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The Abrasive Blasting Resource Thread

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dkmc

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Yes condolences to his family.
People in the Youtube comments saying 'it's an old Quincy'....clearly it's a Saylor Beall.
I'm super interested to hear the report on failure if there is one. Rust? Tank seam weld failure?
Fatigue crack? I'd like to see the inside of the tank bottom.
I'm going to also post this again in GJ so more people see it. Especially the ones that laugh and say 'compressor tanks
NEVER blow up'.

NYS has annual heating boiler inspections for commercial facilities.
The inspector comes in asks the question 'does your boiler have a pressure relief valve, and what is the stamped pressure on it'?
You say '30 PSI' and he holds out his hand and says 'Seventy five dollars'........that's it. Unless you give him reason to
inspect further and 'look for trouble'.....which costs a lot more on your part.
 
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OccupantRJ

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Which Blasting Media?

Which blasting media

We have a Harbor Freight blasting cabinet. We still have the siphon gun, but we did the "dual tube" mod to it. We also built a dust collection system and added more lights. The cabinet and gun works okay The biggest problem we have is the media. We're using the "Black Diamond" coal slag from...
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OccupantRJ

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Blast cabinet questions.

Blast cabinet questions

I just picked up this cool vintage Peterson "Cleaning Machine" for $250. It needs gloves and glass but everything else works. However, the previous owner did some tinkering on it and im trying to figure out what I need to do to make it right. On the back of the machine is what appears to be...
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OccupantRJ

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ScatCat blast cabinet questions.

Anybody know anything about ScatCat blasting booths?

Anybody have any experience with these blasting booths? Looks to be made in the US and I believe this model retails for about $1600-$1800. EDIT - I was looking at the wrong model. TPTools retails this model for $1100 + 185 shipping to my house A local business is closing it's doors and the...
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SouthernIllinois

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OccupantRJ said:
ScatCat blast cabinet questions.

Anybody know anything about ScatCat blasting booths?

Anybody have any experience with these blasting booths? Looks to be made in the US and I believe this model retails for about $1600-$1800. EDIT - I was looking at the wrong model. TPTools retails this model for $1100 + 185 shipping to my house A local business is closing it's doors and the...
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Click to expand...
Thanks for cross-posting this.
I missed this thread when searching before starting that thread.
 
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930dreamer

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FB MP, not mine.​

Air compressor trailer​

$400
Listed 12 weeks ago in Albany, OR




Details​

  • Condition
    Used - Fair
As is. Not sure on running condition. Never used it.
 

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ching0n

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Without going through the whole thread, anyone running wet setups? I had promising results w/play sand.
 
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OccupantRJ

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I have not played with wet blasting at my home shop yet. I used a Vapor Hone cabinet in the 70’s at work once. It produced a satin finish that looked nice. I have considered it but can’t decide if it is worth setting up a third cabinet.
Kurtis of Cutting Edge Engineering wet blasting his Franna crane project.

 
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930dreamer

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Is this a Quincy clone?

Vintage industrial duty air compressor​

$850
 

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OccupantRJ

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Questions about building a wood blasting cabinet,

Sandblast cabinet build, am I making a mistake?

I find myself in need of a blasting cabinet. I have access to one at my Dad's place but it's a drive. I'm really torn on what to do. I hear all sorts of bad things about the horrible freight models, leaking all over, and stopping up the siphon set up. I am aware of the upgrades that you can...
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TriumphFan

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I'm using Shop Vac with a cyclone separator, and the darn thing trips the breaker after about 2 minutes of bead blasting. The filter is clean. Not sure what could be causing this. You can definitely hear the vacuum work harder once I start blasting.
 
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OccupantRJ

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TriumphFan said:
I'm using Shop Vac with a cyclone separator, and the darn thing trips the breaker after about 2 minutes of bead blasting. The filter is clean. Not sure what could be causing this. You can definitely hear the vacuum work harder once I start blasting.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the density of the “contaminated” air stream increases causing it to work harder, but normally on an internal draft fan the speed of the fan will increase as a clean air flow to it is physically restricted because it no longer has air to grab to make it work hard. In the factory on 14” diameter air conveyors we would adjust either the air intake of the blower or the speed of the fan through adjustable width pulleys until the motor was near it’s maximum amperage draw to get the most work from it but not overload It.
 
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OccupantRJ

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**** Blast cabinet project.

Skat Blast cabinet project

Long story short...I've been needing a blasting cabinet for a while. While getting ready to build one, I ended up buying a used Skat Blast cabinet Trying to post pics but can't from my phone. It appears to be a red 960 with foot valve. It has been stored outside, on its back, and the...
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misterfixit

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How much blasting media do I need? I'm going to buy some 80 grit Aluminum Oxide media. I can find it with free delievery in various poundages such as 8, 12,and 19 pound buckets, as well as 50 pounds. Im wondering how much to order?
 
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OccupantRJ

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misterfixit said:
How much blasting media do I need? I'm going to buy some 80 grit Aluminum Oxide media. I can find it with free delievery in various poundages such as 8, 12,and 19 pound buckets, as well as 50 pounds. Im wondering how much to order?
Click to expand...
I would vote for the 8 or 12 pound in most cases, but I only use the amount in the cabinet that it takes to give the gun a steady load during use. My cabinets have cyclone separators, so there is some nuisance dust loss in the bag house during use. When my gun supply is wanting I pour another dixie cup full into the cabinet. On the cabinets with the tube suction device I have seen cabinets not work well with too much media weight compacting at the pickup point. Basically I run no more media in one than what it takes to make it work.
 
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OccupantRJ

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Syphon gun issues.

Syphon blast gun issue

Been having trouble getting the triggerless syphon blasting gun to work how I want it to in my DIY cabinet. The issue is with media suction. At first, no matter how far in or out I adjusted the airjet with respect to the gun's body, I could not get the media to feed at all. At first I thought...
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OccupantRJ

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HF pressure sandblaster modifications.

HF pressure sandblaster modification

I finally got around to modding my HF 90lb pressure sandblaster. I got tired of blasting for 2 minutes then spending 30 minutes unclogging everything! I wound up replacing the feed assembly and modding the nozzle too. A few $$ in hardware store parts and a Saturday afternoon later and this...
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OccupantRJ

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Blast cabinet extraction air flow issues.

Blasting cabinet abrasive suction

I am in the process of building a sand blasting cabinet, but have been having issues with the abrasives getting sucked into the extraction fan. The fan is too powerful for my cabinet, so I got a VFD to slow down the extraction rate so that only the dust gets sucked in, but I'm still having a...
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misterfixit

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I'm having trouble with my gun. I bought a Best Tools upgrade gun, I think it's a BNP type.

I also built a metering valve. The instructions with the gun say to screw the oriface in and leave about 4 threads showing. I put a vacuum gauge on at had to screw it all the way in to pull 15mmHg. never got more than that, and unscrewed more than a couple turns vacuum went to about 6. The gun surges, I cant get the abrasive to 'flow smoothly' from the bottom metering valve to the gun. I've tried from 60psi to 100 psi and no change.
Abrasive is 100grit Aluminum oxide. it's dry. Air is dry.
 
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OccupantRJ

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misterfixit said:
I'm having trouble with my gun. I bought a Best Tools upgrade gun, I think it's a BNP type.

I also built a metering valve. The instructions with the gun say to screw the oriface in and leave about 4 threads showing. I put a vacuum gauge on at had to screw it all the way in to pull 15mmHg. never got more than that, and unscrewed more than a couple turns vacuum went to about 6. The gun surges, I cant get the abrasive to 'flow smoothly' from the bottom metering valve to the gun. I've tried from 60psi to 100 psi and no change.
Abrasive is 100grit Aluminum oxide. it's dry. Air is dry.
Click to expand...
How about post up a couple pictures of your metering valve setup. The working requirement is a flow of air with abrasive dribbled into it at a relatively constant rate in some manner, how to get there does not really matter as long as it is a reliable feed. I would adjust your gun to the high vacuum and leave it. What I usually see is an air entry port on a home made metering valve too far from the grit drop point. Another thing that can cause issues is too much media in a cabinet that has the metering valve at the bottom of the hopper. People put too much media in it and the weight can compress the lower grit to degrade flow. I would run no more grit than it takes to work properly. A garage owner gave me a HF cabinet because it ticked him off and he was done with it. It had 50 lbs of glass beads in it. I gave away the cabinet to my son and kept a nice supply of abrasive.
Look at the picture and take note of where the ambient air flow would pass across the piled grit coming from above. It enters right at the edge of where the grit piles and takes grit with it as more grit replaces that lost by gravity flow. It is basically a grit carburetor.
 

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misterfixit

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Update:
4519.jpg

This is the metering valve I built, 1" pipe.

I called the manufacturer of the gun, Best Tool Upgrades . I talked to the owner and explained what was happening. Basically he said I was doing all the right stuff but made 2 suggestions to get it to flow correctly. He said first that he had never tested a metering valve with the intake so close to the tee, and explained they are usually in the middle. He wasn't convinced that was the problem, only a possibility. Second was the orifice being screwed all the way in. I told him that's where I got the most suction on the abrasive line, but he said he wasn't sure it needed that much.

The fix was simply screwing the orifice out leaving about 4 threads showing as per the original instructions. I tried that first since it was the easiest and it cured all the issues. Currently I'm running 60psi to the gun and 100 grit aluminum oxide.
 
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OccupantRJ

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misterfixit said:
Update:
4519.jpg

This is the metering valve I built, 1" pipe.

I called the manufacturer of the gun, Best Tool Upgrades . I talked to the owner and explained what was happening. Basically he said I was doing all the right stuff but made 2 suggestions to get it to flow correctly. He said first that he had never tested a metering valve with the intake so close to the tee, and explained they are usually in the middle. He wasn't convinced that was the problem, only a possibility. Second was the orifice being screwed all the way in. I told him that's where I got the most suction on the abrasive line, but he said he wasn't sure it needed that much.

The fix was simply screwing the orifice out leaving about 4 threads showing as per the original instructions. I tried that first since it was the easiest and it cured all the issues. Currently I'm running 60psi to the gun and 100 grit aluminum oxide.
Click to expand...
Good deal. Whatever works for you.
The diagram of the metering valve I showed is an Empire blasting cabinet design.
This is the real one from Empire.
 

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OccupantRJ

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On the above metering valve the suction hose push fits into the bore of the valve and can be shoved in to partially block ambient air to fine tune intake air to grit ratio. I have a similar shop built metering valve and use 5/8” heater hose for the suction hose.
 

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930dreamer

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I fired up my Clemco cabinet after being gone for 9 months. I did remove the gloves to see if anything was living them, yup a few living spiders. I really need shorter gloves. Well, it stills works great.
 

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930dreamer

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This air tank caught my eye. 200 gallon, $400.
 

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OccupantRJ

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Need more air!

Air compressor expansion tank question

Hey everyone! I need some advice on getting a bit more air when I am sandblasting which is honestly not often to justify getting a bigger compressor. I do it probably a couple times a year such as blasting ATV wheels or some similar sized parts and maybe a lot of smaller parts. I have a DEWALT...
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930dreamer

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I have T-Rex arms and need a shorter pair of blast cabinet gloves. So gloves are sized by length and cabinet glove flange size? Also I'm short and the foot pedal setup doesn't work for me. This is a spendy option!
 

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OccupantRJ

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Yes, gloves are available in various lengths and cuff diameters. I used to cut 1-1/2” off the gloves at work to shorten them for the operator and make the cuff stretch over the cuff flange to help it stay in place while the cuff clamps were installed. I would order a pair of gloves, then also order two left spares to make usage work out properly. The left glove generally wears out faster from right handed people holding small parts during blasting. Rodeco Company sold left gloves as singles, but right gloves only in pairs with a left.
 
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OccupantRJ

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Multiple cabinets question.

2 sandblasting cabinets

Since I moved down to Texas I have really been on a tool buying spree. Last month I ran across town to go get a used bench top sandblaster and as I was headed back a guy I had been lowballing for a large trinco sanblaster fi ally responded and I ended up grabbing that one too. My theory on...
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OccupantRJ

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Waterloo blast cabinet.

Waterloo blast cabinet

I picked up a used Waterloo blast cabinet, complete with a small cartridge looking water separator and foot pedal. As far as I know, it’s all original, including the gun. The tip looks to be in good shape. I’ve been reading the blasting resource thread and I’ve got information overload. I know I...
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