Hi All. My local sand blasting man has retired; I regularly use his services for cleaning up rusty vices, old tools etc. I'm thinking of investing in a sand blasting cabinet to do it myself. Does anyone do this and if so any recommendations? I have been looking at the Machine Mart cabinet but am completely open. Many thanks in advance.
sand blasting
- Thread starter djellworth
- Start date
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You need a powerful compressor as well or you get no volume / power for blasting.
Depends what you’re blasting and how often. The small MachineMart cabinet can’t accept large items anyway so my 2.5hp compressor works fine with it.
Jester129
Established Member
Several cabinets of this type on Facebook Marketplace at the moment.
It all comes down to the capacity of the compressor, with larger sandblasting nozzles you need a large compressor and often if you are looking at blasting larger areas then unless you have a three phase supply don't bother. The other option is to look for a used hydrovane compressor.
You can use one of the small bench top ones but even they need a good air supply if you don't want to have to keep stopping to let the compressor catch up. Ok for occasional use on small things, really frustrating otherwise. The benchtop ones are also not generally very good at keeping the media flowing. With compressors you really need to look at the FAD number. The CFM figures quoted by the manufacturer are usually displacement, you won't get near that figure in practice. The FAD number gives a much better indication of what you will actually see. Even quite a small cabinet will need around 15 cfm FAD to run continuously.
Distinterior
Established Member
Please forgive my ignorance Fergie, I know what CFM is......but what is FAD....?
Edit.
I just looked it up on Google....Free Air Delivery......Every day is a school day!
I've been thinking about getting a media blasting cabinet and I have 3 different sized compressors, but I want to be certain that the larger of the three will produce enough CFM & FAD to cope with the demand.
Thanks, Tim.
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HOJ
Established Member
I have the MM blast cabinet, worked really well, but I can't/don't use it now because neither of my compressor's can keep up, In my old shop we shared a big 3 phase industrial one.
Sgian Dubh
Established Member
What about asking your retired local sand blasting bloke if he might sell you some of his kit, and if that's not on, ask what he recommends you buy, and even perhaps where and what might be a reasonable price either new or second hand? After all, he should have a bit of expertise and experience in that field. Slainte.
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I’m not suggesting that this will suit everyone, but the manual for the small MM cabinet says you need a minimum of 10 CFM of free air flow. I’ve been using a compressor with 3.5 CFM on mine for blasting fairly small items and it works fine.
The MM unit is not the best designed cabinet I’ve seen so expect to do some tinkering with it even with a 10+ CFM FAD supply.
The MM unit is not the best designed cabinet I’ve seen so expect to do some tinkering with it even with a 10+ CFM FAD supply.
I have one of the bench top ones, bought when I only had a small compressor.
I found the biggest problem was that it didn't pick up the media well.
They tend to have a V shape trough as the cabinet floor. The pick up tube sits in that but is just an open ended tube. So the end of the tube sucks up the media but then creates a space around the end. The answer I found was to remove the pick up tube and drill holes all along it's length on the underside. Works much better.
Also important to make sure the tube points in the right direction. If you are right handed you will generally be holding the gun in your right hand, and the media will be being blasted out towards the left hand end of the cabinet, and in one of these little cabinets it will build up at that end.
Makes sense to make sure the pick up tube end is on the left, so it gets a good supply of media.
The bigger cabinets usually have a floor like a funnel with the pick up tube in the middle, so you don't get this problem. And if you haven't already got one you do really want a water filter to remove any moisture from the air coming from the compressor.
I still use the benchtop one regularly for little jobs with very fine media. It CAN be run off a little portable compressor, I have one of the Lidl ones, but you have to stop very frequently to let it catch up. On the other hand if you use it with a big compressor the cabinet quickly fills with dust so you can't see what you are doing. Mine has a port so you can use a shop vac to keep the dust under control.
Even the benchtop ones are a good bit of kit to have, in spite of their drawbacks. Big ones are much better, if you have the room and a big compressor.
I found the biggest problem was that it didn't pick up the media well.
They tend to have a V shape trough as the cabinet floor. The pick up tube sits in that but is just an open ended tube. So the end of the tube sucks up the media but then creates a space around the end. The answer I found was to remove the pick up tube and drill holes all along it's length on the underside. Works much better.
Also important to make sure the tube points in the right direction. If you are right handed you will generally be holding the gun in your right hand, and the media will be being blasted out towards the left hand end of the cabinet, and in one of these little cabinets it will build up at that end.
Makes sense to make sure the pick up tube end is on the left, so it gets a good supply of media.
The bigger cabinets usually have a floor like a funnel with the pick up tube in the middle, so you don't get this problem. And if you haven't already got one you do really want a water filter to remove any moisture from the air coming from the compressor.
I still use the benchtop one regularly for little jobs with very fine media. It CAN be run off a little portable compressor, I have one of the Lidl ones, but you have to stop very frequently to let it catch up. On the other hand if you use it with a big compressor the cabinet quickly fills with dust so you can't see what you are doing. Mine has a port so you can use a shop vac to keep the dust under control.
Even the benchtop ones are a good bit of kit to have, in spite of their drawbacks. Big ones are much better, if you have the room and a big compressor.
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Thanks all so far. Very useful indeed.
My Clarke cabinet had a strange suction pipe. It was a metal tube crimped inside a larger tube that didn’t seem to serve any purpose. The hole was only connected to the inner tube that was about 50mm longer. I read some time ago that the suction tube needs an air bleed to work well. What I did was to fit a new larger suction hose that fitted over the outer tube as well. I then drilled two small air holes into the top of the outer tube. I also cut the suction end of both tubes at 45° as suggested by another manufacturer. Media feed is very much better now.
On the big ones they have the pick up tube within a large tube. I think the idea is to ensure that the media doesn't get compacted around the pick up. Probably a variation on the same idea. Mine just had a bit of pipe fitted in clips in the trough at the bottom of the cabinet. Pretty sure mine is a Sealey, have to check.
Mike Fletcher
Established Member
I have the MM bench cabinet. Good for small parts, not so good for anything big. The biggest problem I have is moisture. As soon as the blasting media gets damp I end up constantly moving the feed tube around trying to find some drier media. The damp media is too difficult to suck off the cabinet floor. When I get really p... off with it I place a heat lamp in the cabinet for an hour or so. This works, for a while. My compressor struggles to keep up as I'm sure most home setups will. Just need to be patient. Again, good for small stuff. Any larger pieces are too frustrating to deal with.
Have you got a moisture filter in the airline, surprising how much water you can get in the air from the compressor. Also very important to regularly drain the tank.
Mike Fletcher
Established Member
Yes, I have an in line filter. I think the problem is condensation after a long period of inactivity.
If your workshop is a bit damp then maybe a big bag of silica gel in the cabinet might help. Or just put the media in a suitable tray and stick it in the oven. My better half takes our elderly neighbour shopping every Friday morning, ideal.opportunity for me to use the oven for various non cooking purposes 
graduate_owner
Established Member
There is another issue with compressors, and that is duty cycle. My Wolf Dakota (Chaiwanese I think, from UKHS) is 3HP,150 litre but the instructions say maximum of 12 starts per hour, so this might be a problem with continuous use.
K
K
