BEST $400 You’ll Ever Spend // DIY Vapor Blaster 

We have a professionally built vapor blaster where I work. It runs about 30% media to 70% water. It also uses a small hose back into the reservoir to keep the water/media mix agitated which really helps with minimising blockages. It has a windshield wiper for the viewing screen with a constant clean water trickle and a clean water hose for rinsing parts inside the cabinet.

I’ve been hoping you’d eventually get some kind of media blasting cabinet. They are a major timesaver, especially for we OCD clean freaks. Thank you, Sarah. 👍👍👍

I have the same cabinet and the black cap on the left side is for a shop vac which takes the vapor away so you can see better. I also replaced the plexiglass with glass and a better nozzle. The cabinet leaks unless you seal it better, I did that when I built it. There is a boat windshield wiper on amazon I put on my side by side that would work on the cabinet. I also use either rain-x or ceramic spray to keep the glass clear. The cabinet is harbor freight. I am also a retired USAF crew chief , F-4,A-7 and F-16. I retired from the 162nd across the street. I enjoy your humor and tech knowledge.

Add a few drops of Jet Dry (yes, the dishwasher stuff) or other surfactant. It makes the water "wetter".

CNC milling machines sometimes have rotational windows. Its just a glass disk that spins really fast and the inertia wipes the fluid outwards. These windows are really resilient and slim to mount.

We have gathered to witness the cleaning of the car parts - miracle. Glad to have found the right bunch 👍

Thank You Scientific Sarah for being overly cautious with your health. Nice machine.

I predict this new machine will be getting a lot of use!

Hints... Don't blast straight down (90*), try it more of a 45. Grab a wide strip of flashing, bend it into a big arc and screw it to the inside of the door. It'll deflect the slurry from hitting the seal at the bottom. Was going to mention that you pressure is too high, but you got it! High pressure just explodes the glass beads when they hit.

FYI, vapor blasting does a great job of cleaning old rubber parts and plastics too. I've had an industrial built blaster for about 8 years and NEVER regretted the cost. It's paid for itself during my motorcycle restorations! Glad to see you finally have one!

I am glad that you found a deal on a small cabinet prompting you to go for it sooner than later.

You never fail to provide a quality and informative video.

Change out the media between ferrous and nonferrous metals.The ferrous metals will pollute the media with rustable partials if you bast aluminum whit it it will imbed into the surface, that will discolor the aluminum over time.

I’ve seen vapor blasters before, but never the finished pieces having been cleaned. That is an amazing piece of hardware. I’m impressed with the look of the parts that were cleaned. Who needs new?

Thank you for teaching me stuff

Rainex on the inside of the dry glass before use will bead the spray and make it easier to see. A side draft blower over the glass would blow the beads away.

We used to have one. We used rain x on the inside of the glass and it worked wonderfully!!

I can’t wait to see the OCD opportunities on upcoming builds!

I had the same cabinet. I switched to real tempered glass and it made a huge difference. Added LED lights

Sarah, easy way to clear the feed hose is, while your hands are in the machine take your left gloved hand and place it over the spray nozzle (blocking flow) and give a squeez of the trigger or two then continue cleaning the parts.

The new parts cleaner looks fantastic. A huge timesaver.

Hey Sarah just a thought. Perhaps you can keep a small shower squeegee in the cabinet and wipe the glass when needed. Love your vids! 👍🏻

Blasting cabinets are so awesome. Even the cheapest thing can be so nice to restore stuff and a time saver. Glass beads are great but aluminium oxide is what you need when something needs something more abrasive. As for the ratio, you want a slurry between 15% to 25%of media particulate by volume.

This girl is a treasure.

Can’t wait to see the upgrades and work you do to this new tool. You’re already getting your money’s worth for sure!

You can be beautiful, goofy and a nerd at the same time and it all works. Stay genuine pretty lady.

Awesome piece of kit, good to see your recycling good equipment Sarah, don't worry I always watch all of your videos 👍👍

Always entertaining! What a fun video! Great addition to your shop.

Amazing find, wonder it’s not more popular diy, I think you as well as other viewers, have the same ideas about how to improve that on the cheap

Glad to see you finally have a vapour blaster. This will suit your drive for cleaniness perfectly.

I use a vacuum, a 5 gallon bucket and some hoses to make a filter to vac the air from the cabinet. cuts down on the escaping stuff you don't want to breathe.

In our company we use a similar machine, but we use dry glass-sand/pearls for polish stainless steel or clean rusty and dirty metal parts. Inside the cabin there is only dust, then you can see better through the plastic-window while working. The glass-pearls came in 25kg bags. For big metal parts we use professional blast machines and the medium is metal grains. Important is, that the blasting medium is softer than the editing parts. Perhaps it´s better to blast with dry medium an after that you clean the parts with water? Greets from germany.

Living the dream now. How many would love to have a shop or even a garage to house our favorite toys. Enjoy!

Sarah. Try using Rain X on glass. It works well to shed water. I use it for windshield on a motor yacht that gets hit hard with wave spray and especially if a wiper quits. Available at parts stores. Excellent video of the blast cab.

Ceracote is cheaper than powder coating. Have a look at that for sealing up your blasted bits. To flush the hose . drop the pump into a bucket of clean water and blast, when you finish. It'll give the cabinet a washdown inside as well.

Heat shields are typically Aluminized steel for its reflective properties. I used to sell it to the stampers in Indiana and Michigan that dealt with the Big Three (Ford, GM, Chrysler).

tip from experience with the same unit, seal all the seams of the cabinet, not just mine but most of what i hear is that they like to leak a little bit (may not be enough to bother you but it bothered me)

I am in Love with Grams Ranger I watched every video on the rebuild Excellent Job Sarah

You can use a magnetic aquarium glass cleaner to keep the glass free from water without opening the Gass door.

An awesome tool for the queen of clean!!!

Here's a tip any blast cabinet owner can take advantage of: Mod your cabinet with a simple castered base. I cut four pieces of suitable steel angle to capture the base of my blast cabinet which I bolted to it after completing the base. I welded four casters to the base, set the machine base into that then drilled and bolted the machine legs to the base. I used bolts for easy caster replacement or upgrade. Since you're tall you can fab the base to further raise the cabinet. I used some ~five-inch wheeled casters I had lying around but when I buy casters to mount to my tools (including two horizontal industrial compressors and a rotary phase converter so far) I use very heavy duty scaffolding casters. Their mounting in sections of round tube will be self-explanatory when you see one. Everything on my shop floors is very easy to move because I'm old and damaged. Putting my blast cabinet on casters while hanging the dust vacuum off the side works a treat.

Awesome find on this Sarah!!! Seen several other people mention RainX on the glass, it will help so much. Also build a u shaped stand out of pressure treated 4x4's or 6X6's. I used 6x6's for mine and it is at the perfect height and not have to bend over to use the cabinet. I know you will use this like crazy.

I had the same cabinet and you can put any seal between the two halves to stop water leakage. And put the replaceable plastic shield on the glass to save it from being hit from the water.

After blasting ALUMINIUM paint with clear it looks great used to do that with my drag car in the 1970s.

Love how much time you spend on detailing everything.

Excellent construction of what will be a much-used device.

all I can say is Sarah fixes stuff and is quite impressive

Might be worth making a vent to prevent the cabinet from pressurising (leading to leaks). An oil bath oil filter on the vent will catch any particles that are blown out.

Hello Sarah, DIY - Put the air compressor line dryer and pressure regulator etc. mounted on the wall or machine for use with manifold for a few air lines or hoses! like near entrance you then can run hard line front back of shop with a valve too move hoses around the shop mounting points some kits available.

I always like your videos before I watch them and I am never disappointed.

I love your attention to detail. You would make a great fire truck mechanic (EVT).

Vapor honing cabinets are really cool. I've been watching Rebuild Rescue here on the tubes, and they have been able to save a lot of airplane parts because of it.

I've seen people use a water repellent spray on the windshield when the wipers were not working. I guess it would work on the glass of your new fav machine too. Shan't keep you any longer. Toodle pip for now.

Love the swipe at TikTok! 👍👍

Yeah thank you Sarah for a great new video

Thanks for the video Sarah and Angel 🌻🐧

Sarah, cut and mount a light in the top of the vapor blaster so it doesn’t block the view area. Silicone it in.

Get a cheap squeegie, like for a shower, and put it inside the cabnet. you can use it to clear the glass window as needed while using the cabnet.

You're right, it is awesome. Thank you for showing us a reasonable alternative to the industrial units, and please keep sharing what you learn. Enjoying your journey - Thanks for the inspirations!

A magnetic fish tank cleaner might be of use for cleaning the glass. Modify it a little and you could build a wiper mechanism on the outside of the vapour blaster unit.

Great episode. You need to keep the slurry mixing to prevent from settling and causing clogs

From Newfoundland you are my favorite channel. Love your work ethic. You are around the same age as my kids. Keep up the awesome vids

This is my favorite channel hands down!

This is awesome! I'm so glad you got a vapor blaster! Such a cool machine! I love your content, and your quirkiness, so I always watch to the end of every video. Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into everything you do! Your attention to detail is second to none!

I'm glad it stands up to your exacting standards! I am sure you will become intimately acquainted with it in the coming weeks. Nice job as always.

If I owned that, a week from now everything in my garage, house, shed, and possibly the shed itself would have been through it and I'd be looking for my next candidate as an excuse to use it. "Surely the kettle will be alright, after......yeah AND it'll look nice. Yeah it'll be fine." I'd get £400 worth of value back from that in about 3 days I reckon. Haha.

OCD Sarah is screaming with happiness inside 😂 I see plenty of use and smiles from you using this in many videos.

Try using hydrophobic film or coating on the inside viewing glass might help with visibility. 👍🏼

Just what Sarah needed! Something to clean parts with.

Yes, wet blasting is pretty special..

I admire your spunk and knowledge although im old and conservative i appreciate your service to country so rock on Saraha

Smart person I have the exact same polisher and it works great

Like said below, you need to hit the part at an angle, but also from further away (like at least 4 inches). It's even more important with glass beads! 😉

What’s cool about your project giveaway videos is the new owner has the total restoration videos as a history of the car. If they ever sell, then the new owner can see them too!

Sarah gets a new vapor blaster. As expected the first thing to do, is to detail it!

Great job on the video folks! Thanks for making it.

Sarah, almost perfect! If this was like a washing machine where the cleaning could be automatically done, the results should look even better - by automating the process you’re now doing by hand. Yup, the best $400 you’ve ever spent! 😊

A foot peddle controlled rinser for that window would be nifty to rig up.

When it comes to silicosis, nothing is overkill.

Beautifully dressed for an engine teardown, style & science in harmony 😮

I might try that. I have access to an unused sand blast cabinet. Very cool! Thanks, Sarah!

There is a fan you can mount inside it acts like a window. They use it for cnc machines. Make it so you can watch you part run while clearing coolant from the window.

Hi Sarah. Try Rain-X water on the window. I use it on my car during winter and it helps out alot. Love how you keep your videos real and authentic. 👍🐧

I've used to work with a bead blaster at a place a used to work, it looked just like the machine you've got here. It didn't have any water in it, just broken glass beads and air, so it didn't need window wipers. It cleans everything quickly and leaves a very nice matt finish. Discoloration from welding also disappears.

Well I be damned. Vapor blaster??? Never heard of such a thing. I was just about to buy a sand blaster until I saw this. Lucky you for finding a deal.

Sarah, you are such a trooper - i stay amazed to your dedication. You are always in content mode. I bet you think out loud even when the camera isn't rolling. :) Great stuff. Rock on.

Awesome machine! Some Glaco on the window would sure help with the visibility!

There's a product you can get at an aquarium store that has a magnet on either side of the glass and then has a wiper type material that's safe to use on the glass and you can just sweep it back-and-forth periodically.

New Cleaning Machine Makes Sarah Happy.

I have to argue that the best monies you have spent is whatever you pay Angel Food Cabinet Re-Organizer. I like his new channel and have subbed! 2nd place, of course, goes to the $400 parts washer. Its great you are over careful-ing with chemicals and things. Maybe locate a small squeegee you can leave at the parts washer to randomly squeegee the inside glass. No Parts Washer cabinet modification needed. Love the videos!

Best thing to coat the interior glass is Gtechniq. It's designed to last up to 30,000 miles on a car windscreen so it may work well here.

Whoa!!! Now that's an awesome idea with the vapor blaster. Angel Food Cake Carol Of The Engine Studs was cool at the end!

For a very fine cleaning I use a blast gun that has the container on top and fill it with baking soda. They cost like $30.00.

It just needs a wiper blade setup. Perfect!

Sarah, I've been watching your videos for a while now (LOVE the humor, especially the risque stuff ;) but I'm just amazed at the knowledge you have about a great number of things. Just really impressed that you've learned so much, especially at such a young age. But your videos are impressive, to say the least. Thanks again.

Sarah-n-blasted, yah anything that makes cleaning easier will be money well spent. The Toyota Sillica is going to look amazing. Just make sure you run some caulk around the inside to help prevent leeks.

Sarah , the machines I have used have a trough. under the door to guide the water back to the tank . and the glass beads are sharp when they are new after they get used up the beads get round and dont work very well , you will have to experiment with the life span of the beads there are different grits two chose from ...

As you cover labels on your parts you can get clear plastic sheets to use on the inside of the viewing window, so as not to have to wind up micro meshing it later. You are awesome and so is Angel !! So enjoyable watching your videos! 🙂

"...you're in for a wild ride." Sarah, I'm only here for the wild ride! You're hilarious and awesome! Keep it up

When the glass beads are new, they will peen the work surface. Once they make contact with the object you are cleaning, they tend to break of shatter, Those shattered pieces are recirculated though the system BUT, now they have sharp edges and the finish will closely resemble sand blasting, rather than shot peening. Not sure of that system is strong enough but, you could try some 'steel shot media' and see if the results are more to your liking. It should provide a more consistent 'glossy'-er finish. Also, you may want to source replacement nozzles for your gun inside the cabinet. The media will wear away at the nozzle and performance will drop as the opening gets larger.