Hi All.. After covering the entire neighbourhood with a dusting of sand I decided to set about building my own sand blasting cabinet to clean up parts during my current restoration.. The great thing about the box is it allows me to clean Parts inside my workshop now rather than outside, with no goggles or air mask required, plus, your grit keeps nice and dry, which in itself is vital.. Took 3 hrs to build and minimal cost.. Started with a £20 B&Q storage box, fitted two wooden legs on the base.. Cut a small hole in the centre of the base and fitted a small plastic funnel to drain out the sand ( optional) fitted a couple of wooden runners inside the box and attached an old oven grill to it via two small picture frame hinges.. Cut a hole in front panel and fitted a rubber grommet to allow blast gun in... Also made it so if I want the whole gun inside the box I can.. Cut A 3.5 inch hole in front panel, using an old gravity spray gun pot I cut the top inch off and used this to attach a rubber glove to via a large jubilee clip.. Used an old baking tray underneath to catch sand .. Also used draught excluder here and there to seal tight.. Attached pipe to air line with water trap... Connected dry grit line to gun... This is the paint and primer stripped sample.. B&Q Box Front view Glove attached and hinged baking tray.. Gun and glove attached From above.. Plastic lid of box off.. Hinged grille open.. All ready to go.. The only mod I'm going to make is to cut out a window in the lid and insert a glass view window as the plastic makes it difficult to see.. Gun and line kit £17 from machine mart... Any advice needed, just call.. N@@DS
love the ingenuity - do you put up with the dust cloud and stop and allow to settle so you can see what your doing again? Could maybe add a dust extractor connected through lid in the corner? Hope you're wearing a good breathing mask.. I used to do loads in my lunch hour nearly every place I worked that had one but always got a 'film' on my teeth afterwards despite them being industrial units with sophisticated extraction.
Hi Yes I have a really good 3M mask.. Working outside was either very hot or it would pour with rain.. I have a little sand recycling system going.. The used sand goes in the tray underneath.. It's then poured into a large funnel with a fine filter fitted to get rid of foreign debris.. From there it exits to another big tray which is heated.. The sand/grit is warmed up before going through the process again.. This way I always have dry clean grit ready at hand.. I don't seem to be getting a dust cloud to be honest.. The lid seals well and the sand goes out the bottom down a pipe and into the tray.. When I put the unit in its perminant home I'm going to fit an exit pipe which leads to a sealed lid container with the pipe entering via a sealed hole in the lid.. That way there's no escape at all ...
Very clever. How well can you see when you are using it? Would a light inside the box and/or a clear perspex panel in the lid help? You could also use baking soda in it for more delicate parts I made one like this: AircooledTech's Tools-On-The-Cheap - DIY Soda Blaster Yours is way better though. I shall of course be stealing your good idea and claiming it for my own if anyone asks.
It's a 2.5 hp compressor.. Which is jus about fine.. A little bigger would be better.. ( that's what her in doors says lol) I'm going to put a piece of Perspex or glass in lid yes.. it works like a dream.. I'm now going to make a rectangular shaped funnel from an old printing litho plate ( thin polished alum) to allow the grit to just funnel out of the box on its own, from there, down a plastic pipe and into a sealed plastic container which also has the pick up pipe in it for the gun with a t piece in it to heat the sand and remove any moisture...so it will then be a fully recycled system..
Looks good but (and I'm not trying to put a downer on it) you can buy a ready made cabinet with all the stuff you need for under £70 so, unless you've already got this stuff lying around it does seem like hard work for little saving...
The really good thing about it is when I'm not sand blasting with it ...I can put it to use it as a big sandwich box... Might be a bit crunchie between the teeth but hey!
Yes I had a demo with one of those at a well know tool store and a bigger one at 150 quid.. To be honest they were very poor... That's why I thought I could do better.. With mine I can have the freedom of using the gun in the box.. Attached to the box and completely outdoors too.. Can completely recycle, filter and heat my sand too.. Plus it's bigger.. 86 ltrs and very lightweight.. Just put it on my bench when using and store all the sand in the box when not in use and put it away under my bench...
My friend just mailed me and said his neighbour bought one no bigger than mine and it cost him a grand.. Also said it's so heavy needs 2 to move it around...
Might want to get a visor and some tear offs. The plastic won't be see through for too long once the grits bounced about the place....
"Sandblast 2" the sequel is available now, on the DF.. In the cleaning and finishing section... Thanks for your input, much of this has been put to good use... N@@DS
