Hot Rodding the Harbor Freight Blasting Cabinet

[Revelator]

I'm still using the one that came with it. It works fine and the nozzles are of good quality too. (Think it came with 3 spares)

All the seams are gasketed on the one I have, so I wonder if HF made some changes on this thing?

I think mine is 4 or 5 years old?

my cabinet (in my previous post) was purchased around 8 years ago and had NO Gaskets

I completely forget where I got my replacement gun but it was a definite improvement . maybe the HF Gun on mine was defective, It would spit and sputter like a super E carb most of the time

[confab]

Don't happen to have a brand name for the gun, do you? Mine works, but it does chug like you say.


And the fine dust issue has appeared here too. I noticed it the other day.

In my case it seems to be pulverized material leaking past the vac filter. I'll roll that sucker over by the door next time and put the vaccum itself outside and see if that eliminates it.

[metalheart28]

Don't happen to have a brand name for the gun, do you? Mine works, but it does chug like you say.


And the fine dust issue has appeared here too. I noticed it the other day.

In my case it seems to be pulverized material leaking past the vac filter. I'll roll that sucker over by the door next time and put the vaccum itself outside and see if that eliminates it.

I've been thinking about getting one of these for my cabinet, I've read it eliminates the chugging.https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...gQIDBBA&adurl=

I just found this.https://youtu.be/9N7HvyJNzdE

[metalheart28]

The cabinet: https://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-...net-68893.html

If you don't have one of these in your shop, you'll like it. This is a really good tool for a good price, but it is almost unusable in its stock form. There's going to be a lot of blasting and powder coating on the harley project and I will be using the cabinet a lot. It seemed like a good time to correct the problems with it.

The first problem is loading it - The end opens and dumps media everywhere. to replace the viewing glass protector requires literally laying shoulder down in the machine and sticking it on from the bottom. With some 1/4" plywood to frame the glass, foam seals and a strip hinge, it becomes a front loader. Much easier, cleaner, and you can change the glass protector with ease. Those protectors don't fit the glass well, so use some electrical tape to cover the naked edges to avoid frosting your viewing glass.

There is no good way to avoid dumping media when using the end door to load very large projects. I bought some L shaped aluminum to tig together and make a tray to go there, so the media lands in the tray and can easily be scooped back into the machine.

The next problem - It is too short. You are always leaning down to work it. I'm 6'3 and it gets tiring very quickly. A couple of 2x6 and some cheap castors from Harbor Freight make it a mobile workstation. It even has a shelf underneath now for your extra glass protectors, shop vac or whatever you need to put there, and you can roll it out to use it and roll it back into a corner when you are done. It rolls like a king if you use 3" castors or better.

The next problem is the lighting. It comes with some sort of small, proprietary, drop light looking thing and it gets frosted and becomes unusable very quickly. You just can't see anything and there's no good replacement available. Replacing this with an junction box with some bulb adapters on the end lets you use cheap, clear, plastic LED lights from WalMart or the hardware store in it. Huge improvement! When they get frosted? Just replace them with anything you want. Seal the junction box slugs with silicone before you install it so it won't get sand inside. Use some duct tape to make a thick gasket for the inside of the cover and seal it up.

There's a giant issue with venting also. It is designed to vent on the left and a port is provided for that, but if you hook a vac to it, it just sucks all your media out. I put a little chimney there to keep the media in and used what is supposed to be the exhaust port on the rear, right as the vac connection because it is baffled inside and helps draw dust out, while leaving heavier media alone. A few wraps of duct tape on some 3" PVC connections makes it fit perfectly. Use a 3" to 1.5" adapter at the end and a shim made of a few wraps of cardboard to attach the VAC as an adjustment. By making it seal better or worse, you can adjust the suction to get the pulverized media dust out, while leaving the heavier, healthy, media alone. A few bends helps with this too, as in the picture.

It happily and regularly shocks you with static electricity, so grounding everything and adding some dedicated wiring stops that. If you wrap all the neutrals and jump the hot to a switch and outlet, you can control the vacuum and light from one spot, with one switch, which is handy. (MC Cable works well for the wiring) By adding a short piece of cable and a male extension cord adapter to your junction box and power switch, you are now freed from the restriction of the power cord length.. Allowing you to roll it wherever you need it and then just plug an extension cord into it to do your work.

Lastly, the grate inside is pretty large. I've got some hard, stainless screen wire to bend into an L shape to put inside, so there's a place to put fasteners and smaller things for blasting. You don't want to hold them in your hand because it will wear the gloves out prematurely. And a square of larger screen wire to lay on the grate for larger items you don't want to fall through.

There will be a few unused holes from removing the light and such. Tape over them from the outside to keep it from leaking media.

This is a really good tool and the price is good. It is a great addition to your shop if you just change a couple of things.

What do you powder coat with? I have a harbor freight unit that works decent and I made an oven out of a metal trash can. I put a bbq temp gauge in the lid, an electric element in the bottom and put a rack from a smoker in it. You can use the rack or hang things from the bottom of the lid. The biggest parts I've done in it were both side engine covers for an xs650 and they turned out real good!

[metalheart28]

I've been thinking about getting one of these for my cabinet, I've read it eliminates the chugging.https://www.googleadservices.com/pag...gQIDBBA&adurl=

I just found this.https://youtu.be/9N7HvyJNzdE

I made the mod in the youtube link and it works so much better. if anyone is interested in doing it to their cabinet I thought i'd throw that out there. Much better flow and no more chugging. I picked the stuff up from menards for $25 and had it done in an hour or so.

[confab]

What do you powder coat with? I have a harbor freight unit that works decent and I made an oven out of a metal trash can. I put a bbq temp gauge in the lid, an electric element in the bottom and put a rack from a smoker in it. You can use the rack or hang things from the bottom of the lid. The biggest parts I've done in it were both side engine covers for an xs650 and they turned out real good!

I missed this previously.

I use the HF unit as well. Works great! The trash can idea is a good one also. You could even wrap fiberglass insulation around it if you wanted to.

I use an old kitchen stove I bought from someone locally here. Think I gave 35 bucks for it?

Biggest thing I've done is the oil pan from my Vette, and the Shovelhead cases.

I love the metering valve idea..

[metalheart28]

I missed this previously.

I use the HF unit as well. Works great! The trash can idea is a good one also. You could even wrap fiberglass insulation around it if you wanted to.

I use an old kitchen stove I bought from someone locally here. Think I gave 35 bucks for it?

Biggest thing I've done is the oil pan from my Vette, and the Shovelhead cases.

I love the metering valve idea..

That valve works good. I wish I had done it sooner. Yeah the trashcan could stand to be a little hotter since its just a 110 single burner in the bottom and I have thought about wrapping a welding blanket around it, just haven't used it in a while. Another mod I seen for the cabinet is trimming the mesh the parts sit on so it sits farther down in the cabinet and that will allow more space for bigger parts. I blasted the swingarm for my trike and that would have really helped!!