Thoughts on HF blast cabinet vs. TSC cabinet?

NBraun

Been Around the Block
Hey, im looking at getting a blast cabinet since im tired of being covered in soda. I don't have a lot of extra money, so im not looking for a super expensive one, that being said i still want it to work well and be of some quality. I know you get what you pay for. ANyways, I've been looking at these two cabinets and was wondering if anyone had any experiance with them? If so what did you like/dislike, why should i stray from one or another?

Thanks!
 
We might be able to give intelligent input if you provided links to the cabinets that you are considering.
 
If you're looking at the freestanding cabinets from Harbor Freight and Tractor Supply, I believe they are the same unit with different branding. Having used one, and without experience with another model, I can say that it keeps all the dust inside. :)
 
Your probably right Alpha, pain in the butt to insert links on the phone.

Harbor freight:
http://www.harborfreight.com/garage-shop/blast-cabinets/abrasive-blast-cabinet-42202.html

Tractor Supply:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/sandblasting-tools-accessories/jobsmart-reg-benchtop-abrasive-blasting-cabinet-32-lb-capacity-3951103
 
I can only speak for the Harbor Freight one, but it's nice with a few upgrades. I have this one http://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-capacity-floor-blast-cabinet-68893.html with the legs.

Using some sort of dust collector on it is a must or else it will blow sand out every seam on the cabinet. You can easily re purpose an old shop vac for this. I think this would go for any sand blaster seeing that you are pressurizing the cabinet and it has to go somewhere.

The other is the gloves it comes with are junk, they deteriorate quickly.

Also I upgraded the light in mine. The light that comes in there is dim and hard to see when you have the shop lights on.

Put a finer screen underneath the stock grate in there. It will keep you from having to constantly clean the gun when larger chunks of paint and rust get blown off.

Was it worth the money? For sure! Make sure you bring one of those 20% off coupons.
 
Thanks 2.3! That's what the reviews said too. I already have a shop vac so that should be good. Plus, im pretty sure both would need something like that.
 
I have one similar to the HF unit, and I loaded it with glass bead.
It has no light in it, and you MUST have LOTS of light in a blast cabinet, or you are blasting blind. I added two 100 W bulbs in mine.

To begin with, both of those cabinets are waay too small. You will be cursing the purchase every time you have to blast anything larger than a carburetor.

Blast cabinets have parts that wear out, so be sure you can get replacement parts. HF has been a disappointment in this respect. It had a plastic window with an acetate inner sheet that was supposed to be replaceable. I ended up throwing all that away and mounted a piece of glass which I cover the inside of the glass with packing tape so that I have a renewable surface. Even glass etches quickly inside a blast cabinet. I was unable to get replacement nozzles at HF, so I replaced the blast nozzle with one I got from Eastwood. The gloves completely deteriorated. I got some rubber gloves from Lowes, and glued them onto the cuffs in the cabinet, and they seem to be holding up much better.

The slope of the bottom never quite made the media feed down to the bottom where the pickup tube is. For a long time I had a piece of angle iron under the middle of it and I'd rock the cabinet back and forth to shake down the media. Eventually, I mounted an air hammer to the underside of it that I activate with a foot pedal to shake the media down.

So, after all those repairs, and modifications, It works pretty well. The new Eastwood blast nozzle reduced its air consumption a bit, too.

Let's talk about air consumption a bit. the HF listing says it will work with a 1 HP compressor. That is a fucking lie. If you don't have at least a three horsepower compressor, you will spend more time waiting for the compressor to catch up than you do blasting. I have a 5 HP compressor, and it can barely keep up with the cabinet. Siphon type blasters generally use about 10 cfm @ 90 psi. Any less pressure than that, and you are wasting your time. If you are using a pressure pot soda blaster right now, they use a little less air.

I don't like the TSC cabinet at all. The window in on the top, so you have to lean over it to see inside. About half an hour of that, and your neck and back will be killing you.

Remember that these cabinets recycle the media. If you are wanting to blast with soda, keep in mind that it pretty much pulverizes first pass through. Glass bead is a good choice of media. It lasts a long, long time. Maybe you should invest in a $12 tyvek suit with hood to keep the soda off of you.

Dust collection:
Don't use a blast cabinet indoors without dust collection. I use my shop vac. I have a HEPA filter in it that is teflon coated for easy cleaning. Before I use it on the blast cabinet, I clean the vac out and clean the filter. It pulls a fair amount of glass bead out of the cabinet, so I want the vac to be clean so that I can recover the bead. Once in a while, I will pour the media back and forth between two buckets with the vacuum hose close by, and it cleans a lot of the fine dust out of the bead.

If you can afford a larger cabinet, you will be much better off. I am constantly struggling to blast things in the little HF cabinet with it crowded in there. Even something no larger than a swingarm is a pain in the ass to blast in it. I HATE blasting outside. It makes a mess everywhere, and (with cheap silica sand,) is a health and environmental hazard. I am in the process of building a 6' wide by 3 1/2' deep cabinet that I can do a whole motorcycle frame in. It would cost me about $5000 to buy one. I am building one for about $500.
 
Wow thanks Alpha! Thats all great info! As of right now i never really planned on using it for larger parts, but this isnt my last project!

Couple of quick questions though. Is it alright to use glass beads on the carbs? I don't mind not reusing soda, its not all that expensive. But if you can reuse the beads so much, i would defiantly look into that.

I would go with that tyvek suit idea, but one of the other reasons id like the cabinet is because i can only blast outside, and its always so cold ha!

Third and lastly, the compressor i have now is not up to the task, so im going to buy a new one anyways. But when buying one, should i be looking at one with a higher HP motor, or a higher gallon tank? Perhaps a happy medium?

Thanks again, i really appreciate it! ;D
 
You want to look at the CFM not the size or hp. But to blast you're going to want 10 cfm or more and that's most likely to be 5hp
 
SONICJK nailed it. Rule of thumb, it takes 5 hp to pump enough air. 10 CFM @ 90 psi is the consumption rate of these blasters. You should have a compressor that puts out 12-13 CFM @ 90 psi. Forget about what it says on a blast cabinet's specs if it says 5 CFM @ 40 psi. 40 spi in a blast cabinet won't blast shit. Below 80 psi, they are pretty much useless. I bought a used 5 hp compressor for $650. It took some searching and waiting to find an adequate compressor for a good price that had a single phase motor. So many of the compressors in that size range are equipped with 3-phase motors. It's a monster with a 60 gallon tank and stands 6 1/2 feet tall. I had to use a come-a-long from an overhead beam to unload it from my trailer.

Larger storage tank does not help if your compressor can't pump enough air. It just means that you have to wait longer for it to come up to pressure. Even with the big ass compressor that I have, it runs continuously when I am blasting. I wish I had a bigger one.

Air%20Compressor2.jpg


Air%20Compressor4.jpg


One member of DTT said that he bought a compressor from Sears with a 3 hp motor that produced 13 cfm @ 90 psi. Then he admitted that he had burned out two motors, (so far.) Three horsepower just won't do the job. You have to have 5 hp. I saw a new Kobalt compressor in Lowes for around $850, I think. It's no where near the industrial duty compressor that I bought used.

I use glass bead on carburetors, but soda is better because it cleans the surface with less abrasion. Soda is waaay better for inner engine cases, because it is extremely challenging getting every last bead out of every nook and cranny. You have to be very, very meticulous cleaning them afterward. I will still use glass bead for outer engine covers, heads and jugs, because they are easier to clean, and the glass bead is cheaper to use because it lasts indefinitely. Once I get my big blast cabinet built, I will repurpose my pressure pot sandblaster for use with soda, which I will do outside. My big cabinet will be filled with crushed glass media because it has no free silica, and is cheap. Aluminum oxide would be my preferred media for powdercoat and paint prep, but the crushed glass was only $12 for a 50 lb bag.

It is not that difficult to change the media that you have in a cabinet, but if you switch from glass bead to soda, you are still going to have a problem with some stray glass beads that you would never be able to completely clean out of the cabinet. Metal finishing companies use multiple cabinets, each dedicated to specific media.
 
i bought the hf one a while ago, I'm leary of cheap stuff usually, but justified it because my mechanic friend uses it at his bmw shop (don't tell bmw!) and they caulked the seams so it didn't leak much... when I put mine together, I caulked the seams before screwing it together, then put a cone auto air filter on the intake for the vacuum port and shop vac on the other end, works really well, I don't notice any glass bead around it. and the good thing is that if I want to get another just for walnut shell for internal engine stuff, they're cheap as all hell!
 
I have a very similar setup to ADC
9FDFD279-6FB3-438F-A46A-77C70482BC5C-33679-000006C3AC488D30.jpg

80 gallon 17 cfm at 175, about 23 @ 90.
And even that has to work to keep up with my blasters. It will air up and shut off with my pressure pot soda blaster, but with my larger pressure pot sand blaster it runs continuously.

Moral of the story is if you want to do serious blasting don't get one of those cheapy compressors from HD or lowes or HF their "5hp" motor is really closer to 3.
 
Thats my flux capacitor 8)


Actually its a 150 year old set of wheels from a factory cart. I restore them and make coffee tables.

http://www.walnutwoodworks.com/#!product/zoom1yla/448174851/American%20Cherry%20Hammer%20Cart
and
http://www.walnutwoodworks.com/#!product/zoom1yla/227274201/Hammer%20Cart%20Coffee%20Table
 
AlphaDogChoppers said:
Very nice! I thought maybe it was some sort of antique engine.

Your work is beautiful.

I wish I had an antique engine that would be an awesome project.

Thanks man that's what I shoot for I appreciate it
 
SONICJK said:
Thats my flux capacitor 8)


Actually its a 150 year old set of wheels from a factory cart. I restore them and make coffee tables.

http://www.walnutwoodworks.com/#!product/zoom1yla/448174851/American%20Cherry%20Hammer%20Cart
and
http://www.walnutwoodworks.com/#!product/zoom1yla/227274201/Hammer%20Cart%20Coffee%20Table

Awesome work. In Manhattan you could sell them for triple those prices no problem.
 
I upgraded to a 5hp 1 phase motro from these guys and it is excellent. They normally run sales on the 5 hp motors. I think I got mine (WEG 5 Hp) for like $185 shipped IIRC

http://www.temcoindustrialpower.com/product_selection.html?p=compressor-conversion-selection-guide
 
MotoMadness said:
Awesome work. In Manhattan you could sell them for triple those prices no problem.
Thanks,
And I know! I just have to find a place up there willing to stock some of it! (Any ideas?)
 
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