I am back in business!!!!!!

[Flyingw]

As some of you may know, last Aug I was laid off after 15 years. It's ok though, it was time to go from that messed up place but it wasn't the fact that I lost my job that pissed me off, it was the fact that I no longer had access to the bead blaster I've been using for so many years to support my trike habit..... but no more!! I am now back in business. I picked this little gem up the other day for $1500.00. I spent last night making a few changes to it and today I'll do my leak checks then fill it up with some fresh glass and see how it works. The one I had at work was an Econoline pressure fed cabinet and I'm here to tell you, the difference between pressure fed over syphon fed is night and day. I admit I am spoiled with the pressure fed type. I can't wait to try it out. Christmas came early for this triker and by the way...... I'm still on vacation.

[badass350x]

Very nice!

[JasonB]

congrats, thats a really nice looking piece you got there! I have always wanted a blast cabinet and some powder coating equipment. hell just a blast cabinet would be cool enough lol

[Flyingw]

If it weren't for that blast cabinet at work, I can say that I probably wouldn't be doing trikes that way I do them. I would have never got in to powder coating either. It makes stripping off years of old paint and corrosion so much easier.

[coolpool]

Nice, that Cadillac makes my cabinet look like a 74 Pinto, lol. I agree bead blasting makes things way easier to deal with. Some questions about the beads, besides losing them on the floor and such, how often do you change out the media, do they break down to a point where they become useless? I think I see mine getting more like a powder than a bead everyday.

[dougspcs]

Is that your shop or do you store your toys and tools at the local medical centre?? I see you even keep little towels for your Army trike to wipe it's feet on when it comes inside!!

Damn boy!!!

[Keith Salyer]

Way to go Jim, I would like to come check out your settup sometime. Sorry about the job loss I know that sucks. I was let go from a job a few years ago and it's about like a divorce . Congratulations on the blaster, it loks very sanitary.

[M.Pargiello]

I run an Econoline cabinet as well, honestly I enjoy it.

Great cabinet!

[Larry T Moore]

I dig pinto's...sheesh

[jb2wheels]

Hey Jim! That's a lot of cabinet.

[atc007]

AWESOME for you Jim ! So glad to see this!

[Flyingw]

Here's the thing about glass bead Coolpool. It starts out as tiny glass balls but as you use and reuse it, the balls break on impact turning the balls in to dust. As your media breaks down you can see it getting finer and finer. The frequency that I change it is directly related to how much I use it. The finer it gets the less effective it is. The mistake most guy make is running their air pressure too high. Typically glass bead is most effective at 45-55lbs pressure. Anything over that just destroys the glass beds faster. Even with a pressure fed cabinet, I have my pressure regulated at 55psi. DO NOT buy Harbor Freight glass bead. That stuff is total junk. It has debris in it and there is also lead in it as well. Bad stuff. Find a local supplier that sells USA or Canadian made glass. I change my glass when it starts looking more like powder and when the vacuum starts picking up the dust more and more. On my small syphon cabinet, about once a year. On the pressure fed about twice a year.


Nice, that Cadillac makes my cabinet look like a 74 Pinto, lol. I agree bead blasting makes things way easier to deal with. Some questions about the beads, besides losing them on the floor and such, how often do you change out the media, do they break down to a point where they become useless? I think I see mine getting more like a powder than a bead everyday.

[Flyingw]

That's all my shop i.e. garage. I'm down to two trikes now so now I have plenty of room for my new tool.

[Canyon Man]

Thats awesome. I only have the cheap Harbor Freight cabinet. But life is good with that cabinet

[sledcrazyinCT]

Wow nice cabinet for sure! see you got to play around in some snow too.... I wish!

I have a dee blast cabinet about the same size but just a siphon feed, can adding a harbor freight pressure pot be an option? seems doable to me

[Flyingw]

yep, that is an option for sure.

[coolpool]

Here's the thing about glass bead Coolpool. It starts out as tiny glass balls but as you use and reuse it, the balls break on impact turning the balls in to dust. As your media breaks down you can see it getting finer and finer. The frequency that I change it is directly related to how much I use it. The finer it gets the less effective it is. The mistake most guy make is running their air pressure too high. Typically glass bead is most effective at 45-55lbs pressure. Anything over that just destroys the glass beds faster. Even with a pressure fed cabinet, I have my pressure regulated at 55psi. DO NOT buy Harbor Freight glass bead. That stuff is total junk. It has debris in it and there is also lead in it as well. Bad stuff. Find a local supplier that sells USA or Canadian made glass. I change my glass when it starts looking more like powder and when the vacuum starts picking up the dust more and more. On my small syphon cabinet, about once a year. On the pressure fed about twice a year.

Great info thanks! I did originally have a regulator drawn in my piping plans upstream of my cabinet air feed but took it out because the nozzle is good to 120 based on the manual, dang! Mine is a syphon feed, will it still pick up glass at that low of pressure? We don't have Harbor Freight here but a close relative, Princess Auto. I'm running their glass right now but don't have enough experience to judge what's junk or not. I paid around $40 for a bag; I'll have to compare that to what NAPA sells.

[Flyingw]

40 a bag is about right for a 50lb bag. The grit of the glass is important when used in syphon type cabinets because of the weight of the glass. I run a #12 glass in my syphon cabinet. The lower the number, the courser the glass, the heavier the weight. I tried running a #10 and a #8 glass and the syphon had a hard time picking up the media. I have had great results with the #12 which is in between fine and medium. Its also important to have a desiccant drier and/or water separator inline to your air supply. Moisture in the air causes the glass to clump. In the pic you will see the simple regulator and water separator I've installed. The other pic shows the color of the glass I use. It should appear a uniform white looking very much like white sand you would find on a tropical beach. Also, one problem I had early on was the glass would stack up on the opposite side of the syphon pickup tube as I used the cabinet. I would have to stop and push the glass back to the other side. To fix this, I took some stiff cardboard and duct tape and made ramps sloaping back to the pickup tube and I fill it up to the grate. Way more than the instruction sheet said to add but it works. I still have to take my hand and keep the glass pushed over to the left but I don't have to stop and do it anymore. I just sweep my hand in the glove from right to left.

[coolpool]

I forget what size grit I purchased, but I know one thing it was never as white as yours is, hmmm? I do have a water separator immediately downstream of my tank so I hope it does what it's supposed to do. I just might add the regulator as I first planned but stick it to the cabinet like you did, then I won't have to start cutting up my piping; great idea! My syphon isn't fixed so I simply plunge it into wherever the grit is piled. I did find the walnut shells didn't work so well with my system, maybe I needed a larger nozzle?

[muthey]

the large siphon fed cabinet I have at work is nice, but we don't use glass as we have a heavy duty sand blast system as well we use small grit and medium grid silica sand in our cabinet and large grit and medium grit sand with the blaster out side. This seems to be a good ratio with our cabinet, however with as much as it is used we have to change the media out once a month. Also our cabinet has an expanded metal grate above a fully tapered underbelly and still doesn't fully return the sand so the trick is to bang your knee on the underbelly to knock it down to the siphon. I'll have to take pictures of it one of these days.