Dust in sandblaster

[etyrrany]

Hello,

I have a modest sand blasting cabinet and I am having a problem with dust removal from the cabinet. I have connected a vacuum (my shop vac) to the cabinet so it works okay until the filter gets clogged with dust. The paper filter that came with my cabinet is just like an automotive filter. I have already cleaned the filter 3 times to maintain good air flow but today I was blasting for an extended time and the filter got clogged again and the dust was escaping out of the cabinet. Taking out the filter and cleaning it every time is a big pain.

So my question is what kind of filter are you guys running in your sandblaster? Also, how is the filter setup, specifically where is it located in the cabinet?

Thanks,

etyrrany

[tomg552001]

That is the biggest draw back of a shop vac dust collection system. You may want to invest in a cyclone style collector to prevent this. Good luck!

[skiddz]

I built what my neighbor calls a "giant bong" for dust collection. I took a 5 gal plastic bucket with a tightly sealing lid (Hit up a paint store for one - that's where I got mine) and punched two holes in the lid. One holes gets connected to my shop vac. The other has a piece of 2" ABS pipe stuck through it with about 3" above the lid and a foot or so inside. To this pipe I connected another length of shop vac hose and connected that to my dust cabinet.

Fill the bucket with water until the pipe is about 2-3" below the surface of the water. Fire off the shop vac. You should hear the water gurgling like crazy. Once it is, fire away with the sandblaster. The water will trap pretty much all the dust from blasting and any that might escape is easily picked up by the vacuum. I just change the water in the bucket before each blasting session. So far so good.

[Hemi-T]

I did exactly the same thing skiddz did. $10 worth of Home Depot parts, and voila, water trap for blasting dust. Cheap and practical.

Hemi-T

[non-stick]

lol... necessity is the mother of invention around here. Very good way of solving a problematic issue (still chuckling at the neighbors' terminology). Another solution is to get a "filter bag" and slip it over the paper element to trap the really fine particulate. They sell them in Sears for maybe 5 bucks and extend the life of the filter greatly and don't require as much maintenance for clearing the dust out.

[etyrrany]

Hi Skiddz,

Thanks for the advice, I will definately give it a shot. But a follow up question: do you have some type of filter to stop the actual media from being sucked up? Also, can you recycle the alum oxide and glass bead from the water (I really can't see how this will cause a problem if it is dried throughly)?

Thanks,

etyrrany

[Hemi-T]

Anything in your shop vac is garbage. From normal use, glass beads, aluminum oxide, etc, will all break up into small pieces that are no longer of any value for blasting. If your shop vac is powerful enough, and if your cabinet is ventilated well enough (in theory) you'll never have to change the abraisive, just add more. The fractured abraisive turns to dust and is collected by the shop vac. I haven't found this to be the case with my cabinet. My abraisive will lose it's effectiveness as it gets older, and needs to be changed anyway. Your results may vary Abraisive is cheap, and fresh abraisive will save you LOTS of time over old worn out stuff.

Hemi-T

[etyrrany]

Well I wouln't exactly say that media is cheap. Alum Oxide is $42 for 50lb and I use about 40lb in my modest cabinet. Glass Bead is on average around $32 for 50lb.

I actually don't care about the dust, that is waste and you can't really do anything useful with it anyways. My main concern is sucking out the media and the dust at the same time. That is why I am asking if you run some type of filter/screen in your cabinet. I wouldn't want to have my media just getting sucked to the water where I have to throw it out.

I looked up one of those cycle style dust collectors but the investment is just not possible right now.

Thanks,

etyrrany

[Hemi-T]

Wow, that *is* expensive. Where do you buy your abraisive? I use Black Magnum from Menards. $6 for a 50 lb bag.

Hemi-T

[duke]

i get black beauty medium from menards for just over $ 10 inc; tax for 100 lb bag
cheers

[tomg552001]

I get my black beauty for $5.50 per 100lb's :P. It pulverises a bit quicker than a oxide, but at the price, its far more practical.

[duke]

hey tomg, who do you buy b/b from? i thought i was buying right

[etyrrany]

The prices are here from Caswell. I just roughly averaged out the price for the different grits available.

etyrrany

[tomg552001]

A local hardware store carries it, i have a friend who buys in bulk because he uses it in the asphalt business so he gets me a little better pricing. If you buy by the bag its i believe $7.00, buy 10 or more it goes down cheap.

[duke]

ah-ha, i don't feel so ripped off now