Bead Blasting Cabinet

D Selfridge · Apr 26, 2005

After reading about Steve Acker's home-made blasting cabinet in "The Gunsmith Machinist", and having all sorts of problems with the local repair shop's bead blasing cabinet (filthy & worn-out blasting media, plugged siphon tube, etc.), it's obvious I need to build my own. Most of the rifles I'm working with have barrels 28"-30" long, and buying a commercial cabinet big enough to handle these barreled actions would also be pretty costly. Aside from the phone number for Skat-Blast at the end of the article in Steve's book, I haven't had much luck finding anything by doing a google search. Any ideas/recommendations?

Ries · Apr 26, 2005

I built my own, using parts from TIP, which makes the skat blast stuff. I bought their gun, foot pedal,pickup tube, gloves, and window. I also bought their vacuum with bag system.
Built the box from 14 ga sheet, with an angle iron frame- kinda used their plywood plans as a jumping off point, with a few changes here and there. I use a 500 watt quartz light from home depot- puts out a lot more light than their dinky incandescent bulb. I have a big door, but also two little round holes with swinging doors- maybe 2" in diameter, so I could sandblast a whole 20 foot length of anything up to 2" od.
I really recommend using carbide tips- the mild steel vanish while you watch, and even the ceramic goes pretty quick.
You need a lot of compressor- mine is 7 1/2hp, with a 90 gallon tank, and it runs full time when you blast.
You can use any media you want- if you build it with an upside down pyramid on the bottom, its real easy to change the media. glass beads, walnut shells, plastic chunks, or for heavy work I use this stuff called starblast, which is aluminum oxide. Lasts a lot longer than real sand, and isnt quite as obnoxious to handle.
TPI will sell you as much or as little as you want, in terms of parts. If you build your own, you can make it exactly the size and shape you want.
TIP's website is: http://www.tptools.com

zero · Apr 26, 2005

If your going to do any hot blueing dont use aluminum oxide the salts will desolve it and make a mess of your tanks

LoneGunman · Apr 27, 2005

"If your going to do any hot blueing dont use aluminum oxide the salts will desolve it and make a mess of your tanks"

Why not clean your parts so you don't get aluminum oxide in your tanks?

D Selfridge · Apr 27, 2005

Thanks for the info, guys. One of my friends uses StarBlast on barrels & actions, which is one of the recommended medias when GunKote painting. He gets excellent results with it in his commercial cabinet. I don't plan on getting into blueing - if a customer wants that sort of finish, I'll farm it out.

LoneGunman · Apr 27, 2005

Make sure you parkerize or at least use phoskote as a prep for the gunkote or you will not get really good adhesion. The biggest problem with people applying any of the spray on coatings is lack of good prep work. Clean the parts before blasting (I use MEK)or youll just blast the gunk into the pores where it's a lot harder to remove. Stay away from Durakote, it's garbage. How are you going to cure your coatings?

If you have any coating questions don't hesitate to ask. Id rather have competition doing good coatings than hear customers constantly say how spray on coatings always peel and rub off.

zero · Apr 27, 2005

When blasting with aluminum oxide the particles will embed in your steel. Just a very small
amout but it does add up.

LoneGunman · Apr 28, 2005

hmmmmmm never heard of that happening, of course that doesnt mean it cant. I wonder why anyone would be using aluminum oxide to blast before bluing anyway unless they are removing a spray on coating prior to rebluing and even at that you would not get enough to add up to a problem unless you were doing a bunch of guns. If they were wanting a matte blue glass beads is the way to go.

D Selfridge · Apr 28, 2005

I built a heating cabinet for curing GunKote. Straightened the elements from two electric charcoal starters and wired them through two dimmer switches, using hi-temp oven wire. Bought a thermometer for cooking candy at the local hardware store - it was the only one I could find locally that went up to over 300F. I've used it three times with good results. Have been using acetone & paper towells to wipe down parts before coating, but have MEK on hand also.

This is the first mention I've heard of using something else as a prep/primer coat ahead of GunKote. Brownells sure doesn't mention it, nor do I recall reading anything about it in KG's literature.

I've been buying GunKote from Brownells - is there a better source?

LoneGunman · Apr 28, 2005

Cool sounds like you are all set. After MEK my parts go into hot water then they get parkerized and then sprayed. The paper towels will work if you are real carefull to get the paper fibers off the part before spraying.

Many professional firearm refinisheres parkerize as a pretreatment, I tested it and the pretreatment does help with wear and adhesion. Brownells is overpriced on Gunkote especially if you are paying the catalog prices, do you have an FFL? I suggest buying straight from the source at the below link. You are also guaranteed to get fresh coating plus the owner will jump on the phone with you if you have any problems. I prefer Norrels Moly Resin if using satin black, it matches H&K black perfectly.

http://www.kgcoatings.com/firearms_home.html

http://www.johnnorrellarms.com/molyresin_about.asp

metlmunchr · Apr 28, 2005

Ries,
If the "starblast" abrasive you're talking about is marketed by DuPont and is kinda a dark reddish brown color, then is isnt actually aluminum oxide. It's a mineral called staurolite (sp?) that they dig out of the ground primarily in Florida.

Its an excellent blasting choice because it has no silica. It doesn't fracture like sand or glass beads. The finish is similar to what you get with glass beads, and it'll last darn near forever. Its fairly cheap too, and real cheap in comparison to the more common blast cabinet abrasives like glass beads. Much closer to the price of sand. The real problem with sand is that its properties are highly dependent on where it comes from. Most blasters around this area use sand that comes from an area near Charlotte. Its some of the worst of the worst in that it fractures and makes clouds of dust, and will bring the local EPA gestapo running if the blastind is being done outside. In a cabinet its good for about 2 passes thru the gun and then you're dust blasting. You can't see what you're doing for the dust, but it doesn't matter cause you're not doing anything anyway

Some areas have good blasting sand, but the cost of transportation tends to keep most sand in its native area. Load up a cabinet with starblast and chances are you'll never even think of using sand or glass beads again. When you're still using the same 100# of starblast 2 years later and its still working, you'll know its also the long term cheapest general purpose blast media on the market.

Ries · Apr 28, 2005

Cliff- you called it- thats what it is, and it works good, just like you say. I started using it after I moved out of LA- In LA, I had an amazing sandblaster a few miles down the road, and never did my own work- Don started National Sandblasting after he got out of the army, I am assuming WW2, but it could have been Korea. He bought 3 or 4 huge singe cylinder horizontal piston compressors for nothing from a factory closing down in LA- I think they were a couple of hundred horsepower each. His air tank was about 10 feet in diameter, and 2 stories tall. He could blast starblast, glass beads, steel grit, and steel shot, all at the same time, each in a dedicated room, and a few smaller cabinets for oddball media as well. He used to regularly do entire prefabbed stainless food lines, locomotive crankshafts, jet engine blades, and all kinds of other amazing stuff. Piled in the corner, waiting for time, were 3 or 4 late 50's Chrysler Imperials.
Anyway, Don used to buy starblast by the 40 foot truckload, so when I built my own sandblaster after I moved away, that is what I bought- I figured he knew his stuff.
And you are right, it lasts a very long time, makes very little dust, and has not seemed to react with any paint finish I have ever tried.

maynah · Apr 28, 2005

Hello, I made my own cabinet from plywood and used it for years. The wood did start to wear a little thin and it did leak a little in some seams. I then got a SkatBlast cabinet and I like it a lot. The key is if you build one or buy one is to get a good vac. I used a shop vac when I first got my SkatBlast and after about 5 minutes the bearings started to complain. Then I broke down and got a vac from SkatBlast for $200. Also I vented the exhaust from the vac outside and I recommend that. I like glass beads for a blueing job. After they wear a little it gives a nice soft velvety finish. A lot softer than a factory finish. I've never tried anything else so these other products sound good also. I've just stuck with what works good for me. Good luck

D Selfridge · Apr 28, 2005

For some reason, Brownells insisted on giving me dealer price on stuff even before I got a FFL. Even at their "dealer cost", they're still overpriced on some stuff. As a small example, I bought a pair of Uncle Mike's heavy duty detachable sling swivels for just over $16 at 'dealer price', while Sinclair International retails the same swivels for less than $10. Both outifts give excellent customer service, and Brownells has a tremendous selection of gunsmithing parts & supplies - but sometimes it pays to shop price.

I like KG's KG2 'Bore Restore' liquid abrasive for bore cleaning, and was actually looking for an excuse to place another order with them - I'd like to try the phos-kote.

LoneGunman · Apr 28, 2005

Ive been ordering a lot from Midway, they carry most of the stuff Brownells offers and are usually a good amount less expensive. My Powers stoning fixture was $20 less from Midway.

Ric Wade · Jun 15, 2005

D Selfridge,
Re making your own bead blasting cabinet,I have been looking around for a suitable cabinet myself. I have now settled on using a discarded domestic chest freezer cabinet, they have a lift up lid, with a good seal around it, and can be obtained in various lengths and widths for next to no cost. Most of the common varieties have a plastic inner liner which would not last long, however we have here in Australia a brand called "Ingnis" which comes with a complete stainless steel inner liner. They are easily converted by cutting holes in the front for the long armed gloves, a viewing window in the top with replaceable glass sheet, fit a sloping floor plate to deflect the abrasive to one side. Plumb in the air line for the gun and fit a respectable internal light. An additional two more smaller holes on opposite sides of the lid are required,over one fit a paper element "lawn mower" air cleaner - this is the clean air input.
on the other fit an adaptor for your shop vacuum cleaner to draw away the dust. Happy Blasting, Ric.

jeffeosso · Jun 15, 2005

Ric,
I am working on the same thing.. converting a freezer... but i'll be pulling the liner, in any event...

going to use lexan for the window, and a grizzly 9 kajillion LEd work light, in a clear plastic (replacable) tube.

i use glassbeads exclusivly for gunwork

jeffe

metlmunchr · Jun 15, 2005

Ric,
The fines from a blast cabinet will kill a shop vac faster than you'd ever imagine. At least I was rather amazed at how fast it killed mine

I've got a Donaldson shaker bag type filter on mine now, but only because I got it for about nothing. They're not cheap. Something I have thought of which I believe would work is to use an air filter housing/element from a heavy diesel truck. Let the shop vac be the vacuum source but pipe the truck air filter in between the cabinet and the shop vac. One of these units from a junked truck should cost next to nothing, and the filter has a very large surface area and hence low face velocity, so the efficiency is very good. In an application like this they would be reusable many times by simply thumping on the element a bit to shake out the dust. Because the filters are a common size across many truck makers, when you do have to replace it, its still cheaper than a replacement shop vac filter even though its several times larger.

uncrichie · Jun 15, 2005

To the guys that burned up the shop vacs, did you use it with/without the filter bag. I have a blast cabinet using 80 grit alu oxide and haven't had a problem using the shop vac with filter bag, I must add that I don't have alot of mileage on this yet. Am I headed for problems? Uncrichie...

steyr556 · Jun 29, 2005

I built a blasting cabinet from an old used pepsi 55 gal plastic syrup can which they will give you for free and I used sheet metal for the recovery funnel on bottom and also used sheet metal for the door and the from that the door sits on I then used rubber gloves from Harbor freight and I also used pvc toilet flanges for the glove holes with hose clamps on the gloves the unit is slick, used a incandesant fixture and also used a commercial shop vac if anyone wants to post pictures i will be glad to send pics for that person to post. Oh yeah also use a harbor freight pressurized media 110 lb blasting tank. Nozzel shut offs get eaten up in short order but still minor problem when unit works soo quick and saves my back and neck.

Bead Blasting Cabinet

Aluminum

Diamond

Aluminum

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Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Diamond

Diamond

Stainless

Aluminum

Aluminum

Plastic

Hot Rolled

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Aluminum

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