Hey another guy who built his own blast box! Or at least purchased a home built box.
No help but thought I would post a few pictures of mine. Had it well over 20 years now.
I made it large and used the kit from Skat-Blast as the basis and then modified the dimensions to a larger size.
They have a basic kit with the hardware for $440 or so.
Blast Box Kit
Here is the shell I built. The box is mainly wood with steel re-reinforcements in certain spots.
Now I do have some suggestions for a few accessories. I was always making a mess on the floor when opening the door and taking my parts out as the glass beads get everywhere inside the box.
I did a few things that helped a bunch.
First I added a trough outside and below the door opening. To catch what falls out. I finally found the right sized scoop (It's called a gutter scoop) and it fits perfectly inside the trough and I store it there and it's out of the way.
I also added a shield to the inside of the door to guide the beads back away from the door opening. It does help and it's magnetically mounted on the steel door. The box is made of plywood but I cut the door out of some 10 gauge steel I purchased. Remember the door gets the most use and I wanted it to hold up so thought steel would be better than wood for this part.
Next I added a blow gun inside the cabinet to get all the beads away from the door opening while I still had my blasting gloves on and before I opened the door.
I also can never see as well as I liked so now I run 3 lights in the top of the box. I prefer the Halogen spot lights as the beams seem to cut thru the dust better. This picture was as built and I added the 3rd light later.
I don't have any pictures but the angle at the bottom of the box was too shallow and the beads did not fall down where the siphon tube could pick them up very well. Lot's of bridging off. I installed a small vibration motor on the bottom of the box. They make one from TPtools that I had for years and it never had enough vibration to do anything.
These are all over and about $140 or so and you will need a speed controller to. Just depends on the angle in your box if you will need this or not. For me it keeps the material flowing and works very well.
I also used the Dust Deputy style of cyclonic air cleaner and it just flat works! I still can't believe how clean the filter in my vacuum stays now that I have this in front of the vacuum. Really helps plus every so many years of use without it ruined the vacuum motor because of all the grit the motor inhales. I had replaced mine twice (Expensive at over $100 each) before I stated looking around and found these very common cyclonic dust extractors.
Yes you can build your own version too but I went ahead and spent the money. In fact if I had had this before I bought the expensive can vacuum in the picture I might have just cheaped out and used a shop vac.
Also do not use that blue bag I show in the picture! Always vent the box to the outside of the shop! I used this for a while as I thought I would have a portable blast box but regardless of the filter quality you will get all kinds of fine dust and grit all over the shop. Plus your breathing that!
Blasting creates lots of water and I tried all kinds of things until again I finally figured out that without a refrigerated dryer blasting would be hard and painful. Which means I won't use it as much as I should.
Got this great deal on a Stainless Steel version (Which I have never seen ever?) again over 20 years ago. These things just don't seem to wear out as mine was decades old when I purchased it.
Also note mine is mounted on (again) a steel frame with cast iron casters. I have everything mounted to this angle iron from. So it's still fairly portable. One air line, one electrical cord and the flexible hose to the outside vent. The box is big and you don't want to trap it somewhere and can't move it.
I repair my blasting gloves a few times before they are replaced and the best repair kits are the ones made to repair vinyl swimming pools. I am right handed so usually hold the part in my left had and the blast gun in my right hand. This causes the left hand glove to wear out much faster.
Still struggling with the window fogging up from the blasting media hitting it. I tried the peel off plastic protectors but that did not work well for me. I have read about mounting a window screen several inches in front of the glass. I have a screen but have not tried this modification yet. I try to blast at angles where the beads bounce off in other directions from the glass. So I replace the glass every couple of years.
In the last few years I have changed from glass beads to crushed glass from Northern Tool. Mainly because it's cheaper and easier for me to get. I still like the surface finish better with glass beads but the surface finish the crushed glass leaves is fine too.
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