Shotblast Cabinets

[mrscalex]

Does anyone have any experience of using these? In particular the smaller sub £150 ones?

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/heavy-duty-blast-cabinet/

I’d initially dismissed these cheap ones as no good but reading reviews people speak highly. Especially for small parts like brake callipers.

The issues seem to come from having an effective setup - like dust extraction. Which is probably the main thing I’m seeking advice on.

But any experience gratefully received.

 

[Jack Ratt]

Buy an old Henry hoover and you're sorted

 

[t-tony]

It's not just the dust issue, you need to be able recycle the blast medium too or it can get quite expensive I believe.

Tony.

 

[mrscalex]

I just had a long chat with the manager in the local Machine Mart.

He told me not to bother unless I had a compressor running a quoted cfm of over 20. The lowest spec compressor he showed me was actually 18 cfm but being heavy duty/40 amp he said it was more up to the job but still borderline. That's £750 and the size of a motorbike.

So my larger than some 14.5 cfm Tiger 16/510 is not up to the job.

He said it would appear to be doing a job but would a) not blast deep enough and b) knacker the compressor.

So you'd be looking at just over £1,000 required to have a worthwhile setup.

 

[Sean d]

I made a shot blast box from a plastic storage box, wasn't ideal but worked ok for me on all the smaller stuff

 

[mrscalex]

I made a shot blast box from a plastic storage box, wasn't ideal but worked ok for me on all the smaller stuff

At the end of the day the cabinets are just environments for blasting in. The thing that seems to matter is the compressor. And for frequent/best use the extraction system too. I expect you have a whacking compressor in the workshop 25-30 cfm or more?

 

[Sean d]

At the end of the day the cabinets are just environments for blasting in. The thing that seems to matter is the compressor. And for frequent/best use the extraction system too. I expect you have a whacking compressor in the workshop 25-30 cfm or more?

Yes mate, we have a screw compressor

 

[Chaz Ricorn]

I've used a friends blast cabinet a fair bit, as was pointed out a very competent compressor is a must and that gun is gonna last about 5 minutes, the abrasive blast thru the gun and wears it out super quick, you need a proper blast nozzle with replaceable tips, I think they are usually made of copper.
Your better off just taking items to a blaster when needed.