The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Getting Big stuff in your blast cabinet

I so detest using the pot blaster, and am spoiled to the blast cabinet. Wondering if you guys have ever rigged something up to enable getting big (longer) stuff in your cab's. For example, was thinking you could cut a piece of plywood to fit the door with a large hole in it, then tape a big pieces of plastic to seal the hole and to fit around, say a running board. Blast one end, swap it around, and blast the other. What do you guys think?

What about a framework of 1/2" pvc pipe wrapped with a tarp or polyviz?
It would break down for easy storing but easy to pop up as well.

Allen, don't you have a Skat-Blast cabinet?? I haven't checked on price but "extensions" can be purchased.

...extensions defeat my new procedures. If it don't go in what I got, then it needs to go to someone else!!!!

I recently picked up some stuff I had bought from a guy in Indiana. I noticed he had a very long blasting cabinet. He showed he that he started out with a good 3' cabinet. He then bought a cheap HF cabinet and he stuck the two together to where he has about 5 1/2 feet of usable space. The two were very close to the same in dimensions and he bolted them together. A person could easily bolt a couple of HF cabinets together. Or even 3 if you need a super long cabinet.

Good ideas guys.

Yes Alvin, I do have the blast cabinet. I need to check if a longbed running board would fit. 3 HF cab's might be less expensive than the skatblast extension. Might even be able to break them partially down like Caso's idea.

1/2 in PVC will not hold any weight. Move up to at least 2in then you can cut/glue any angle you need and it will support much, much more weight.

I can think of a dozen ways to set up a temp cabinet for one off parts. I did a frame with a pressure washer and a blasting tip and sand.. 100% safe and good results.

Give me a break dude. 1/2 in pvc will stand up to 2 in of snow on a pvc tarp stretched over a 20' 1/2'pvc 'quonset' style tent. I've made several temporary spaces out of AgBag and 1/2" pvc large enough to park a car in and work on. Making a blast area would be childs play.
2" is for those faint of heart with no faith in their engineering skills....

I have a KELCO blast cabinet I picked up used for $200 it is 90" wide. 3 large spotlights inide it and a dust extraction system as well.

Like usual, I'm way overthinking this. I could take a 4X8 sheet of plywood, set it on 2 of those body stands that hold 500 #'s drill 4 holes in each corner to hold a pvc/tarp enclosure including a 1' X 2' site glass, gloves, a vacuum vent, a filtered air inlet, a hole in the middle with a simple flap that I can stop ever now and then to let the compressor rest and to dump media into a 5 gallon bucket underneath that also had an adaptor to feed the blast nozzle. Heck I could make it tall enough to hold a hood ! Then would only need to outsource cab and frame. Why wouldn't that work? It is a real pain in the butt here to take something to the blaster....and he is very proud of his work. This way I can just hit it, when I have some time.

Maybe run a second piece of plywood up the back to mount lights and vent hoses to, but you have the idea and I think your reasoning could not be any sounder.
In truth letting it just fall to the ground and catching it on a tarp works just fine. Especially if the wind is just right... Sweep or vac it up and screen it and go again. Makes the cab and frame doable as well.

Agree Caso...just looking to separate me from the media. That little blast pot with a hood is just hard, dirty work. You're right, I could put a piano hinge between the two sheets, use 3/8's so not so heavy, and have something that would collapse to conserve space when not in use.

Whatever you do, take pictures Allen! I havent been able to figure anything out I would want anyone else to see. I just go outside with the bigger stuff. But I HATE doing it! Fix OUR problem!!

A 10ft section will sag under and significant weight... unless you brace it in the middle... then its not a 10 ft section anymore.

I forget this is the internet where folks need to yalp about being smarter then the next guy... but then they make a post like the one above and prove that they are anything but.

If you want 10ft spans you need a bigger diameter to hold up any weight.

I'll bet my PVC building skills up against your internet mouthing off any day.

If you have a nice blast cabinet already, just too small, get some 3/4" or 1 " square tube and some sheets of 14 gauge and make extensions. I would angle the floor of the extensions (a left one and a right one so you have blasting in the center). The angle would be so that the sand can migrate down into the feed. I guess the reason I haven't addressed this issue is because of the nature of the dust. It needs to be tight. That means it would be pretty hard to cobble something together that doesn't leak. I guess when I DO address it, it would be a permanent solution involving welding. This is when I wish I lived in south Texas or somewhere with a really nice climate. I could just make it for outside use and be done with it.

#1) take it easy fellas re: PVC

#2) An extension on the cabinet can be as easy as putting your object in the cabinet, leaving the door open, then taping a big bag or plastic around the opening. OR, as extensive as building an extension box out of wood or metal and using a stick-on foam sealer or a commercial truck cabinet bulb seal. It's just a matter of how much work you want to put in to it or how much permanence you need. I had a co-worker leave the door open and velcro a soft mud flap to our cabinet to minimize the amount of media lost. Then he would sweep up the escapees, sift them and reuse.

I'll say it one last time.
1/2" pvc 20' lengths each end slid over a 2 or 3' chunk rebar stuck in the ground, then tied together with 2 or 3 lengths of rope length wise for securing the 'ribs/rafters' will withstand 2" of snow for days. No fittings and no poles in the middle , just open space like I said earlier Quanset Hut style.
Or you could build one really long sweat lodge to help clear out those toxins running round.

If it has to be dust tight the something else would be required but the question was about making a cheap temporary space and I'm simply offering an option that could expand from something to squeeze a fender in or put a whole bed on saw horses in that contains the blast materials. Your lungs are your problem...

My father just blasted his frame and body in his open garage.

It made him SICK.

and I'm still sweeping up sand 10 years later!!! (he never cleans up his garage).