I have added a Router variable speed control and now use it to run the shop vac at about half speed and have closed the BBQ damper on the intake about half way. As the media breaks down the dust created and what you are blasting off all go into and stay in the bucket below the clone "dust deputy". The shop vac filter stays clean and the vac stays empty, I add a cup of fresh media to the hopper as needed and throw the spent media and contaminants that are in the bucket away.
I got the cabinet and many parts last year and I am waiting for the rest of the parts to arrive this week. Then, I found this video which will make for a more perfect blasting cabinet than I was expecting to build. Some additional but necessary parts which will drive up the cost a little bit. I, too, am grateful for Alvarez Metal Works. I read a few comments below that completes my build. My thanks to everyone who contributed to my build. After all these past decades, I am going to have my own blast cabinet. Thanks, everyone.
"After all these past decades, I am going to have my own" -- I can so relate. Also for decades, I've occasionally used a friend's very basic one (same size), and it would clearly benefit from all these upgrades, but he hasn't got time, he's got a business to run! ;) Even so, I've lusted after one of my own for decades. Mine arrives today, I'm pushing 60. :D
Excellent video! A short and concise informative video explaining the different mods without rambling on and on. I've literally spent the last 12 hours (over 2 days) watching videos regarding HF blast cabinet mods and this is one of the best videos I've seen. Thank you.
You'd think this would be obvious, but I've not seen anyone else who's done it, and I admit I'm glad i saw your comment before I put mine together! It's due for delivery today, and I'm gonna do the same. Not being able to see the work well is a common complaint with blast cabinets.
Thank you - The parts list is really helpful. FYI: An iPad tempered glass screen protector (~$10 Ebay) bonded to the inside of the glass window keeps it really clean. Related to your use of foil tape for deflectors, I used double sided (3M VHB) tape to attach aluminum metal deflectors. Tape is from auto parts store & sold to bond protective strips to door panels.
I'm going to try a ceramic coating on the glass, have no idea about it , never used it before. "9H Liquid Crystal" from Amazon. www.amazon.com/automotive-Hocossy-Anti-Scratch-Hydrophobic-Protection/dp/B07GR7FXJK/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1SQWFCYUAMEAC&keywords=ceramic+coating&qid=1558396114&s=gateway&sprefix=ceramic%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-4
You are right about putting it together... I am a 40 year home mechanic, and it took me 2 days of 4-5 hours to put this f/er together.... I would not build it again if a customer gave me $200 for assembly....
And thank you to Raphael at Alvarez metal works. I found your videos to be very informative. I'll be doing the upgrade shortly and you took all of the guess work out of the project for me.
Today I tried out my sandblasting cabinet with all the upgrades. It works great!!!!! Still trying to regulate the metering valve, but should not take to long. I have no leaks where media could come through. Thanks for the video, and all the links made it easy to order all the parts.
Thank you so very much for the parts list. I have ordered the foot feed and gun from Eastwood and the metering valve from IDS. I heard the kits at one point were $350-$450 to upgrade these cabinets. Like you I am on a budget. Sadly I put silicone in my cabinet and I am now taking all of it out. I agree that cabinet was horrid to assemble. I loved the hardware that my fat fingers could not hold and was always too short to fasten.
Looks good I like the foot pedal. I would put a 90 degree elbow on the back of the gun for the air hose. This will put both hoses side by side for easier moving the gun. Thanks for the video.
I just picked mine up today with the 25% off coupon for that same price. I think I'm saving a ton of money by buying the upgrades off Amazon/eBay etc too. Nice job on yours, I hope mine comes out as nice. Waiting on FedEx, UPS etc now.
For the tape replacement, Lowes, Homedepot & others go to the roofing department they have very light metal (tin) used for flashing.(like a 1 1/2"angle) Easy to use and very cheap.
All of the bolts used to hold the cabinet together were put in backwards. all the nuts and excess length of bolt are outside the cabinet which is something you could easily scrape against. The screws heads should be outside the cabinet so there’s a more flush fit with the nuts on the inside. On the other hand, nice job with the mods. I’ll need to do this with my harbor freight cabinet.
Actually having the bolts installed backwards improves cabinet performance and have never presented a problem in any way. I was going to cut them flush but never found the need to.
Good job with another example of a great build for less! I have a recommendation for you to consider, because it works well for mine, and its still going strong after 5 years of moderate use. Try adding a fine grid stainless steel wire mesh screen on the inside of the cabinet to preserve the upgraded tempered glass window from etching. The screen grid dimension is similar to a screen door or mosquito netting. It doesn't obstruct your vision while working, especially with bright LED lighting. Unfortunately I had the material on hand and I can't remember where I picked it up, but I'm sure you can find something similar to 120 mesh on Amazon.
Tim, I was curious... What size is the window on these? I can't find any info. Basically, I'm thinking of getting & modding a blast cabinet, but want to try using the mesh method. In order to order mesh, I need to plan on the size of the dimensions of the mesh. It seems that most of it is cut smaller than I imagine the window size is. Any help would be appreciated. Oh, and if you still have the cabinet, what's your experience so far with the 120 mesh?
@@jde1780 I no longer have the cabinet. I ended upgrading to a much larger vapor blasting cabinet and sold the media blaster on CL to a local motorcycle shop. I bought a roll of the 120 mesh, and cut out what I needed. The window was approx. 18x12, but I oversized the screen to leave enough to fold over the edges by an inch for rigidity. I bolted the 4 corners with 1/4-20 stainless bolts, washers and wing nuts for easy removal. I liked the 120 mesh. Used it for about 2 years without issue. Hope that helps. You won't be disappointed.
I just put one together. What a horror story to put that together worse instructions I’ve ever seen and you’re right, thank goodness for RU-vid videos.
My understanding is that these blasters can create a lot of static electricity in dry conditions, so running a wire from the gun handle to the cabinet would be advised.
Thank you for posting that video,customprc. It was a big relief to know that this upgrade can be done on a budget.I really appreciate all the time you took researching and hunting down all the items necessary to do the job and the parts list to find all of the items. I saw your comments on the vacuum intake bbq pinwheel adjustment and the variable speed router for the vacuum.I was wondering if you experimented with the media meter valve and what you found was the best setting. And have you found any other adjustment improvements you might have done since these last posts? I also found that if you don't have a baffle from your old microwave for the left side vacuum intake,that you could use a pie pan or a pound cake loaf pan. I noted that in the video by Mr. Alvarez that he upgraded the gun to one that seems to help the flow better than the one that comes with the Eastwood pedal/gun combo. The newest upgrades are changing everything in the line from 3/8" to 1/2",but I think the 3/8" mainline will give the average hobbyist,like myself plenty of grunt to do small projects. Here is a link to the gun i mentioned on Ebay. Not sure of the inlet hose size,but I just wanted to show the design type for reference. www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-Steel-Air-Sandblaster-Gun-Kit-Spray-Gun-35mm-Boron-Carbide-Nozzle/172847301877?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649
Nice! Was hoping to see someone find a budget friendly version of the Tacoma mods. I’ve been watching Raphael’s vids as well. He does a great job of explaining everything. Nice to know about slowing down the vac speed. Thank you
This is one of best videos that I have seen on fixing the blast cabinet which is total junk. I still have not got mine to work! Completely frustrated. Can you list the parts? Where do you get the 70 grit sand? What size hoses? Thanks!
Parts Links are listed at the top when you expand it but are old now, the 70 grit Aluminum Oxide was bought at Harbor Freight. The hoses used came with the cabinet and or the gun/pedal kit.
1 thumbs down... obviously from Tacoma Co... lol. thanks for the build info. i followed this after i found out Tacoma's would cost quite a bit more.. we'll see if the quality of the cheaper parts hold up the same.
You put the 8/32 bolt thru the steel panel and put a regular flat nut on tight, that holds the bolt in place. You do have to remove some of the plastic from underneath the plastic ring at each bolt location to create a clearance space for the flat nut. Be careful when you do this as the black plastic ring is VERY brittle and you can break it easily. A dremel with a cutting wheel or even a dremel or die grinder with a fine grinding stone will do it, just take your time with whatever method you choose.
Thanks for the video. How long did it take for the sealant to set? I added the same sealant to the funnel (hopper) and it has been 3 days and the sealant is just starting to get tacky. Of course it has been pretty cold here in the North East, so maybe that has an adverse effect on the drying time.
It was warm when I did it Kurt and it set up enough over night to a point it was basically tack free. But since they say to wait a week before painting over if so desired I would say it is a temperature sensitive slow cure. I never did paint over my sealant seams and the sealant seems to shed the media just fine.
I put the hopper and media metering valve in my boiler room which is quite toasty and the sealant setup overnight. I probably wont get to the project for a few more days, so it should cure nicely by the time I assemble. Thanks.
Thanks for putting this video out. I just got the blast pedal combo from Eastwood (was on back order) and now i cant wait to get it all together. What size holes did you drill for the media and air hoses? I did go one step further and did the hinged top conversion. I also added the variable speed control fro the shop vac. I really appreciate the parts list that you posted , it really helped a lot!
I used a stepped uni-bit to make my hose holes, I did not pay attention to what size they wound up being. I slowly increased the steps until I liked the fit and used the 1 inch rubber grommets from the HF kit.
i'm getting ready to build my H.F. cabinet and i'm curious about the hinged top conversion , can you please show me a link or give me the title of the you tube video you used for your hinged top conversion and i also got the eastwood gun and pedal,and china dust deputy , they are on there way here, i also need to find and cheaper variable speed control, any info would be helpful.
@@Woody85225 I did not do and have no knowledge of the hinged top conversion. You get the Router Variable Speed Control from Harbor. Freight www.harborfreight.com/router-speed-control-43060.html
Great video! I bought the eastwood gun and pedal too. How did you connect the air line through the cabinet? It looks like in the video you have the washer on the inside. I have tried doing that and I just can't get enough of the threads through to connect the hose from the gun. I am also curious about the damper door on the side of the cabinet. I ordered a similar one that you suggested and I didn't realize that it was 7" in diameter. Did you cut your hole bigger or did you just leave it?
I did not enlarge the damper hole James there is no need to, as far as the washer on the air line goes I can`t say I remember, but leaving it out if it is causing problems wouldn`t hurt anything.
Great video, purchased items based on your recommendations. One question - where did you find the hose for the vacuum and chinese dust deputy. I am showing ID is 1 7/8 and outside is 2 1/8 - neither are standard sizes. Curiously enough, I have the exact same vac , probably 25 years old.
OregonBeeRancher. Being somewhat of a hoarder I save a lot of stuff. The hoses are both from older Sears shop vacs. One from the vac being used and one I saved from a motor-blown shop vac. Both vacs are like 20yrs old, I do not know if they still use this size hose on their shop vacs.
Great job putting together the parts list! I'm following your lead. Thanks for sharing the work you put into this! Another guy says you sound like Ray Romano. I'd say you sound like a New York guy??
Thanks again for the great video and the detail for all the modification parts. You must have done a lot of work to track down all those items. I'm in the middle of doing mine. Well done! Thanks for sharing. You saved me a lot of money! How is your blast cabinet working now, 9 months later?
This is a bit of a noob question but have not seen the inquiry addressed: If there isn't already a recommendation against recycling the media at least within the same job / part cleaning, is it advisable or effective to use what the cyclone separator precipitates out from dust collection, possibly contiguously recycling, draining it back into the cabinet while in use?
By any chance can you tell me the size of the grommets you put in the front of your machine I’m trying to figure it out and I don’t know what size grommets to get I appreciate any help I like your video
I bought the assorted size set of grommets from Harbor Freight and they were I believe the largest ones that came in that assortment box which was 1inch.
Thanks again for the video and reply! I am getting started on my cabinet in these coming weeks with your recommended parts. Just had a couple more questions I was wondering if you could answer... - Do you know if adding a foot pedal/regulator setup would lower the overall airflow? - I noticed there is a cheaper version of the metering valve on Jet with what looks like a nicer knob for adjustment. Do you know what the difference is and does it matter which one I purchase? jet.com/product/1300-001-Valve-Metering-Assembly-WLocking-Stem-New-Style/8007e5b7473440d88f31f3de5069a531
Your link took me to the same metering valve that I am using and I have no experience with the "cheaper" model you mentioned so I can offer no advice on it. I am also unfamiliar with the foot pedal/regulator setup you mentioned.
Sorry I meant this version with rubber cap (they call it old style) jet.com/product/1300-002-Valve-Metering-Assembly-WRubber-Cap-Old-Style/1a72ba33acf04ff29ff6288443e74e2c
I personally would be leery of the plastic cap version, plastic gets old and can become brittle and crack, Usually in my experience when a manufacturer comes out with a "new and improved" version of a product it is usually in response to the short-comings,design flaws and end-user complaints about the original product/model. But that is only my opinion, I would get the newer model every time.
Do you know the dimensions of the grate after you cut it down? Any pics on where you connected the vacuum? Did you use the same setup as Alvarez? Where did you put the BBQ damper? Is that on the fresh air intake on the left side of the cabinet?
Brian I don`t remember the dimensions off-hand but they and everything else that you asked about are in the Alvarez series of videos. They were invaluable to me for doing this project and I watched them more than once, but I usually fast forward till he starts working, he likes to talk in the beginning of each video at length way too much. At 5:25 you get a very fast glimpse of the BBQ damper mounted on the left side of the cabinet.
Do you have any water traps in your system? Alvarez said Tacoma recommended no water traps at all, but how do you fight humidity/moisture? Also what PSI/CFM do you generally run your compressor at?
I like Alvarez have a fairly large water trap right next to my 60gal compressor. I also removed the cheap stock drain valve from the bottom center of the compressor tank and using 1/4in pipe and fittings I plumbed it out to the side of the tank and put a ball valve on the end. That allows for easy and fast tank condensate draining which I do everyday that I am running the compressor. My compressor output setting varies with what air tools I am using at the time and their requirements, the range is usually between 60-120psi for my air tools.
Illusion Kendama Yes the foam tape gets removed and the double sided tape is used in its place.I used an old iron and ran it along the painted side as I slowly pulled the foam tape off. A blow dryer would work as well for this. If no heat is used the foam tape will not come off clean and glue residue and foam pieces will stay behind. With the just right amount of back heating the tape comes off clean. The double sided tape adds strength and seals well.
I need some help! I just built this exact set up following the video but I'm not sure what my problem is. I'm having issues getting all of the media to flow evenly through the gun. I've tried adjusting the adjustable part on the siphon, switching to a different media, eliminating moisture in cabinet, and checked for air leaks in cabinet and all hoses/connections. I'm thinking it might be the 3/8 air like I have running from my compressor but I'm just not sure. Basically my problem is, media will shoot out a little but not enough to blast anything easily. Also the flow is just so uneven and seems to want to just stop flowing. Please help!
I am really no expert on blast cabinets but my guess would be your compressor might be too small. I am using a 60gal craftsman professional with a 3 1/2 hp 220volt motor and it is barely doing the job. Also by constantly running as it does when blasting a lot of water is being produced which can quickly gum things up. I am starting to experiment with a Motor Guard filter that can take a 4 1/2in wide roll of toilet paper to try and curb the moisture getting to the cabinet.
ensure media in supply hopper is dry and does not form clumps when handled. Endure you're trying to feed too much media - do you have a good media metering valve on the media supply hopper? Ensure that you are feeding LOADS of air through the gun. You should not be able to see the media coming out, and the air flow should be loud. If you have any kind of consumer air compressor that flows less than 10 CFM, use the smallest orifice in your gun that you can - 1/8" probably - and ensure that your air supply is not restricting flow. You can have small amounts of 3/8" plumbing, but for long runs it should be 1/2". Insufficient air flow or incorect gun (internal) nozzle adjustment is the #1 problem to troubleshoot, from what I've read. If you have a small compressor with a large tank you can wait for the tank to fill, and operate your cabinet intermittently. You really need at least 5 CFM minimum from your compressor though. A small pancake unit is not gonna cut it.
Great but I would love to see it in action because I have seen some others, who where very satisfied, but the video did not really impress me. So maybe you found the best solution yet, please show us. Thanks Bernhard
Ok, but I thought yours has a new twist on this with less mediaflow than the guys who put lot of media in and it keeps puffing media up at an irregular rate. I have a huge commercial size compressor but I just got such a blastbox as a second to my large vapor blaster (self built after a youtube plan) to use fine aluminum oxyde to get corrosion and paint of before wet blasting a nice surface on. So all I want to achive is an even mediaflow and not that puffing that most of those do.
Cyclone link www.banggood.com/High-Efficiency-Cyclone-Powder-Dust-Collector-Filter-Top-Quality-For-Vacuums-IA1-p-1028998.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN Valve link jet.com/product/1300-001-Valve-Metering-Assembly-WLocking-Stem-New-Style/8007e5b7473440d88f31f3de5069a531
I really don`t know the answer to that one Norman, but I believe in the case of blast cabinets "bigger is better". But I have seen videos of guys running these cabinets on some pretty medium sized compressors but they sometimes have to wait till their tank refills and cannot do continuous blasting with them, I get by with a 60gal craftsman compressor and I can blast till my arms get tired.
Can you supply the Home Depot URLs for the 1" close nipple, chase nipple and the 1" rigid conduit coupling used with the metering valve (from Jet.com)?
I never had them Norman, I just went into the hardware store and asked for a 1" close nipple, 1" chase nipple and the 1" rigid conduit coupling and they handed them over, about $6 or so was the cost if I recall correctly.
Powder coat is one of the more difficult coatings to remove, as it is a kind of tough rubber, which does not shatter like old paint and cannot be cut easily. I love it as a coating, but I hate it when I have to remove it. I've resorted to a torch on some occasions for small parts which had no temper. :(
On Alvarez’s videos, he recommends a 1 1/16” hole saw for the air line and media line going into the cabinet. I did that and used the 1” HF grommets you recommended. Problem is, those sizes don’t match up well with the Eastwood gun/pedal/hose assembly. Can you tell me specifically what hole saw you used and maybe go into a bit more detail about how you made those lines going into the cabinet more air tight? Thanks.
I did not use a hole saw. I made all my holes with a unibit. Some people call it a step-bit. I would slowly drill with the unibit until I reached the proper diameter needed for my rubber grommet of choice that snugly fit the hose I was using.
I really should add how appreciative I am you made this video. It was your links I used for all the parts I purchased to mod my cabinet. I’m well on my way to having my cabinet ready as a result of both yours and Alvarez’s videos. Can’t wait to see this thing in action! Thanks!
Jay Linga It would probably work Jay but would be running constantly.I seem to recall that some guys had to wait between their tank filling up.Also inportant to use all 3/8 size hoses and connectors as smaller size restricts the cfm's.
thanks for ur fast reply with the hose size being said that means i can't use the eastwood gun and pedal grade I'm assuming by the looks of the hose its small . correct me if I'm wrong
Jay Linga I removed the quick connect from the pedal and used 3/8 right to it direct. The only piece of 1/4 hose goes from the pedal to the gun and works just fine.