has anyone

[weewillie]

built their own sandblaster?

 

[Popeye]

not sure the parts would be less expensive than a HF kit...?

If you do build, make sure the pressure vessel is indeed a pressure vessel... lots of potential energy!!

 

[weewillie]

I was thinking more of a small cabinet, kind of like this,
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143854

hope it is ok to post this link

 

[equiprx]

The problem I think would be to get all the parts to seal. Even the factory cabinet I have has massive leaks. It was a Craig's list $50 deal with lots of extras.

 

[JamesWilson]

I did something like that.

I made a frame of 25 mm (1 inch) square wood, this was a meter wide by a meter and a half long by 1/2 meter high at the front sloping upwards to 3/4 meter at the back. I used 6 mm (1/8 ?inch) particle board for the sides and 8 mm (1/4 ? inch) plywood for the bottom. The top was frame also of 25 mm (1 inch) square wood with bracing and hinged at the back. It was covered with clear polycarbonate plastic and I got some disposable plastic sheets to tape over the area I looked through so the sand blasting wouldn't abrade the polycarbonate's surface and make it impossible to see through.

I drilled a hole in one side and feed the air line through that. I had a big-ish drop light with a plastic cover that I used for lighting.

The trickiest bit was getting a couple of extra long rubber gauntlets and fiting them. I used a piece of 18 mm (3/4 inch) plywood about 2 feet long by a foot high and drilled holes for the gauntlets about 15 inches apart so I could comfortably put my arms through them. I then used some thin aluminium strip to attach the gauntlets to the plywood. curving the strip so it would fit inside the gauntlet and hold it tight against the plywood. I then drilled the strip for 6 woodscrews to hold each strip and gauntlet in place. I then cut the particle board for the gauntlets and used 1/2 inch wood strips on the inside to screw the whole gauntlet mount to the cabinet. I thne used some duct tape to tape over the aluminium strips and screws so I wouldn't scratch my delicate forearms...

I put the whole thing on sawhorses so it was at a comfortable working height.

This probably cost more than a cabinet but I needed to blast some parts that were larger than the cabinets I could find.

I thought that it worked really well.

I could load a LOT of stuff into it as well as the big items a smaller cabinet couldn't hold and blast away for hours....

Unfortunately, it was far too big to keep and I've since taken it all apart and its living in the basement. The particle board would dissolve in the rain if left outside, besides the wife complaining about another unsightly addition....

The only real shortcoming was its lack of an air circulation/ filtration system as the commercial systems have. These pull air out and reduce the amount of dust. I thought I could finagle something out of a bathroom ventilation fan but that would have cost quite a lot more. I just stopped whenever the dust got too bad and had a rest.

Specs:

Base: 1 mtr x 1.5 mtr with 25 mm wood. This also had 3 additional supports for the floor from front to back equally spaced, the floor was then 1 x 1.5 mtr of 8 mm plywood.

Sides (2): 1 mtr x 1/2 mtr x 3/4 mtr with 25 mm wood trapezoid shapes, skinned with 8 mm particle board.

Back: 3/4 mtr x 1.5 mtr with 25 mm wood, skinned with 8 mm particle board.

Front: 1/2 mtr x 1.5 mtr with 25 mm wood skined with 8 mm particle board. Inside reinforcement for the gauntlet mount was a frame of 100 mm wide by 12 mm thick wood roughly 2 feet by 1 foot. the outside gauntlet mount was a 2 foot x 1 foot piece of 3/4 inch plywood. Holes were then drilled to suit the gauntlets.

Top: 1.5 mtr x whatever the side length was (my trigonomertry's not up to it! and I just made the piece to fit.) with 25 mm wood. Skinned with thin, clear polycarbonate sheet. Four hinges were used to mount this to the back.

I used pan head wood screws about every 6 inches to hold the particle board to the wood frames, and used silicon sealant between the frames and particle board or polycarbonate to maintain a dust seal. I also used the sealer between the gauntlets and the mount.

I used some thin rubber as a seal between the top and the rest of the cabinet and that worked OK so long as the top was held down tightly. I used a brackets and screws/nuts at each side and in the middle.

I painted it gloss white on the inside and this helped visibility a lot I think, and less dust stuck to the sides.

I could have used grommets or sealant around the entry holes for the light and air hose but was too lazy....

All in all the commercial cabinets are probably cheaper and a lot less hassle, but if you've got some scrap wood and more time than sense; or some things that are too big this might be useful....

 

[JPSmit]

that's an idea I never thought of - cool! what if you made the barrel out of a plastic or poly? if media doesn't affect rubber - would it leave that alone also?

 

[weewillie]

that's an idea I never thought of - cool! what if you made the barrel out of a plastic or poly? if media doesn't affect rubber - would it leave that alone also?

The thing about the steel barrel is it will reflect some light where the poly will not. I am going out this morning to get a steel barrel from a guy on craigslist for $5 and a piece of tempered glass 1/4" 18" x 12" from the hardware store is $25 and a couple of toilet flanges for the armholes, so I should be able to make it for about $50

 

[donbmw]

Harbor freight has one for $62.95.

Don

 

[tony barnhill]

& at that price, you can't build noe!

 

[weewillie]

& at that price, you can't build noe!

I actually can Tony as shipping to toronto would soon change that price

 

[Banjo]

Don't forget the gun, and the siphon tube,and the air line, and the air fittings, and the gloves, and the light, and the hardware for the door, and the seals.........
Some suppliers sell kits for homebuilt cabnets, but I'm sure those kits are all of $50 at least.
I looked into it, and wound up buying a Clark cabnet. It just wasen't worth my time trying to build some homebrewed concoction.
Still if you want the satisfaction of building it yourself, then by all means, have at it. But my bet is you don't save any money.

 

[Billm]

I made one that is about as low-buck as I could get.
It is mearly a 4foot wide x 4 foot high x 2 foot deep box of 3/8" plywood around a 2x2 pine frame (gives me a place to put the caulking to keep the dust in).
I made a window from an old picture frame and glass- I laminated the outside of the glass with clear packing tape to prevent catastrophic breakage but kept the uncoated glass on the inside to withstand the sand.
I have a paper furnace filter lying on top to both let the pressure out (keeps the dust in) and to open to get parts into and out of.
I used the Harbor Freight siphon blaster ($17.00??) for the work.
Has worked for over a year and I have reused the original 50 pounds of abrasive for everything.

Bill

 

[kennypinkerton]

I always figured a 55 gallon drum, with gloves adapted to it would work ok.