tips and tricks H/F blasting cabinet

[rwhite692]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Rob --

The only thing I see that I "don't like" about this set up is media changing...

My TP Tools cabinet has a nice spring loaded trap door that drops the media out of the hopper... and you've used this "area" to attach your pick up to. So how do you change out the media???

GW if you look at the pic, on the very bottom of the Venturi assembly you can see a white PVC plug threaded in (1" NPT) you just unscrew that plug and all the media drops straight down/out.

I leave the cap off with a bucket under there and shoot the inside of the cabinet with a few blasts of air to get the last bits of media all out.

My previous cabinet also used a spring loaded trap door, which works fine as well.

[GregWeld]

Beautiful -- I knew you had it worked out - I just couldn't tell and it is one thing that a "newb" to blast cabinets needs to know.

[waynieZ]

Dammm another really smart guy. I love this place!

[Fluid Power]

Why did you use a solenoid valve vs. a pneumatic foot valve?

Darren

[rwhite692]

Hi Darren,

On the last cabinet I built, I used the kit from TIP which came with a foot-pedal air valve. I was not all that happy with it. That valve only had a 3/8" internal port, which was fine since on that cabinet, all my hoses were 3/8. We also eventually wore that pedal out and it was not rebuildable...

Having some experience using (rebuildable) solenoid valves in industrial applications, and since I am now running 1/2" hose throughout, I wanted to use a solenoid valve this time around. Solenoid valves like this when used for switching clean dry air, will typically last for many millions of cycles in industrial applications, so I doubt I will ever wear this one out.

In addition, the use of the solenoid valve means a lot less clutter down on the floor, since the air hoses don't need to go all the way down to a pedal sitting on the floor, and then back up to the cabinet/gun.

One potential drawback of the solenoid valve vs. a foot pedal air valve, is that it is not possible to finely control or "throttle" the air pressure, it is either ON, or OFF. But as I recall, I was never really able to get much measure of fine control using my old foot pedal air valve, nor did I really ever find myself needing or wanting to do that, anyway.

I can imagine that if someone was using a cabinet to blast delicate things (like antique electric motor armatures, for example) and things like that, using walnut shells or some other fine media, maybe that kind of capability would be desired, although, you can really get the same effect by reducing blasting pressure to begin with, using the regulator, and or varying the gun position vs. the part being blasted, to get the desired effect.

[Fluid Power]

Originally Posted by rwhite692

Hi Darren,

On the last cabinet I built, I used the kit from TIP which came with a foot-pedal air valve. I was not all that happy with it. That valve only had a 3/8" internal port, which was fine since on that cabinet, all my hoses were 3/8. We also eventually wore that pedal out and it was not rebuildable...

Having some experience using (rebuildable) solenoid valves in industrial applications, and since I am now running 1/2" hose throughout, I wanted to use a solenoid valve this time around. Solenoid valves like this when used for switching clean dry air, will typically last for many millions of cycles in industrial applications, so I doubt I will ever wear this one out.

In addition, the use of the solenoid valve means a lot less clutter down on the floor, since the air hoses don't need to go all the way down to a pedal sitting on the floor, and then back up to the cabinet/gun.

One potential drawback of the solenoid valve vs. a foot pedal air valve, is that it is not possible to finely control or "throttle" the air pressure, it is either ON, or OFF. But as I recall, I was never really able to get much measure of fine control using my old foot pedal air valve, nor did I really ever find myself needing or wanting to do that, anyway.

I can imagine that if someone was using a cabinet to blast delicate things (like antique electric motor armatures, for example) and things like that, using walnut shells or some other fine media, maybe that kind of capability would be desired, although, you can really get the same effect by reducing blasting pressure to begin with, using the regulator, and or varying the gun position vs. the part being blasted, to get the desired effect.

Thanks for your feedback. I own an industrial distribution business, so I know a thing or three about solenoid valves! But you answered my question perfectly. The clutter removal is great idea. The air hoses tend to make a mess out things.

Darren

[Kory 88Iroc Lt1]

Great info. Thanks for sharing I will be using this in the future.
Kory