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Harbor Frieght Sandblast cabnet

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I've had one of those for about 5 years and use it all the time. While it's still clean and shiney, I would recommend you remove the media and caulk all the seams on the inside. They do leak and cause a mess over time. I think they are a great deal - especially on sale.

Marv James
 
Marv

I wish I had heard that advice before using mine. I thought I got a bad one. Love the cabinet but it started to leak like you mentioned. What type of chalking did you use? How long did you let it dry before using the cabinet again? I have mine empty now and will clean it out next week to chalk it. I was looking at drilling and putting in nuts and bolts but chalking would be easier.
 
It's been awhile but I think I used RTV. I still have some leaks. One day I will move it outside where I can really hose it down and redo it. I think a good marine caulk (maybe one of the 3M products) would do a better job.

The way the door opens on the side will always dump some dirt when you open it. Probably why the more expensive cabinets open on the top.

Marv
 
I like the caulk idea... another tip, I bought one of those cheap flourescent strip lights and installed it on the ceiling of my blast cabinet. I used clear packing tape to seal the gaps up on he light case and keep the media out. I cut the cord, passed it through a grommet and then resoldered it back together. I think it was about $7 or so at Home Depot. It isn't the brightest thing around, but at least now I can actually see what I'm blasting.
 
Nice. I got an almost identical cabinet at the Farm and Family center (used to be central tractor) badged as a Clarke. My craftsman compressor falls behind if I'm doing something big, but otherwise I love the cabinet.
I snagged an old shop-vac to use for a dust collector, but it needs some modifications. I have a 20 gallon drum that may become part of that setup.
good price on yours. ($199)
I think mine was $250.
Definatly reccomend caulking.
 
So far so good, No leaks, although I did use a roll of rubber gasket material {besides what was already there} between the hopper and cabnet during assembly. Well I take that back, If I use 70 grit Aluminum oxide I have slight leaks around the bolt holes where the legs bolt on Nothing serious. All other media seems to be ok and no leaks {wonders why.} The light that came with the setup leaves a bit to be desired I may re engineer it with a larger shop type floresent. The other anoying thing is that plastic crap on the viewing window has to go! I would rather purchase new glass than strain my already weary eyes trying to look through that junk! As far as a dust collector I have that situation in hand, I had a huge sears shop vac accumulating dust in the corner of the garage {almost tossed it out several times} but now it has a permenant home and is happily sucking up dust /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif
"Git er done"
Kerry
 
The light that comes with the cabinet is junk. Mine lasted about 2 days. I have a drafting table light external to the cabinet that I put right down against the glass.

I gave up on the plastic stick on stuff. I just had some 12'' x 24" double strength glass cut and replace it about every 3 months.

Big shop vac is a must.

Marv James
 
I would think that 3M marine 5200 would be a great caulking medium for this application!!!
 
I have had the same cabinet for about a year now. In the course of using it, I made some modifications that made it easier to use:

1. Built a frame to hold a screen, mounted the glass and frame on it and then attached the assembly to the top with a piano hinge. The screen is ordinary window screen and protects the glass quite well without interfering with the view of the inside. The glass gets dusty after several hours, so I made the screen removable so I could wipe off the glass. With the hinged top I never use the side door.

2. Replaced the light that came with it with a 20 watt light stick - basically a single single 20 watt bulb encased in plastic, originally intended to be fastened to the underside of a kitchen cabinet.

3. Bought a 900 cfm dust collector from HF (stock number 94029) and attached it to the exhaust port. I think it is at least 3 times as powerful as a shop vac. Unfortunately, I burned out a bearing after several weeks of use due to contamination from the abrasive dust passing through it. I found a replacement bearing at Ace Hardware and repaired it and now have a home-made filter box between it and the blast cabinet.

With all this, I'm still way under the $1,200 or so for a commercial blast cabinet with dust collector. Now, I am lusting after another HF blast cabinet, stock number 94274, which almost 4 feet wide, 2 feet deep and has two side doors and the front swings up. Problem is, I don't have any place to put it.
 
Healeysince59 said:
The light that comes with the cabinet is junk. Mine lasted about 2 days. I have a drafting table light external to the cabinet that I put right down against the glass.

I gave up on the plastic stick on stuff. I just had some 12'' x 24" double strength glass cut and replace it about every 3 months.

Big shop vac is a must.

Marv James
Click to expand...

Guess I've been lucky. My light has lasted tywo years (so far). I like your idea of replacing the plexi with real glass! That Plexi gets hard to see thru after a while, and those stick on sheets don't work for beans.

Basil
 
I've got two blast cabinets, one HF unit like the one shown, I use plastic media in it, ans a 3 ft. Skat Blast cabinet I use glassbead in. The HF cabinet is a good buy for the money,, the light is a little bit crappy, but other than that it's not a bad cabinet for the money. The Skat Blat is a professional model, it uses a normal flood light for it's interior light, I think the would be a good mod for the HF cabinet as well. here's a tip for you guys, the company that mades the Skat Blast cabinets, TP tools, sells anything you would ever want for any blasting cabinet, so if you end up wanted to hot rod the HF cabinets or just buy a replacement part or some hard to find media, check these guys out, they have everything.

https://www.tptools.com
 
Thanks for the linky.... I've been looking to upgrade that Horrible Freight blasting gun.... The cabinet is fine but the gun is crap....
 
Every year TP Tools has a blast cab special where they price their 48" wide cabinet at $799.00 with a good commercial grade vacuum that will last years and not fry bearings from exposure to grit.

It's a great buy...and the cabinet is BIG....

I bought a used 36" unit on ebay a few years ago. A nice, all steel USA-made unit for $163.00...not bad but this fall I plan on buying the TP unit and I'll sell the other one.
 
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