Clarke blast cabinet

[Andy8421]

I have finally used the Clarke blast cabinet I bought over ten years ago when I last decided to 'start' my Elan restoration. Link here:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/heavy-duty-blast-cabinet/

Frankly, it is hopeless, and has frustrated the heck out of me. I have had to make a number of modifications to make it even partway useful. It has taken me 3 days to blast 2 rear calipers including the time taken to make the cabinet work. In no particular order:

1. The gun sucks up blast media through a tube which clogs almost immediately.
2. The lamp is far too dim to see anything
3. The cabinet fills up with dust as soon as blasting starts, and attaching a vacuum cleaner just pulls the gloves off the cabinet fittings.

I will list the mods which may be of help to others when I have calmed down a bit.

Andy.

[69S4]

I'd be interested in your mods as I have one of those (for some time!) and my experience has been much the same. It's essentially unusable.

[bitsobrits]

Most inexpensive blast cabinets need some help in the design department. I started with an inexpensive machine and just kept modding it until it worked okay. Wish I had just spent the money on a proper setup in the first place.

At first it leaked dust at all the seams, so I disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled with a clear silicone sealant.
To use a vacuum setup you will need an air intake in the cabinet body, higher up out of the primary direction of blasting and preferably shielded and with some sort of filter media to prevent blasting grit directly out of the intake and into your shop. Also, you will want a dust separator system otherwise your vacuum will have a short life ingesting all of the blast media residue. Wearing a mask during use is also recommended.

Magnetic mount LED lights are pretty inexpensive these days to address lighting. Multiple small ones are more useful than a single large one.

Clogs in the intake tube or blast gun are usually due clumped blast media (moisture a contributor) or debris from the parts being blasted. A periodic media dump, filter (through a screen), and refill helps a lot.

"Tear off" window protecters are inexpensive and recommended, otherwise you will in short order end up with a nice decorative bit of frosted glass.

My cabinet is a side loading one, and really wish I had a top loader as every time I open the door some blast media falls to the floor.

I try to do a full clean/service on my cabinet at the end of each bigger project (so a couple times a year) and that gets me through many quick jobs in between.

So all in all a right PITA but I find the results and time/money saved are worth it. But still wish I had spent more money in the first place!

[Bud English]

Everything Steve posted mirrors my experience with a King (read cheap) blast cabinet, including all of his fixes.

My biggest improvement was a larger air inlet with a PVC pipe "manifold", drilled with holes to spread the incoming air across the side of the cabinet, opposite the exhaust side, along the top near the glass. That improved visibility by keeping the glass cleaner and removing the dust faster. I also found that my shop vac with a DIY cyclone separator isn't really powerful enough for the job, but for my limited use, I'm living with mine as well.

[miked]

I am all for diy (zinc plating next for my motorbike bits) but had a go about 18 years back with the same cabinet. Brings back memories of the gloves sucking out solid when the vacuum cleaner had too much pull.
Had to make an inlet hole in the vac pipe with an adjusting collar. Lots of dust leakage up the nose. Visibility horrible. Pick up, a joke. Gave up in the end. Did not have a big enough compressor so took my calipers to a friend with a tyre garage to use his. He threw me off site after 3 hours when his Donk ( as he called it ) started smoking.
I found a good blast guy who does various type including vapour for my two stroke engine parts. Does complete frames too. The more parts I take the more economical it works out. He has all the right gear. Large cabinets. Spot on. He is a bike and car nut too so always interested in what you are up to.
Mark at F & J vapour blasting. Skelmersdale. Lots done by mail. No association but very happy with having Mark doing batches. Has ultrasonic cleaning too for carbs after vapour blasting.

[512BB]

Skelmersdale. That sounds like the sort of place that is still charging £5 per hour Mike. In other words, my sort of place!

Leslie

[steveh]

Andy,

I've got a similar cheap blast cabinet which had the same issues .

1 I dumped the original gun and used a clarke gun body off a spray gun version with the pot removed , the reason being is the bigger diameter space where the grit and air mix .Also i plumbed in the grit pickup pipe into the cabinet base drain hole to give gravity feed .
Clogging will still occur with v fine media but a lot less frequent , a better water trap and a chiller resolves it.

2 I use a flat led lamp just left on the lid outside.

3 A cyclone dust separator between the cabinet and the henry vacuum is a big result
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254647382840 ... SwRQNfBXE2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z4yZRkPNYg

[Donels]

Some of your problems are common to all blast cabinets.

Clumping and blockage is due the moisture in the air. You need to install a moisture trap between compressor and cabinet and drain the compressor tank daily. I also found that it's blast media dependant. Crushed glass seems to the best in avoiding this.

You need to have a separator between the tank and vacuum cleaner or your vacuum cleaner quickly gets overwhelmed. These can be made fairly easily, I use a plastic paint can with a couple of inches of water in the bottom.

The viewing panel will quickly become frosted, as mentioned, so use 'tear offs' from day one.

If the tank is leaking be very careful to wear a good quality mask. The dust can be harmful causing silicosis among other issues. Best to seal it carefully. If you use a powerful vacuum cleaner this tends not to be an issue as the negative pressure prevents leakage. I can't open mine with the vacuum running.

Persevere it's worth it. It's a brilliant bit of kit once you sort it out.

[Donels]

One other tip to clear a blockage is to put your gloved finger over the outlet nozzle of the gun, then pull the trigger. This blows the air back down the media tube and cleans it out.