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I have that Harbor Freight blast cabinet. No pressure pot. Using shop vac. as dust collector. The dust cloud in the cabinet drives me nuts. Any suggestions? How do you guys handle this? Tony? Anybody?

Thanks,
Barbara

Barbara-

I have a similar set up for my blasting unit. I have a really bright light directed into the blasting unit from just above the viewing window and that seems to help some. Also, if it just gets real bad, I sometimes just stop blasting for a second and open the side door to the cabinet and let some of the dust escape (of course I have a mask on when I do this). Hope that info helps, sorry its not a permanent fix.

anea

Hi Barbara, did you remove that plug from the back of the unit? It helps improve the airflow, I think. Been meaning to call you, really.

Els

Yep. Removed the thingie on the back of the cabinet. I stop often too to let it clear. But it makes me nuts cause it clouds up so quickly. I have an external light too, which helps... for a couple minutes...

Still love your earrings!


xxoo,
BB

Els is right. The biggest problem with that cabinet is the lack of airflow though the cabinet. The vacuum requires unimpeded airflow into the cabinet to remove the dust. Make sure the air inlet is not plugged or blocked. If there is no air inlet, then you need to make one with a hole saw or a nibbler. Ideally, it will be on the opposite side from the vacuum port so the airflow will be across the cabinet.

Tony

PDXBarbara (Bader) wrote:I have that Harbor Freight blast cabinet. No pressure pot. Using shop vac. as dust collector. The dust cloud in the cabinet drives me nuts. Any suggestions? How do you guys handle this? Tony? Anybody?

Thanks,
Barbara

I have a vortex system

Hey Whirlwind Boy... what's this vorex system?
Cloudgirl

Jim Simmons suggested I use a shopvac w/ more power....
BB

If you don't have any airflow, it won't make a difference how much power you have... it'll just make your gloves stick out a little straighter...

Tony

Tony Smith wrote:If you don't have any airflow, it won't make a difference how much power you have... it'll just make your gloves stick out a little straighter...

Tony

She said that both the inlet hole and the outlet connection are clear, but that she just has a small shop vac from HD.

I haven't looked at it myself yet.

DustFreeBoy(Jim)

Sorry, I must have missed that part of the thread.

Barbara, you could start with removing the exisiting filter in her shop vac and replacing it with a HEPA, or even a standard replacement filter. They do clog up, especially with glass dust.

Tony

Also consider changing out your abrasive.
I use silicon carbide, and it needs to be changed out every 100 uses - or so. The great thing about s.c., is the aura of 'light' it generates - I can actually see better when things are darkened a bit.
After burning up 3 motors on shop vacs, I've opted for the dust collector . I've found that the smaller the grit, the more likely to burn up a shop vac motor sooner - the dust collector is designed to handle the 'dust', the shop vac to 'vacuum'. Makes sense. - Nickie

PDXBarbara (Bader) wrote:Hey Whirlwind Boy... what's this vorex system?
Cloudgirl

Dear Cloud Girl

Apart from my blaster I have not heard of this system

But in fish filtration something similar is very common

In brief

The dust drops in2 a double cylinder

One inside the other

There r vanes in the gap at an angle

This imparts a spin on the dust

The heavy dust drops out the fine gets sucked up throuh the hole in the inner cylinder to the extraction

I use a 280 silicon carbide grit and get very good reclaim


I bought this blaster second hand

Took me a while 2 figure out what this weird system was
Whirly Boy

Hi Barb,

I've got a cheap shop vac on my harbor freight cabinet. Where do you have the hose hooked up? I unplugged the larger hole in the top back of the cabinet and that's where the vaccum is hooked up, the smaller hole is for letting in the air. Works greats. I'm probably just stating the obvious...

Good luck,

PDXBarbara (Bader) wrote:I have that Harbor Freight blast cabinet. No pressure pot. Using shop vac. as dust collector. The dust cloud in the cabinet drives me nuts. Any suggestions? How do you guys handle this? Tony? Anybody?

Thanks,
Barbara

Hi Barbara,

One thing you might do is get better lighting for the inside of the cabinet. I have a HF blasting cabinet too. It comes with a whopping 13 Watt florscent tube in it which is about as bright as a glow worm on a good day. I installed two 35 watt screw in type florescent bulbs whch actually puts in about 150 Watts of light (The screw in florescent bulbs give off more light per watt than a regular light bulb which is important as you don't want a high heat source in your blast chamber) I had to jurry rig a small frame to hold the light fixtures. What I used are the clamp type trouble lights you can get at Home Depot for about $10 - $15 each. I made plexiglass covers for the lights as you don't want to accidently spray the bulb as it will instantly shatter. I also put some heavy rubberized covering on the cord that runs to the bulbs for the same reason. With more light in the chamber it work a heck of a lot better.

Phil

Hi Bernadette... so let me get this straight: you insert the shopvac hose in the BACK hole (oooo this sounds gross, doesn't it...)? I have that one open for the sake of suckability. I have the hose entering on the left of the cabinet. THe hole in the back, when unplugged, isn't a direct open conduit right into the cabinet.... but just let's in the draft. If I leave the left-side hole open for the draft, it'll be a totally open hole. So, I guess I need a more elementary description.

Thanks.
Barbara

Hi Tony... I've been meaning to get a HEPA filter, but nobody seems to stock them, so I'll have to order online, I guess. BUT: if I have the back plug out, a good filter, and still have terrible fog... then is a more powerful shopvac in order?

Phil: good info about installing better lighting. Currently I shine a worklamp in from the top... but it still gets dustier than my eyes can stand.

Nickie: My grit is si. carbide, but it's pretty fresh. My aura of light just seems like silica fog.

Thanks,everybody for pitching in.
Barbara

Hi Barbara,

Yes, if you have the back plug out and a good filter, then you will probably need a larger shopvac, or bite the bullet and get a dust collector like the VAC-36 from TPTools http://www.tptools.com. It's pricey, but it has a HEPA filter and really moves the air.

Sears Hardware carries a full line of replacement filters and aftermarket HEPA filters for most Shop Vacs.

Tony

I finally gave up on Shop Vacs (they leak badly and the motors won't last long with silicon carbide dust). I've had reasonable success with the dust extractors supplied by Glastar, as they're fairly dust-tight and the motors, when the do fail, are easy to replace if somewhat expensive. I use a 2 1/2 HP Dust Boy for my blasting room, and this monster will almost suck the nozzle out of your hand. It's too powerful for a cabinet as it is (it would probably destroy the cabinet) but I'm considering installing a sliding gate valve that would allow me to reduce its power by letting some ambient air to mix with the air in the Dust Boy's pickup hose. I'm hoping this will let me use it with a cabinet. Dust extractors like the Dust Boy are fairly expensive, but they're powerful, well-made and designed so the motor isn't exposed to the material being sucked up. In the long run, I expect a good-quality dust extractor will pay for itself, and would urge anyone who does blasting to take a serious look at one.
For lighting, I use a straight piece of white neon that's installed in the same acrylic tube that's used for neon car kits. The neon isn't super bright, but the tube (about 4 feet long) lets me light the the edge of the glass and easily shows the depth of the carving. When the acrylic tube gets entirely frosted, I replace it. You could also wrap the acrylic tube with clear drafting Mylar (a couple of rubber bands would hold it on), and the Mylar could be replaced as needed. I also use the same seals on the ends of the acrylic tube that are used with neon car kits, and these keep the silicon carbide out of the tube.

I found installing a quartz halogen spotlight helped tremendously. I bought an electrical outlet box for a dollar, and bolted it to the top of the cabinet. An outdoor spotlight fixture that came with a gasket for the spotlight cost a few more dollars. I drilled through the top of the cabinet and the spotlight attaches through one of the punchouts in the electric box. The spotlight does a decent job cutting through the cloud in the cabinet.

Tony