DIY: Home Made Sand Blast Cabinet

Builds
1

figured id draw this up for at least one person on the board. its the alternative to the $250 Harbour Freight / Ebay blast cabinet

i wanted to get as much use out of a full sheet of plywood as possible, without having to buy a 2nd sheet to finish the cabinet

what i came up with is a cabinet that has a work area of 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep and 2 feet tall, allowing you to fit most any car part inside the cabinet, with a view window thats 2 feet wide and a foot tall

the problem with using only one shet of plywood is that theres not enough wood to create the usual angled “sand hopper” that the prefab units have. so instead i figured that a simple 5 gallon bucket attached to the bottom would work fine, just as long as you remember to scoop the sand off the bottom of the cabinet into the bucket

the bucket prep is simple. take a hack saw and remove the top 2" or so of the bucket, those stiffening lips are just gonna get in the way. when you cut the round hole in the floor of the cabinet, you want it so the top edge of the bucket fits tight so that sand doesnt leak out

floor board is notched in the corners for the 2x4 legs, which then get screwed to the front or back walls

door: Decide which end you want it on, then trace out an outline 2" from the edge of the panel to mark the door, cut with jigsaw. use scrap plywood to add a lip to the outside of the door on 4 edges, 5th edge is the hinge. find a cheap latch at the hardware store to kepp the door closed tight

gloves: hit up the plumbing isle for a pair of pvc flanges, screw them on, hose clamp the gloves in place

view window: duh, cut a rectangular hole and screw on some lexan ! Tip: buy thin lexan AND thick lexan, the thick stuff is for safety and the thin stuff is expendable, when it gets beaten up, replace it

lighting: scavange some light sockets out of old lamps, one on either side of the view window. Cover with a cut-up pop bottle so the sand doesnt beat the light bulbs up

ill finish this later …

2

you know i was thinking about this only a few hours ago …

3

door detail … lil better:

4

more of what it would look like … no legs added yet

5

and another

6

This looks promising. When does the prototype get built?

7

i donno … it was F22AccordVtec that was asking about the blasting cabinet, so this is what i came up with as the alternative idea, instead of spending 250 on a cabinet thats pretty cheaply built

im still working on more detailed plans, and also a better write up for the hotrodders.com forum, maybe someone over there will wind up building it first :gotme:

8

personally I would drop the $250. Harbor Freight has sales all the time too.
Building that will be a pain in the ass. You also need a elevated screen on the inside… the bottom should be hopper shaped… should have a port for a dust collector…

by the time you get the lexan/glass, and all the other shit it will cost you over $100

I’d rather save myself the BS and get a nicely finished cabinet thats ready to go.

9

the bottom doesnt need to be hopper shaped considering sandblasting outside with a blaster and a bucket of media works fine , and the pressure blasters that have the 10 gallon air/ media tank arent hopper shaped either … so all this would require is occasionaly sweeping the sand back into the bucket

all we’d have to do is go to a scrap yard and find a SS shelf from an oven to cover the bucket … wha la… all the shelf you need over the bucket

the harbor freight ones are 300 in the store … but you can get the same ones on ebay for the 250 i quoted, but then theres the shiping too

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=39170

10

Please keep this thread updated as you go along…I’m a pretty firm believer in “you get what you pay for” However, if this works, this build looks like it would cost no more than ~60 bucks. Lexan is not that expensive at all. I think the gloves and the clamps for them would be more costly than the lexan. I so want a blasting cabinet for minor shit but can’t justify spending 300 bills on one.

11

well im fuxored at the moment, my hd that all the plans are on is curently deleated … lol

i was gonna post all the plans on hotrodders.com to se if someone there would build it, but i cant now considering everything is gone for the time being

i also figured out how to build it without having to buy plumbing flanges to mount the gloves, which knocks another $15 of the overall price :slight_smile:

12

Front panel

8" between arm holes

cut arm holes to fit gloves

using the scrap from cutting the holes, cut a 1/2" wide ring , then split the ring so that a wedge can be driven in

slip ring into the end of the glove, slip them into the arm hole cut out, expand the ring with a scrap of wood and then hold it all together with a nail

13

panel sizes and how they fit together… end view

Back 36" x 23 1/4
bottom 36 x 22 1/2
front 36 x 12 … one end angled at 22.5*
angle 36 x 16.971 … both ends angled at 22.5*
top 36 x 12 … one end angled at 22.5*
end plates 24x24, 45* cut is one foot down and one foot back from the top front corner

angled panel is the last one to go in, might need to be trimmed to fit perfect