Anyone planning a vapor blast cabinet?

[Nicad]

I have a pretty decent small Empire brand bead blast cabinet that I refurbed a few years ago with a paint job, new window glass, LED light and blast gun. Does a good job stripping rust off metal. I run the exhaust through a Dust Deputy cyclone into my shop vac with a Hepa filter. 5 HP, 80 gallon compressor powers it. Usually set it at 60 PSI or less. .
But this last week I have gone down the rabbit hole of Vapor Blasting videos. Some elaborate setups, some very ,very basic. The cheapest one uses an old dishwasher motor. Many of the videos use $100 Harbour Freight cabinets. One guy has a very nice setup that he sells plans for to make a spacious plywood cabinet . Anyone else interested in home/hobby Vapor Blasting?
Ideally I'd like the ability to switch between the two in the same cabinet if I try and make my own. One thing I do not have is a source of fresh water at my shop. I have a camping food barrel I fill with about as much water as I can lift and get in the car when it comes time for a refill.

Pro systems are still very expensive.

 

[Blinkling]

I had to finally look it up. It’s a jet of water with an abrasive in it, right? Like water jet cutting?

How high does the pressure need to be? I was picturing needing to convert a pressure washer until I re-read your post and saw the dishwasher motor mentioned.

 

[Nicad]

I had to finally look it up. It’s a jet of water with an abrasive in it, right? Like water jet cutting?

How high does the pressure need to be? I was picturing needing to convert a pressure washer until I re-read your post and saw the dishwasher motor mentioned.

Well, generally, you run about 10% Glass bead or abrasive in a big container of water. I'm thinking of using a dirty water sump[ pump that moves about 4000 gallons of water an hour to provide the flow. This will be accompanied by about 40 PSI air pressure.
Here is the latest video I have watched. This guy went the extra length to get it working more automatically than I would. I'd use a switch for the Pump and a foot pedal for the air.

 

[Bejoe16]

I’ve done this. Results are really nice. I’ve got the harbor freight cabinet. I’ve got to silicone the inside of the cabinet to start using it a lot but my recent surgery has kept me from using it. I offered a mail in service but haven’t had much interest on here.

 

[boonies]

My cabinet is an Eastwood dry blast cabinet that I converted to a closed loop vapor hone system (no water in my garage either). I do not switch back and forth though, the labor to switch is too high.

I have a blend of parts, but really like the work that HTMR has done.

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[Nicad]

My cabinet is an Eastwood dry blast cabinet that I converted to a closed loop vapor hone system (no water in my garage either). I do not switch back and forth though, the labor to switch is too high.

I have a blend of parts, but really like the work that HTMR has done.

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What type of pump did you use? Are you also running a vacuum?

 

[Nicad]

I’ve done this. Results are really nice. I’ve got the harbor freight cabinet. I’ve got to silicone the inside of the cabinet to start using it a lot but my recent surgery has kept me from using it. I offered a mail in service but haven’t had much interest on here.

What type of parts have you done? Hope you are healing well.

 

[Bejoe16]

What type of parts have you done? Hope you are healing well.

Harbor freight blast cabinet
Drummons trash pump from harbor freight
80gal 6hp >15cfm air compressor
Amazon 3d printed vapor blasting nozzle.
Fine glass bead(can’t remember exact type)
Extra light bar
Air regulated around 50psi but tried up to 70-80 and doesn’t seem to make much difference.

 

[boonies]

What type of pump did you use? Are you also running a vacuum?

I started off with a 5 gallon bucket in which I had a 1.5HP 4,000 gallon per hour pump. I had at least 4 of them fail to work out of the box. This is the one that worked for me. I also used a 3d printed blast gun.

I do use this continuous vacuum on the blast cabinet.

I enjoy the cabinet and get good results, but found that my air compressor was running almost continuously with the set-up I started with so I moved to the more expensive gun from HTMR. The results are good, with the air compressor now having time to catch up while blasting. I moved to a larger water container, a sump pump well and a Tsurumi HSZ2 pump.

I still have some problems to overcome. The viewing window gets spattered with water and media and can be hard to see through. The HTMR plans include a windshield wiper and clean water solution that I plan to add at some point.

 

[Nicad]

Nice results on the manifold Boonies. I was wondering about the windshield wiper. Are you looking through your window from above or the side? I'd think the side would help. Was thinking rain X might reduce the need for the wiper. Was also thinking of having a small fresh water tank with a foot pump to clean the window. I'd probably use LED lighting from the outside.
Here is my cabinet as it now sits. 4 bad pumps in a row? Wow, not like the old days. Who can afford a failing sump pump? I think I'd also get that HTMR 5 HP gun.

 

[boonies]

Nice results on the manifold Boonies. I was wondering about the windshield wiper. Are you looking through your window from above or the side? I'd think the side would help. Was thinking rain X might reduce the need for the wiper. Was also thinking of having a small fresh water tank with a foot pump to clean the window. I'd probably use LED lighting from the outside.
Here is my cabinet as it now sits. 4 bad pumps in a row? Wow, not like the old days. Who can afford a failing sump pump? I think I'd also get that HTMR 5 HP gun.

I was really gettinng upset about the crappy pumps. They were all bought through Amazon and were cheap crap from China. No money lost, but a lot of time wasted.

This is the LED that I use is inside the cabinet. Even with that light I find that I could use another.

I have tried a coating on the window, but it doesn't seem to help that much, as there is really no air at any velocity to carry the droplets away, and each drop of water carries 10% of the slurry mix (roughly).

 

[Nicad]

Wow, that is a big cabinet. Looks like you have run a lot of parts through it. Is the window Glass or plastic? Do you think you need any more water pressure with that pump, or is the flow rate all that important vs the air pressure? I notice some use sewage pumps and some use dirty water sump pumps.

 

[boonies]

The cabinet is much larger than I need, but it was available at a great price on FB Marketplace. I have plenty of pressure with the new pump. in fact the old pump worked okay, but I thought I needed more for the HTMR gun. I was having trouble when I used aluminum oxide media, the pump and/or the gun were not keeping up and stripping actually slowed down. I have now switched back to very fine mesh glass beads (275-320 as I recall) and all is working well again.

In discussing the stripping issues I was having with Matt from HTMR, he indicated "The HTMR gun does create a bit more backpressure than the cheap gun, so here are some things you can do to help: 1. Install a larger nozzle size, 2. Close up the agitation hole a bit to get more pressure from the pump. 3. Upgrade the pump."

I find that I keep air pressure at about 50 psi. I have played around a bit, but that seems like the right pressure for optimal stripping. It is a blend of slurry volume and air pressure to propel it onto the surface to be cleaned.

I think (not a plumber or pump expert) that sewage and dirty water pumps are essentially the same thing. Flow rate in a dirty (glass bead) environment is what is needed.

 

[Nicad]

That new pump seems a lot more expensive, but will probably be the last one you buy. I guess the stars on Amazon with their $99 pumps are not to be believed. I found a cheap one on Amazon Canada I might try as there is a video of it putting out what Looks like good output in the reviews.

Amazon.ca

 

[boonies]

I got the new pump as an open box on ebay, and while it was more expensive, it was not list price. They key will be if the material will flow through the housing of the pump you are looking at. Also, you will want to plumb a pressure line to agitate the media at the bottom of your container to ensure it mixes with the water being pumped into the cabinet.

Looking forward to hearing how your project progresses.

 

[Nicad]

Great Tips Boonies, looking forward to blasting without the dust.

 

[Nicad]

I got the new pump as an open box on ebay, and while it was more expensive, it was not list price. They key will be if the material will flow through the housing of the pump you are looking at. Also, you will want to plumb a pressure line to agitate the media at the bottom of your container to ensure it mixes with the water being pumped into the cabinet.

Looking forward to hearing how your project progresses.

Might have a line on a used Tsurumi 3/4 HP sewage pump. Is the 1/2 HP the sweet spot, or is more better in your opinion?

 

[boonies]

It is overkill, but you should be fine with the 3/4HP unit.

With that much power you will want to make sure to create an agitation bypass. You need a single pressure line running into your cabinet. The picture below of the PVC is an example of the bypass system and is very similar to what I am using. The goal here is to have the PVC bypass move the slurry around in your container to keep it mixed, using pumped material that you are not using at the gun.

 

[Nicad]

A Used Tsurumi vs a new cheaper Chinese pump. They are about the same price, but I figure there is more durabiity built into the one that cost a lot more new. I believe the one I am interested in has a Polyurethane impeller. If I get it, it will be about $200 Usd.

 

[Nicad]

Bejoe16 and Boonies, was wondering how big the outlet is at the bottom of your cabinets? I think mine is a 1.5" plastic plug. Seems to me the water supplied by a fast pump would exceed the ability of my hole to drain.