[daven1256]

I am taking my first shot at glass bead blasting and running into some issues. Poor visibility inside the cabinet, dust escaping everywhere, and trouble getting a vacuum cleaner to help with the visibility.

My blast cabinet is a small table top model that loads from the top.

The cabinet instructions say it has a dust port. There is a hole in the right side of the cabinet ( no attachment for a vacuum cleaner though) with a cone shaped paper filter on the inside of it. Then there is a foam filter over the paper filter. I am assuming this is the dust port. I rigged a vacuum cleaner connection over the outside of this hole. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to do.

There is also a vent hole on the back of the cabinet with a dense, what appears to be, cloth or cotton filter.

When the lid is closed and I turn the vacuum cleaner on, gloves get sucked in and stand straight out like an inflated balloon. When you put your hands in them, they are too stiff to be useable. If you take the filter out from the vent hole on the back of the cabinet, it lets air in and you can use the gloves but they are still stiffer than if the vacuum wasn't running.

When the vacuum cleaner runs, there is no difference in the visiblity inside the cabinet..... It also seems like when the gun it is working, it is pressurizing the inside of the cabinet and can feel the air blowing through the seals of the door.

There is glass bead dust all around the area of the cabinet. Top, front, sides, and back. Is this normal? I know some gets out. I checked the cabinet to see if all the joints were sealed and they seemed to be. I put masking tape on the outside of all the joints and it actually seemed worse afterwards.

Did I set this up the right and what do I need to change to improve the visibility, keep the dust from escaping, and stop the gloves from blowing up?

Thanks,
Dave
　
　

[Garfields Maro]

heh, sounds/ looks like the same cheapo HF cabinet I have ! Yep, visibility is the main complaint. I cut (hole saw) another hole and added a fitting for the vac. Works great for removing the dust storm. Yeah gloves are a little stiff, but not really a problem for me. May just need to break them in a bit. Also, I moved the light to the opppsite wall, above the gloves. No more annoying glare. So now it's just a matter of keeping the plexiglass lid clean. I've had it for 5 yrs or so. Ran my buffer on the lid once to clear it up again.

Ya get what ya pay for I guess. Not any more than I use it, I'm happy with it. Sure is handy for small parts.

[prostreet69camaro]

I have a scatblast cabinet. I added a 2nd light to mine. Mine has the oultet to hook up a vacuum cleaner so that would help alot. My gloves do the same thing as yours. I have no problem using mine. They also sell sheets of thin plastic to protect the glass and when they get hazy you just replace them. Protects the glass from being sand blasted. I use aluminum A/C duct tape around the edge of the glass. You might try that on the outside of your cabinets to seal the leaks. It works better than masking tape or duct tape.

They have parts for cabinets here.
http://www.tptools.com/Default.aspx

[Everett#2390]

JMT's, the gloves are hard because they have to protect from the blast media, therefore, made thick. The life of the gloves is determinate until a hole is 'blasted' in them.
The cabinet air inside is controlled by the blast gun/compressor and the vacuum has to overcome the additional provided air. If the vacuum is not 'big' enough to suck out the cabinet, then yes, the cabinet will become pressurized when usung the gun, the compressor is supplying more air than the vacuum can pull.

The vent on the rear panel may be a one-way valve, air in only, no dust out.
Can you put the blast cabinet on a roll around stand and set it up outside when needed?

[69-er]

I have the same cabinet. I gutted the small cone shaped filter to let the larger vacuum cleaner filter do the work. I have to clean it quite often to keep the flow up.

[daven1256]

It's funny you mention about gutting the cone shaped filter. I was in Harbor Freight today and looking at the vacuum ports on the blast cabinets on the floor in there. Neither of them had any kind of filter at the vacuum port. Just an open hole. After seeing that, I was going to remove the filter anyhow.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I am going to implement them and see how I do.

Dave

[mrkid]

I have the large unit from HF, and had the saem issues as you. I was told that to make the cabinet perfect you need to do a few things.

First, disassemble the cabinet. While reassembling, used silicone caulk to seal EVERY crack, crevis, and seam. This will keep the dust from pouring out of it.

Second, replace the gun. Upgrade to the pick up tube and gun kit from USA Cabinet. Not sure if it fits the table top unit, but it makes a HUGE improvement over the original, and you can find replacement tips much easier.

Finally, I had an issue with the vacuum filter I was usinf. The blast media was clogging up almost immediatley. I would recommend a dust collection system, or a bagless vacuum. Not sure how long the vac would last though.

[Andrew69]

This is probably the gun kit that you referred to http://www.tptools.com/p/2320,22_USA...grade-Kit.html

[mrkid]

Originally Posted by Andrew69

This is probably the gun kit that you referred to http://www.tptools.com/p/2320,22_USA...grade-Kit.html

Yes, that's it. I wasn't sure if links were allowed or not