Blasting cabinet

chrisk

chrisk

Hero member
Location
Brisbane, Australia
At last, I purchased a blasting cabinet, one of the best things I've bought for restoring bike bits. Love it!

It came with glass, but what medium works best, for longest?

 
Hi Chris congrats on the sandblaster...
I used garnet india medium in mine seemed to work OK when was using it,  but my cabinet is fairly a fairly big unit and it was killing my compressor which is a 2.2 HP with a 15 Gallon tank, its the largest I can run on 240V. and I can paint with it all day no worries...but when sand blasting it ended up lunching the run caps on the thing.. so had to replace them.

Haere and Forbes reckon I need a 3 cylinder jobbie with a big 22 gallon tank but they are 3 phase, so it just sits there mostly these days and send the big stuff to the local guy... ... one of these day when I can find one of those "get round to it's" might try to plumb in a second tank and see if that helps,  Wondering if a smaller cabinet like the ones Supercheap have might use less air... as they might have smaller guns and tips.. as the smaller the tip size the less air they use logically...
 
Chris, the guy at The Blast Factory in Melbourne who did my cases, heads, barrels, top covers etc used a walnut and plastic medium - came up like new with no metal removed - similar effect to soda methinks, but not sure if it works in small cabinets. he used garnet to turn a polished gear lever stub into one that looks matt like a Jota rearset one, and the selector case from polished back to original SF matt/sandcast look.
 
Chris,
Look at how many litres per min the compressor can deliver. Otherwise you will spend a lot of time waiting for pressure to build up. I am using a 3 phase compressor that gives 680L/Min. Different types of bead give different finishes. Be careful of the bead and your lungs.
Ian
 
Brett, I reckon you get 3-phase to outside your house, power company spurs off one of the phases for 240 volt.
They try and mix up different phases for each house in the road to spread the load.
You might be able to get all three phases after all!
 
With the cost of a decent compressor and cabinet that makes for an expensive set up. You can get a lot of different types of blasting ( incl vapour blasting) outsourced for a fraction of that.
Ian
 
Mactriple said:
With the cost of a decent compressor and cabinet that makes for an expensive set up. You can get a lot of different types of blasting ( incl vapour blasting) outsourced for a fraction of that.
Ian
Click to expand...

:LOL: I meant the $17K was for 3 phase to my shed, not the compressor price.
 
I don't hve 3 phase available where I live so all my biggish machines run a 3hp motor through a 15amp circuit. My compressor is a 3hp v-twin and pushes out 16cfm. I used it to soda blast my cases and it worked fine.
 
chrisk said:
:LOL: I meant the $17K was for 3 phase to my shed, not the compressor price.
Click to expand...
Yes I realised that but you must add the cost of the blasting equipment to the 3 phase cost. I paid over $5K for my compressor and cabinet. I wouldn't have gone down that road if I didn't have 3 phase to push it all along in the first place.
Ian
 
we changed from single phase to 3 phase and apart from the changeover cost, every power bill after that was just over double the original cost
one thing you miss out on is off peak power concessions, not possible on 3 phase
or so the power company tossers tell us  :(
 
Took off 3-phase power fom the house fuse box (kitchen range, water heater, etc) to my shed, no problems.  The 800litre tank supplies my air system with 10bar(140psi).  Takes a while to fill as the compressor is only a small single-cylinder.

Important to get a compressor that can deliver more than required while blasting.  The size of the tank is largely irrelevant, only decides on the intervals when the compressor starts up again.  While my tank is large enough to cope with blasting, the compressor is far too small.  Once down to 5bar(70psi), it doesn't manage to fill the tank while the cabinet is in use, which typically runs at 8bar(110psi).  Need to wear hearing protection while blasting, the compressor is only 3 metres away. :(  Big jobs turn out very tiresome.

The motor driving the compressor is rated at 5kW, enough to cope with a larger 2- or 3-cylinder unit, so I'm on the look out for something more suitable(another fucking winter project I don't really need... ::)).

I have an assortment of blasting media, from walnut shell (for delicate stuff like carb bodies or piston crowns) to aluminium oxide granulate (for the rough stuff like painted frame bits).  Glass beads work well for generall cleaning/rust removal.  I always keep a supply of used beads on hand (mostly pulverised) for fine finishes on aluminium alloys.  Just a matter of 10 minutes changing from one media to another.

piet
 
sfcpiet said:
Took off 3-phase power from the house fuse box (kitchen range, water heater, etc) to my shed, no problems.   
Click to expand...

I suppose that make three scenario's:
1). 3 phase only goes as far as the pole outside/near your property and then the power company spurs off for 240V.
2). 3 phase goes as far as the house and then spurred off.
3). 3 phase goes to various spots inside the house.


redax5 said:
one thing you miss out on is off peak power concessions, not possible on 3 phase
or so the power company tossers tell us  :(
Click to expand...

I expect they don't or won't supply a 3-phase off-peak meter, probably too much bother for the poor souls.
 
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