HF blasting cabinet

[SVSooke]

I have used crushed glass in my gravity feed handheld Princess Auto (the same one HF sells) for a few frames.Works great IMHO.Tried walnut shells on some aluminium pieces and yeah they don't do much.

[Phred]

A safety note here for those using ground glass as a blasting material. I read somewhere last year about workers in Portugal or Spain that were sandblasting jeans to give them the faded look. They were not using proper air respirators and the minute fine particles of crushed glass were causing irreversible lung damage. I forget the name of the disease but it does not take long to develop when working with crushed glass.

[SVSooke]

A safety note here for those using ground glass as a blasting material. I read somewhere last year about workers in Portugal or Spain that were sandblasting jeans to give them the faded look. They were not using proper air respirators and the minute fine particles of crushed glass were causing irreversible lung damage. I forget the name of the disease but it does not take long to develop when working with crushed glass.

Mesothelioma?Sounds like a good thing to avoid,wearing my proper respirator from now on.Thanks for the warning!

[WolfworksCustoms]

Take it from a man who has multiple repiratory issues....my lungs are so bad right now, that I cant even use a canister type respirator (cant inhale enough)....protect yourselves as much as possible. If yer just fonna use a dist mask, get the GOOD ones....pay the extra few bucks or you'll end up like me....in the 70s I breathed in asbestos dust (cutting Transite pipe with a demo saw)....after that, went to fine carpentry workin with exotic woods....mahogany, ebony, black walnut dust will clog yer lungs fast.....you young guys....I know its a hassle, ya wanna get yer stuff done and on the road....but spend the few extra bucks for lung protection....a full face canister mask is the best, but costs....but seriously....you dont wanna end up like me.....

The coal slag media has always worked best for me...various grades available and sometimes to go heavier you just need to mod/swap a nozzle/feed....its safer than the silica based, and is cheap....it might take a lil longer, but its worth the time....soda blasting is always an option, but requires specialized equipment....IMO not worth it as long as you use the coal slag gingerly....

Main thing, is to be safe.....too late for me, but if yer in yer 40s or younger, protect yerselves....please...

[chuck hahn]

I turn on the shop vac and no dust escapes the cabinet. Its filtered as the shop vac exhausts coupled with a mask i think its a good bet the air is safe.

[WolfworksCustoms]

NEVER SNEAK UP ON A SLEEPING DOG..NOT EVEN YOUR OWN

Hay Chuck....I might steal that for a sigline, lol......except Id change "dog" to "wolf".....

[Nessism]

I tried a shop vac on my blast cabinet one time and it sucked away a LOT of media. I think you need a proper baffling system to get the dust but leave the media in the cabinet.

[chuck hahn]

Shove a pod into the fitting for the hose from the inside of the cabinet. Stops that from happening.

[metalfab]

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.

That black stuff is the slag, it works great when you get it feeding. I have used a lot of the HF sandblasters, no complaints. Best cabinets for the buck. Sand blasters do like a lot of air volume and pressure. It makes them feed better and work faster. Sounds like you got a deal $40. Keep the gun as close to the grate in the bottom as you can when blasting. Also if you put a shorter and slightly larger feed hose it can help. Most hardware stores sell the stiff clear flexible vinyl hose cheap.

[mikerophone]

Mesothelioma?Sounds like a good thing to avoid,wearing my proper respirator from now on.Thanks for the warning!

Yes, thanks for the warning, I blasted a whole bunch of parts last year in this same cabinet with the glass beads and the fine dust eventually made its way out of the cabinet (and the glass gave the piece film glass sticker cover a matte finish!) I'm now using the shop vac and it helps quite a bit.

I put some LED's and mine, but I would like to also use a larger hose and perhaps a little shorter peice too so it doesn't get stuck as often. I've been tempted many times to use screened play sand and just pony up for a really good respirator though.

Lots of of good info here, thanks all!

[JJ]

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.

I didn't mean he got a bad deal, or that it wasn't a good cabinet. It looks to me like he got a killer deal. I meant that the guy probably sold it because he was tired of dealing with the same issues that Chuck is having now. Once Chuck gets it all sorted out, he should get a lot of use out of it.

A good respirator (not just a dust mask) and eye protection is a MUST!