tips and tricks H/F blasting cabinet

[camcojb]

I have one of the HF cabinets. The cabinet is fine, sealed it up extra and no leaks. But I suspect the gun is crap. I've tried 5 different medias and multiple pressures, and none work well at all, clogs the hose constantly. I quit using it for now, going to research different blasting guns. Don't have $500 to fix it, hoping I can come up with a cheaper solution. Don't need any more features, just need it to suck up media.

[camcojb]

So for the heck of it I decided to try a cheap gun from Amazon. Used the same pick up hose and tube that came with the HF cabinet. Wow, what a difference, works great! No clogging, strips metal immediately. Now I can actually use my blast cabinet. Just an FYI for those in the same boat.

[minendrews68]

Jody, Does your cabinet have a foot pedal? just one of the things I really wanted on mine. Mike sells his media gun separately, although I don't remember the price. I did up grade my lighting myself and that made quite a difference. On Mikes upgrade he suggested to take the wire screen that the parts rest on while blasting and cut it down some so you can get bigger things into the cabinet. There were other things like taking the view window out, using nutserts to put it back together. This eliminates the need to half way crawl into the cabinet when you need to change out the glass viewing window. That worked really well too.
If you have any questions about either of these let me know and I'll either send pics or try to talk you through it.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by minendrews68

Jody, Does your cabinet have a foot pedal? just one of the things I really wanted on mine. Mike sells his media gun separately, although I don't remember the price. I did up grade my lighting myself and that made quite a difference. On Mikes upgrade he suggested to take the wire screen that the parts rest on while blasting and cut it down some so you can get bigger things into the cabinet. There were other things like taking the view window out, using nutserts to put it back together. This eliminates the need to half way crawl into the cabinet when you need to change out the glass viewing window. That worked really well too.
If you have any questions about either of these let me know and I'll either send pics or try to talk you through it.

I do not have a foot pedal, but it's on the list, as well as a better light. What light did you use? The one that comes with it is better than nothing, but only barely.

I did the nutserts for the view window right off the bat...

[minendrews68]

Originally Posted by camcojb

I do not have a foot pedal, but it's on the list, as well as a better light. What light did you use? The one that comes with it is better than nothing, but only barely.

I did the nutserts for the view window right off the bat...

On mine, I bought the metal light fixtures that is used to put flood lights on a house with. ( or other uses ) bought from home depot and drilled holes in each corner of the top of the box. Does your cabinet have a light box that bolts on top of the cabinet? Mine did and you could take the box to replace the fluorescent bulbs. Mine is quite old, I think the newer ones did not have this box. After I removed the box there is a glass window for the light to go through. I drilled a hole in each end and mounted the lights from the inside of the cabinet and put a nut on the ends to hold them. Better yet, since I've made this about as clear as mud I will take pictures and post them here.
I used the same light switch but added another female plug to plug the vacuum cleaner into. That way when the lights come on so does the vacuum. Another think that's in the kit is a cover that covers the inlet of the air, which is no longer coming in from the rear but the right side.
Ok, I'll take pictures....
The light bulb holders are similar to these, only you can buy them individually cheaper. https://www.homedepot.com/b/Lighting...ight%20fixture Sorry, the $16 ones. They are threaded where they go into that flange, but you will drill holes and mount to the cabinet.

I think these were the bulbs: https://www.homedepot.com/s/led%2520...520bulb?NCNI-5
Don't go buy any of these because I want to check out and get absolute pics and part numbers. Be sure to use the outdoor flood lamps because they are made of glass (not plastic) and will hold up a lot longer than the plastic ones.
Feit Electric75-Watt Equivalent PAR30 Dimmable Security or Outdoor Track Lighting ENERGY STAR 90+ CRI Spot LED Light Bulb, Daylight
Shop this Collection