Hey all ,

I got my sand blast cabinet in last week , and im going full steam ahead on my parts I need to blast.

I noticed the other day that I had worn down the tip of the nozzle that came with the gun. And in lue of of that I was looking in the eastwood catalog at their nozzle selection.

They sell both ceramic and steel nozzles, I have a 6hp compressor so I know what nozzle I need as far as that goes, However... what is the right nozzle material to be using with aluminum oxide blasting media?

Is their a right or wrong as far as this goes?


On another note with my new sand blaster.... The light kit that came with my high denisity plastic cabinet... well umm started melting a hole .....

Any one have a lighting idea for my cabinet... I was thinking on using a tube style drop light mounted to the inside top of the cabinet with a piece of sheet metal sandwiched between the light and the cabinet as a heat shrink...

 

I use ceramic in my blast cabinets. Seem to last quite a while, and replacements are readily available at HF.

Ron

 

If you want to get the same thing that Eastwood sells, but for a lot less, go to www.tptools.com. It's TiP Tools, and they sell every type of sandblaster and accessory that you can imagine. I only use Eastwood if no one else has it. They're just a little too pricey for me.

 

My cabinet came from tip tools and they are great to buy from. The steel nozzels do wear out fast go with the carbide nozzles they last for ever.

 

The sandblaster that i use at work has a ceramic tip, and the bulbs have a pice or rope that gets sandwiched between the cabinet. The cabinit is metal, but i would think this would help the melting problem.

also, are you useing a pice of Mylar sheet over the glass? because otherwise the glass will get trashed. We just put a new sheet on every few weeks when it gets cloudy.

 

mylar sheet... is that the same stuff that comes in the eastwood catalog... (lens covers?) I am currently using these... and im not satisfied what so ever with them... If they are the right product, it could be a combination of media, and my dust collection device(shop vac) .

As far as the tips go....

Is their a better tip for different media's?

obviously carbide tips last the longest... but the carbide nozzles in my refrence(eastwood catalog) are only listed in 1/4 inch... While other wise thier are gold steel , silver steel , black steel , and ceramic nozzles...

Im just trying to make heads or tales of this..

 

I made my own plywood cabinets for sand blasting, in which I use inexpensive silica sand and a ceramic nozzle (stock Coleman).
My cabinet has two regular plexiglas windows. One on the front, to see through and one on the top for the light. The light, a 2' fluorescent, actually sits on top of the plexi window, outside of the cabinet, out of harms way. Rather than use expensive lexan or glass, I went with regular cheap 1/8" plexi, but coated the inside surfaces with, get this, clear packing tape. I usually put on 3 or 4 layers of tape and fold over and stagger the ends to make it easier to pull off. The tape protects the window surface and when it gets too etched to see through, I simply peel it off the outermost layer, kind of like tear-offs on a racing helmet shield. Works great.

I also rigged a dust collector (shop vac) that pulls the dust out the top of the smaller cabinet. I made a baffle system that makes the dust whip through a couple of turns before being pulled out. This flings off the heavier bits of media and limits the amount of it being pulled into the shop vac.

Also, for gloves, I found a 4 pack of elbow length heavy duty rubber gloves in the cleaning aisle of the supermarket for $5. I cut a pair of rings (+/- 8" OD, +/- 6"ID) from plywood and through bolted them to the cabinet, holding the gloves in place. As long as I use old pliers to hold small items for blasting, the gloves offer plenty of protection. It's cool, when I turn on the shop vac, the gloves inflate into the cabinet, making it easier to get my bear paws into them.

 

Can you post some kind of picure of that home made parts blasting cabinet? Thanks.

 

Hi all,

I also built a sandblasting cabinet, after getting tired of not being able to fit large items in my old one. I posted some pics in the gallery with the title of "sandblasting cabinet" I used 3/4" plywood for the main cabinet with 18 gauge sheet metal on the interior. Most of the accessories were obtained from Tip Tools, with the exception of a home made foot pedal for the air. One idea that I stole from a friend, was to set 2 twin bulb 4 foot flourescent shoplight fixtures above the cabinet. There sure is alot of light inside! Ant questions, drop me a line.

Bob

 

For your lightning concern you can use little undercabinet fluorescent. You can found them in every hardware store and they are cheap( 8$)