Do you have a media/sand/bead blast cabinet? Give me the benefit of your experience..

chainring

chainring

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For you guys that have a media/sand/bead blast cabinet - what brand, size, blasting media, gun setups, etc. do you recommend based on your experience?

My purpose is to achieve grippy textured micarta and G10 handles, similar to what one would see on a Voxnaes custom, Kiku knives, etc. and achieving a matte finish for blades/firearm parts.

Not sure how much machine I need to buy, what media is best for that application, which brands or setups are desirable, etc. I remember my Dad owning a sand-blaster briefly when I was a kid, but the sand would clod up from moisture and it was apparently more trouble than it was worth. I want to make sure I buy the right equipment the first time.

Thanks for sharing your expertise.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-JJA1fJ47g

Here he shows one with moulded one piece plastic, so the grit doesn't leak out all the seams, make sense


glass bead blast and blued firearms finish are really nice.

You're going to change the grit between different finishes, would be nice to have a different machine for each grit so you don't contaminate the fine finish with the coarse




Moisture control and bigger compressor will be issues to look at too
 
12345678910 said:
You're going to change the grit between different finishes, would be nice to have a different machine for each grit so you don't contaminate the fine finish with the coarse
Click to expand...

This! I have the large steel cabinet sold by Harbor Freight. I actually bought it off Craigslist for $25 and went to work refitting it to work the way I needed. After about 5 hours of my time and probably another $200, I have a really useful cabinet that I filled with silicon carbide because that was what I needed at the time. Now, I usually need something less aggressive and cleaning out the cabinet is not something I really want to do. A smarter move for me would have been a couple smaller plastic cabinets with different types of media. I will probably pick up one of the ones Gavko has.

Bob
 
I had to clean up some pintle trailer hitch parts for work one day and I went to a friend's shop and used his blasting cabinet. It was made here in Texas and worked great. I think it would be great for a knife shop. It was called The Barrel Blaster. http://www.barrelblaster.com check it out. Well built and good price.
 
If you buy a cheap one, before you use it, coat EVERY joint and crack inside with silicone rubber caulk. They leak like a sieve.
I have a cheap Tractor Supply cabinet ($100) and a 6 gal. 150 PSI compressor from Harbor freight (around $100.) It's adequate for the occasional pistol slide or knife blade that needs glass beading. If you are going to really use the cabinet for heavy duty work, you need a big air compressor that puts out around 5 PSI at 100 lbs. pressure.
Using a shop vac hooked to the cabinet helps quite a bit, too.
 
Like Bill said....if you get a cheap one seal every single seam on the outside or it cause a dust storm.

I have a HF cabinet and sealed all the seams. I only use 80 grit glass bead and it give a nice satin texture to metal and is aggressive enough to remove powder coat.

If anyone has a HF set up and your pick up sucks let me know and I can help you with that :)
 
Get a small shop vac for it. Find a way to replace the filter with the vac. Duct tape works well for this. The dust gets sucked up and the sand drops back into the cabinet. It's also much easier to see what's going on this way.
 
Ok, AVigil, I will bite.
What is your trick?
I am mostly happy with it. I did get it free with my drill press (used) so the price was nice, but I am always looking for ways to improve my tools and make them work better. I can imagine it could suck better, if you get my play of words...

Anyone tried glass beads? I currently use SC, but am thinking about trying glass beads, as a machinist friend recommended them.
Thanks
 
The pick up tube it comes with is a POS, it will get clogged and the media will flow poorly.

There are not really any remedies for it online other then buying a new pick up tube and they are not cheap.

What I did it take a piece of airhose (not the curly kind) Zip tie it along side the original tube. Zip tie the end that sits in the media so there is only a slit opening. Leave it long enough so the other end does not sit in the media.

What you get now is a huge flow improvement that is constant.

As for glass bead I use them for a stain finish on blade and I use them on aluminum as well for a nice finish to powder coat onto.
Wapiti said:
Ok, AVigil, I will bite.
What is your trick?
I am mostly happy with it. I did get it free with my drill press (used) so the price was nice, but I am always looking for ways to improve my tools and make them work better. I can imagine it could suck better, if you get my play of words...

Anyone tried glass beads? I currently use SC, but am thinking about trying glass beads, as a machinist friend recommended them.
Thanks
Click to expand...
 
I need to get a new cabinet. I had a HF benchtop that I did a bunch of modifications to, and still wasn't ever thrilled with.

I like the units at TP tools, but IDK if I use one enough to justify a minimum $600 purchase.

The barrel blaster has had my wheels turning on many occasions.

There are some people on CL and ebay that are clearly smoking crack. There's a guy with the HF 40# unit (you can go buy it at the store brand new for about $200) and he has his listed at $1000.... WTF?!?


That plastic tub unit in the video link strikes me as a bad idea... the only thing keeping it sealed is some foam gasket and a couple hold-downs on a plexi-glass top. I'd much rather have a steel door with latches....
 
I have this model, and am really happy I dropped the cash on it.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/24-inch-x-37-inch-Blast-Cabinet/G0707
It has a hand trigger gun, along with a foot pedal operated one, an internal light, and it's own dedicated dust collection system. I haven 't seen any sand blowing out when in use, as it has a negative air pressure from the dust collector. That was important to me, as I didn't want a bunch of sand floating around my shop unintentionally scratching up near finished knives.
 
Thanks Bob- That's a nice looking unit. Their 40# model looks like the HF one with a different sticker and higher price tag. But that one definitely has some major improvements.


I fired off an email to the folks at Lake Buchanan Industries (maker of the Barrel Blaster) last night at like 7pm west coast time. I could hardly believe it when I got a response right away (they're in Texas)!!!

Almost all the reviews on the import units include talk of sealing seams, replacing the factory gun, adding new/better lights, modifying the pick-up tube, etc. (all the same stuff I did to my HF bench top model).

By the time you do all that, the cost is almost exactly the same as the Barrel Blaster... and I haven't found anything but glowing reviews on it, right out of the box.

Plus, purchasing it would mean supporting an American made product. :thumbup:

I could build one a lot like this, but factoring in the time it would take... I think it would be cheaper to just buy one.

Here's a link to them, JIC you're curious. :)

http://www.barrelblaster.com/
 
I'm thinking, if you needed say 3 different abrasive types all the time you could build those barrel blasters onto a revolving carousal

Lower footprint and use the one you want


small-ferris-wheel-10886238.jpg



but that may just be a little crazy
 
I have used the Barrel Blaster. It is a great unit. I need to get one
 
Hmmm, so I can entice my wife with a trip to Fredericksburg AND pick up a sweet, American made, affordable and (by all accounts) a quality little blaster while I'm over that way? I thought this was going to be a difficult and expensive process. Thanks, guys.
 
I have a small Maxus cabinet, and for as cheap as it was it has really worked well for me. I usually just use #9 glass beads in mine.
 
I talked to the Barrel Blaster folks, and they offer 80grit Garnet and the next step down in abrasive is milspec #8 glass bead (about 100-120 grit.)

To get the nice grippy, eroded, grain-popping finish on G10 and micarta that I'm seeking, which do you guys recommend?
 
Matt- I'm jealous you could drive there to pick one up!

I'm ordering one soon.

The media I used in the past to do what you want to do, was from TP tools and they call it Skat Blast (80-100X). It's supposed to be crushed automotive glass.

The Barrel Blaster folks have "Blast Magic" listed, and that sounded like a close match to me (also supposed to be 80X), but IDK for sure. The aluminum oxide they have on the site is listed at 60X... which seems a bit harsh for micarta.

This brings up another good thing worth mentioning. Michael told me they ship a 50# abrasive order via the USPS flat-rate box. Most of the companies providing abrasives want $40-60 to ship that much to my shop.
 
Well, we are booked on trips for the next couple of months, so instead of putting off the blaster until I could reasonably schedule a Fredericksburg trip I just ordered up. Blaster, bucket of Blast Magic garnet and a pack of replacement window protectors. Thanks for your help, Nick, and all of you.
 
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