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Upgrade to blasting cabinet

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Jerry

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We bought a HF blasting cabinet a few years ago and when new, work ok. Lately, the output of media just sucks. I have taken apart the suck tube, the air input and cleaned the gun but no improvement. I finally bought a new gun and what a difference. The new gun is like using a different piece of equipment. One swipe and stuff is gone.
So something in the old gun is causing problems, but I had already replaced the o ring, ceramic nozzle, and cleaned it multiple times. Perhaps if you have a cabinet that is having problems a new $50 gun off ebay will help.

Jerry
still needs a vacume to keep the dust down so you can see inside.
 
Thanks for the tip Jerry. I have a blast cabinet from Tractor supply. It's gotta be about on par with an HF unit. Mine still seems ok, but I'll remember that if it starts to puke on me.
 
The first thing I do with Harbor freight sandblast guns is throw them away! I've never managed more than about 120 hours worth of use out of one.

Invest in a better gun with replaceable, easy to source, ceramic nozzles and you'll be happy for life. I normally get mine at Grainger, but local sandblasting shops / the internet is a great source.
 
The new gun has carbon steel tips. I wonder how long they will last? At least they sent 3 with the gun.

Jerry
 
I've been using the same carbon tip in my Skat Blast cabinet now for 3 years, I use my bead blaster almost everyday at work.
 
This is what I use for a cabinet blaster. It's a Harbor Freight, I only use walnut shells in it most of the time, but on rare occasions, I use glass beads. I've had no problems with it so far. Not used every day, maybe a couple times a month. So for me and how little I use it, it was money well spent. It's 4 years old and still has the original gun. PJ

 
We do a lot of sandblasting here at work. We have three automatic machines with four nozzles each, and about eight hand operated machines. We were a slave to ceramic nozzles and finally went over to boron carbide. At two to three times the cost, they are very expensive, but will probably last ten times as long. We won't use anything else now. If you are doing a lot of sand blasting, consider looking into boron carbide. Otherwise, the ceramics will work well enough.

That said, here is a link to show you you to determine how worn the nozzle is. Once it's bore get's 50% larger then new, it'll pass 2 1/2 times the air and abrasive. If your compressor can't keep up, then the pressure drops and productivity takes a nose dive. The same can happen inside the gun itself, so it's best to look and maybe take some initial measurements inside a new one (or a good working one) to compare to when the things go south. Also, oval shaped holes inside both the guns and nozzles are a good indication that there is a lot of wear.

https://www.surfacepreparation.com/when-blast-nozzle-worn
 
martx-5 said:
We do a lot of sandblasting here at work. We have three automatic machines with four nozzles each, and about eight hand operated machines. We were a slave to ceramic nozzles and finally went over to boron carbide. At two to three times the cost, they are very expensive, but will probably last ten times as long. We won't use anything else now. If you are doing a lot of sand blasting, consider looking into boron carbide. Otherwise, the ceramics will work well enough.

That said, here is a link to show you you to determine how worn the nozzle is. Once it's bore get's 50% larger then new, it'll pass 2 1/2 times the air and abrasive. If your compressor can't keep up, then the pressure drops and productivity takes a nose dive. The same can happen inside the gun itself, so it's best to look and maybe take some initial measurements inside a new one (or a good working one) to compare to when the things go south. Also, oval shaped holes inside both the guns and nozzles are a good indication that there is a lot of wear.

https://www.surfacepreparation.com/when-blast-nozzle-worn
Click to expand...

Art, Thanks for that bit of info. Quite informative and so easy to periodically check the nozzles. PJ
 
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