Bench Top Sand Blast Cabinet

Product Evaluation:

Bench Top Sand Blast Cabinet

    We were looking for a small sand blast cabinet to cleanup small parts. This unit, displayed at a tool show, looked like it might fill the bill. This type unit is available from numerous sources and they all appear to be the same, so it didn’t matter what “brand” we purchased. Inside the unit is a grate to hold the item to be cleaned, two attached gloves, 12v fluorescent light w/shield and a sand blast gun. As shown the gun has an air line (small hose) feeding pressurized air into the grip of the gun and a larger hose feeding sand into the bottom of the barrel. Connected to the end of the sand hose is a length of steel pipe that is inserted into the sand reservoir that is located directly below the bottom grate.
     Assembly was straight forward with the only addition of a quick disconnect air fitting to the cabinets air inlet port to match the shops air lines. About 10lbs of sandblast sand was poured into the bottom of the cabinet. (Note: you do not have to use actual sandblast sand. Fine sand from a sand pit that is run through a window screen can be substituted. Do not skip the screening! All particles must be uniform in size or clogging will occur. And the sand MUST be dry! Don’t dig very deep, just scrape the surface.)        The 110V adapter was plugged in and the switch turned on and we had interior cabinet lights. Now to begin blasting! 100 psi air was fed into the cabinet and we discovered our first problem. The cabinets air inlet fitting was assembled dry, without any sealant. So we had to disassemble the cabinet fitting and seal the threads and reinstall. Now when the shop air line is installed, there isn’t any tell-tale hissing.
    You can easily slip your hands through the gloves and manipulate a component to get the best angle for blasting. Since this blaster wasn’t pressurized and of the “sucker” type, media flow is sometimes erratic. Repositioning the pickup tube frequently helps. It does do a good job of cleaning up a part. At times visability is reduced due to dust in the cabinet.
       Only after we stopped for the first time to open the lid to problems. Sand was coming out of the cabinet everywhere! Both sides of the cabinet had quite large piles of sand as well as almost EVERY seam! Silicone seal was used to fill the cracks. So that meant we were done “testing” for today until the silicone seal dried. examine the blasted component did we start to discover some             

    When testing resumed the next day, the leaks were stopped. However we discovered another problem. The exhaust air filter was passing a large amount of sand dust into the shop. Three nuts hold a retaining plate against the filter which is pressed against the wall of the sand blast cabinet. The filter consists of a paper element with a coarse dry foam cover. We decided to redesign the exhaust filtering system and upgrade to a dual stage oiled foam. We discovered that a an OEM Uni filter for a Honda ATC200X would fit with a slight modification to the sand blast cabinets retaining plate.
    Using Frost King sticky backed insulating foam, we sculptured a foam ring and stuck it to the filter backing ring. Next six 10mm flat washers were placed on each of the exhaust filter retaining studs and the backing ring (foam side in) was placed on the retaining studs. The nuts were installed and tightened securely. A layer of silicone seal was placed on the foam to form an airtight seal. Finally the filter’s flange was worked into the center of the retaining plate until the end of the flange rested against the wall of the sand blast cabinet. Guess what? The cabinet still blows sand dust, right through the Uni dual stage oiled filter! To use this cabinet with the windows closed will require either a duct or a wet/dry vacuum.        So, what do we think of this sand blast cabinet? Misformed sheet metal cause the cabinet seams to leak. Some form of factory sealant would help here. The interior light is not bright enough to cut through the sand dust, the plastic top does not seal against the cabinet creating dust leaks plus it’s continued use fills the shop with a cloud of ultra-fine sand dust getting through the filter AND our upgraded filter too. This sand blast cabinet is definitely not recommended.