Building a new sand blast cabinet soon.

[Luva65wagon]

Just wanted to start a post on my upcoming project. This last Christmas I picked up a new Harbor Freight blast cabinet to replace the one I sold-off when I moved from my northern estate. I didn't want to mess with my old one (wasn't really old, per se, but it leaked sand like a sieve), so I sold it off and planned to build a new one once the garage was built with attention paid to sealing it up really well.

As I've been getting the garage setup the (still sealed) cabinet I bought kept getting closer and closer to the top of the list so I started researching what others have done out there to seal their HF blast cabinets... and OMG, there's a vast group of folks upgrading them and there is even a company (The Tacoma Company, started in WA, but now in Idaho) who makes a host of products designed to turn a $150 HF blast cabinet into a $5000-equivalent blast cabinet for about $700 more. As much as I use one of these I was very intrigued, so after watching a ton of YouTube videos I called and had a very long chat with the owner to get some clarity on a few things. I've got some stuff on order, but in the current "viral climate" he is running things with a skeleton crew (he and his wife); but I'm in the queue to get some new bits to build this cabinet. May be a few weeks, but I doubt we'll be doing much else for a while besides waiting for stuff.

Stay tuned.

If interested, check out the series of You Tube videos put out by "Ray's Garage" on the modifications this company makes for Harbor Freight cabinets.

https://youtu.be/A1dyE3bBG3Y

[Gitanesteel]

Interesting project - looking forward to photos.

[Luva65wagon]

Well - until he can ship me the bits and pieces I need to finish it once I start - this is the picture I have so far. He's having issues with his production due to Covid-19 as well.

[Ilvmygt]

Last year I bought a used blasting unit that was made out of plywood. It works remarkable well. It turns out it was a kit and the company is still around for parts. The first blast media I got was from Harbor Freight. I worked OK but had a lot of dust and once you started blasting you could not see the part. The next blast media I got was from Tractor Supply. It was way better and cheaper with very little dust and it was $10 for a 50# bag.

[Jeff W]

How goes the blast cabinet mods? I finally replaced the worn out gloves on my Summit Cabinet with some made in the US... I think Tacoma. The Summit Cabinet is a cheap knock off of the Harbor Freight model, hard to believe there is a crappier version out there.

I need a new gun and feeder unit so I am curious about your results.

[Luva65wagon]

I convinced Tacoma Co to ship me the special screws they made for this, at least. Will get me going somewhat. The rest is on a very long back order because Tacoma Co moved to Hope, ID and was simultaneously slammed with [both the move] and the effects of Covid19 staff and supply-line cuts. Just received a "bulk" email from them thanking us all for our patience and to keep the faith; "things will be back to normal for them soon."

For what it's worth, all that they propose can [sort of] be done on the cheap. Plenty of YouTube videos showing how to make DIY improvements to the HF cabinet, hopper, and gun to make it much better than stock HF stuff was.

I have the screws and am working to unpackage and sort through the bits now. Pretty much following "Ray's Garage" YouTube videos on the build as I move forward. At some point it will just sit, unfinished, until Tacoma Co sends me the rest.

Of course I keep getting distracted, feeling like a dog sometimes... when someone says "SQUIRREL!"

[Luva65wagon]

It's taken a few months, but when I got home from closing up my mom's estate I had a package waiting for me when I returned. I will confirm what I read - the quality of these parts is up there. Now I need to get busy and get it built. So many things to do, so little time.

[Luva65wagon]

In between lots of trips up and down the state(s) I've managed to get some of this cabinet done. Doing it to the degree where you know it's not going to blow sand out of every crack and crevice really is a pain. But the lions share of it is done now and I'm now waiting for a couple items I opted to add (from the Tacoma Co) to help shed sand into the hopper. A Cuff kit and a Door Shield kit. The Cuff Kit is a 4-piece sheet metal "cuff" around the seam between the main cabinet and the hopper. There is a ledge there sand can just pile up on and this cuff doesn't allow for that. And the Door shield is two parts to attach to the door, which is choked full of divots where sand can pool. The shields make the door smooth and includes a skirt to funnel the sand off the door down into the hopper. These are due this week to install. Once installed the rest should happen in a couple hours.

2020-09-25 12.37.37.jpg

The Tacoma Co changes a lot of the Harbor Freight "port functions" and this side hole is what HF says is the vacuum port. TC makes it the fresh air in and provides a shield to channel air in without letting sand out.

2020-09-25 14.24.19.jpg

The shelf is cut back and bits no longer used as the screen inside the cabinet are used to make the cut edges finished looking.

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This funnel replaces a HF part and allows for the sand to quickly drain into the valve that sends the sand back up to the nozzle. The TC setup uses very little sand and doesn't depend on sucking sand up from inside the cabinet, but rather as is falls out the bottom - allowing you to use a couple cups of sand in an endless loop.

2020-09-26 17.26.40.jpg

The hopper usually bolts to the cabinet with nuts and bolts and a thin foam tape gasket. I took a thin metal flange they want sandwiched between and applied closed-cell foam to both sides to make a thick foam gasket and then added thread-serts to the cabinet. This allowed me to lay the gasket down and put the hopper in without fiddling with getting nuts inside to start reaching around. This is the area (externally) that gets the cuff kit internally.

2020-09-26 18.01.17.jpg

I'm going to have acetate sheets inside to keep the glass clean. 15 sheets cost $10. TC suggested single strength glass to be the consumable material, but I like the idea of having a plastic sheet in case a manifold goes up and hits the glass. Will install that at the very last.

So, should be done in a few days when the last parts come.

[Gitanesteel]

Looking sweet! So we can all come to Roger's house when we need something blasted, right?

[Luva65wagon]

Sure...

[dhbfaster]

Classic HF...looking good Roger.
are you going to add a powder coating oven?
and what’s with the cello?

[Luva65wagon]

Well, here it is all finished. Who'd a thought you couldn't find sand blast media now. I checked a few places a finally found a tub of garnet 80 (not what I wanted) and that was all. I ordered some off Amazon which is due in a couple days, but nearest I could find locally would be south Tacoma. May venture there sometime and see what I can get in the 24-50 lb range.

As for the Cello Don, it is a something Lila found at a garage sale for $0.50c and told me to make something out of it someday. So I found some images where they made one into shelves. So, sometime, I will make 2 of them like this. Probably get more than 50 cents for one of them.