuck hahn]

Mines a 40 LB rated cabinet with the sump that the media fall back down into and is resucked up the feed tube. Not any orifices to be drilled out that i know of like theses gravity fed units.

[chuck hahn]

This one. Gave the guy 40 bucks form it and its like new.

http://www.harborfreight.com/abrasive-blast-cabinet-68893.html

[jsandidge]

I dont know what it is but equal amounts in the hands and the black stuff is noticably heavier than the walnut shell.

That is definitely coal slag. HF sells it as Black Diamond. It cuts really well (if you can get it to blow through your gun). It's pretty cheap at $10 for a 50lb bag. I use it all the time. I don't have a cabinet though. I just suck it up out of a 5 gallon bucket and let it fall to the ground. Doesn't kill the grass like soda does.

[nejeff]

I have the HF cabinet too and use the cheap stuff from the farm store, it's called black something or other, might be diamond, I'll have to look. 5 HP compressor and 20 gallon tank. If you take out the screen in there (assuming your not needing it to support what your blasting) and put a long kitchen slotted spoon in the cabinet you can give a stir periodically. Sometimes the media doesn't want to fall all the way back down to the intake hose and a quick stir without having to open up the cabinet door saves time. I always have good results

[chuck hahn]

So I am leaning at running over to HF and grabbing 25 LB sack of this...opinions??? Not so sure of the "ground glass" media.

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-glass-bead-80-grit-abrasive-media-61875.html

[WolfworksCustoms]

The glass flows better, but costs a lot more....all depends on yer budget.....Ive used playsand (silica) and its VERY dangerous to your lungs (I have emphysema btw), well, IMO, if yer gonna use glass beads, even in a cabinet, make sure you have proper respiratory protection. That goes for ALL media btw....even though I dont use it using the Black Diamond....if yer a younger guy, please wear a proper respirator....dont matter with me anymore, I'm gonna be dead in 5-10 yrs anyway....

[chuck hahn]

Theres a fitting for hooking a shop vac to which suctions all the dust up and the vac filters the air obviously so thats a good feature. I always wear a dust mask at a minimum if grinding and stuff thats thrown debris around.

[nejeff]

So I am leaning at running over to HF and grabbing 25 LB sack of this...opinions??? Not so sure of the "ground glass" media.

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-...dia-61875.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/50-lb-black-aluminum-oxide-70-grit-abrasive-media-61870.html

Get the black stuff and call it good. The glass stuff from HF, at least in my experience, breaks down to quick

[Fjbj40]

If you are going to be painting the stuff after then glass bead is not that good as it leaves a smooth surface, nothing for the paint to bite into to, especially on aluminum.

Bead is fine for paint, corrosion removal on aluminum but then you need to follow with an abrasive which will ensure adhesion. I always follow with 80-120 grit aluminum oxide at about 60-80 psi, leaves a great surface for paint adhesion.

Glass grit is also a good cleaner, more aggressive than beads but will not leave as smooth a surface and is usually way cheaper. The coal slag, I used it once, is pretty aggressive for aluminum IMOP.

I have a 90 gallon compressor with a pretty good CFM delivery rate, I think your small compressor is gonna be worked pretty hard to feed the cabinet for an extended blasting time, small quick parts no problem, but cylinders or cases are gonna be hard on it. You will be working it so hard it will get very hot and you will end up with lots of moisture unless you have a really good separator/dryer.

[JJ]

This one. Gave the guy 40 bucks form it and its like new.

Maybe the lousy performance is why he sold it so cheaply.

[Nessism]

Maybe the lousy performance is why he sold it so cheaply.

I doubt it. Lots of guys using those blast cabinets with good results. Chuck got a major deal for $40. Now he just needs to get some normal sized media and get busy. Coarse grade coal slag is not normally used in a blast cabinet anyway.

[chuck hahn]

40 bucks for a 180 normal store priced unit was a no brainer for sure. Im thinking it didnt work for him like this black stuff isnt working for me so he sold it. I will get the fine glass beads maybe next week and see what they do. Sucks the w2alnut shells up like noones business but they basically just bounce off and are doing nothing. Just not hard enough im guessing.