Harbor Freight Floor Sand Blast cabinet

[gm280]

I just bought one of Harbor Freight's floor size sand blaster cabinets. I bought it because they had one of their "Three Day Sales" and I got it cheap. Cheaper then their usual 20% off specials. So I had to buy it. However, I see there are lots of mods and suggestions for building it with additional mods to make it better. Do any of you own one and if so what do you see as a good idea to change or mod while assembling?

I haven't even opened the box up yet. So now is the best time to make changes...I guess. :noidea:

 

[Boomyal]

gm, i've had my eyes on that unit for years. There is nothing like a good sized blast cabinet. I just don't have the space to put one. My recollection is that you will need to incorporate some kind of vacuum unit for the dust that gets created when you blast. I do not remember if it had a light inside but that is a must, I also think that the blast gun is not the best but I would go with it until proven otherwise. Happy cleaning.

 

[Bob_VT]

I have been looking at making a wet blaster (a good excuse for a bigger compressor) but I have also considered a benchtop for glass beading....... If you need a good inside light consider LED hands down. I put a pair of cheap LED's on my ATV for plowing and they are blinding . Yes a good light is a mist.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Throw away the supplied chinese hardware and go to the local ACE or true value to get fasteners that wont break

Get a dust collection unit for it. I used a shop vac for a while, then upgraded.

The stock light will fail ( i had 2 switches fail, one power supply and one bulb), harbor freight will replace the whole cabinet. The stores are not really equipped to replace just parts

In the end, i simply wired in a LED trouble light wrapped in shipping tape

 

[gm280]

Ha thanks all. I think it does come with a light inside. But either way, that has to go in so you can see what you're blasting.

I am not new to sand blasting. I bought a Sear 40 pound hopper type sand blaster many decades ago and used the heck out of it. I even made some temporary cardboard cabinets, for lack of a better word, and used a trouble-shooting mechanics light hung inside. I even used a sand blasting hood over my head and arms. But regardless, you'd still get sand in places I would rather not have sand. However, this new cabinet should help sand blasting and not getting sand everywhere....I hope!

I plan to watch all the YouTube videos on this cabinet and then proceed to assembling it. Seems I always have something to blast and set it aside until I feel like getting sand all over me. Then I setup and blast everything at one time. And then feel miserable until I can shower it all off. Maybe this setup will stop all that.

I started using the black diamond media that tractor supply sells and that stuff is amazing compared to actual sand. It seem to continue cutting paint and rust over and over and over until I loose so much of it, that I have to buy more. And it seem to have less dust generated as well. So we will see. I also want to buy a bag of baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) to blast carbs and more delicate items like that instead of sand pitting them with a rougher finish that the sand leaves.

I may snap pictures along the way as I assemble the cabinet and post them if everybody thinks that would be a good thread to add here. :noidea:

 

[MTboatguy]

I have had one for years, works fine, if you upgrade the fittings on it. If they leak you are not going to like it, I upgraded the seal and the air fittings and have a 70 gallon compressor, it take a lot of air to run one of them.