Media Blasting

[BigDog]

Hi all, i'm hoping to get some help in setting a shop in my basement so i can pc, polish and plate my motorcycle. My wife just got me a media blasting cabinet and it's my first. I spent alot of time reading the post here and found it to have great deal of people with even greater knowledge. Well here my first question, my cabinet has a hole that i belive to be for a dust collector which i cannot afford to buy. Can a shop vac be used or will this be to strong and waste my media?

Thanks, Jeff B.

By the way here is a pic of my bike polished fender stays and belt guard:

[Russellrog]

I would think a shop vac would ware out fast and be noisy and the filter could be a concern. Compared to the right vac unit. Other then that ?

[fxstcguy98]

Jeff,
I made my own cabinet once and hooked up a five horse shop vac to it, put may arms in the gloves, flipped the switch with my foot and it had so much suction that I couldn't get my arms back out. I then switch to a peice of junk vacuum that had a hose attachment (someone threw it out), and it was much better. Give that a try, if it seems like your loosing media, stuff something in the hole until you get enough suction that you can see, but not loose media.
Darrin

[BigDog]

Thanks for the info guys i thought the shop vac would be abit to much for it.

[dadkar2]

I used a wall mounted Sears shop vac on my first small blast cabinet. The Sears unit was worn out in less than 1 month and was not covered under warranty.

I also used a Sears 5 HP vacuum but restricted the air flow by using a narrow connection pipe (1 1/4 inch). This worked fine for quite some time, but I needed to change the filters regularly. Try putting a foam filter at the outlet of the blast cabinet. This tends to catch most of the media before it goes downstream to the vacuum.

My experience was with brown aluminum oxide which is very abrasive to metals (eg blower motor bearings!) Glass beads might not have such an affect; I don't know.

A good 65scfm vacuum system can be had for about $120 from Cyclone, when you're ready. For me, I wish I would have bought it before trashing the vacuum cleaner--it would have broken pretty close to even.


Ken

[vemoo]

I've jerry rigged my 40 # pot sprayer through the box as the suction shooters just don't supply enough cut power for the time invested for me, and 2 vacs: one a 3 hp shop vac, and a Eureka. With both going, shooting 30 mesh at 80 pounds, I can just barely see with a protected 300 watt light. After 2-4 minutes I stop and the field clears in 20 secons maybe and off I go again, making real progress and a great looking patina that takes powder coat wonderfully! VEM