Two-Stage Dust Collector Recycles Blasting Media

November 30, 2021 by Tom Nardi 4 Comments

A critical element of a good blasting cabinet setup is a vacuum system that can suck out the dust, blasting media, and bits of removed material faster than it collects inside the chamber. A cyclone separator can get the job done, but since it dumps all the waste from the cabinet into one bucket, it can make reusing the blasting material a dirty job. But as [Daniel Bauen] explains in the latest Engineerable video, his two-stage dust collector is able to keep the cabinet clear while separating the used blasting material into its own container.

The cheap dust separator only works on large particles.

Basically, the idea here is to to use two different cyclone separators: one that’s very effective, and a cheap model that’s only able to remove large particulates. By running the air from the cabinet through the cheap separator first, the used blasting media is captured in a dedicated bucket. From there, the air runs through the high-efficiency separator to extract the finer dust. Finally, the shop vacuum [Daniel] is using has its own washable HEPA filter to catch anything that makes it through the two extractors; though he notes that it only rarely needs to be cleaned out.

Normally this system is attached directly to the blasting cabinet, and it does a good job of capturing the bulk of the used blasting media in real-time. But to make sure the media is really cleaned up being using it again, [Daniel] will actually run the contents of the first bucket through the system a few more times to separate out any of the more stubborn dust that might be mixed in.

Of course not everyone has the space, or even the need, for such an elaborate blasting setup. If you’re just trying to quickly clean up some parts on the cheap, you can make a basic blaster for around $6. Good luck capturing the media though.

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DIY Wet Media Blast Cabinet

April 26, 2015 by Rich Bremer 27 Comments

Most people have heard of sand blasting, a process used for cleaning parts by spraying a high pressure air and sand mixture. At this speed, the sand becomes abrasive and will remove paint, rust and general gunk leaving a clean surface behind. There is one downside to the process, breathing the silica dust created by the sand blasting process can lead to a lung disease called silicosis, which is not curable and can even lead to death.

[Roger] wanted to clean his motorcycle parts and decided to build a wet media blasting cabinet. Unlike sand blasting, wet media blasting mixes the cleaning media with water instead of air. The media and water slurry is sprayed at the part needing cleaning and has the same effect as sand blasting without creating any dust.

As you can clearly see from the image, the main blasting chamber is made from a 55 gallon plastic drum. It even has a removable lid on one side to make loading in parts easy. A large hole was cut into the drum in order to install a window. Look close – there is even a wind shield wiper from a car installed on the inside of the window to aid in seeing the part being cleaned!

Underneath the blasting chamber is another plastic drum cut in half. This serves as a slurry tank. A regular pool pump is used to both agitate the slurry mixture and power the spray nozzle. Overall, [Roger] is happy with his blast cabinet made from found parts and says it has become his all-time favorite cleaning device. He says that the part surface finish obtained was well worth the effort building the blast cabinet.