1/15/2005

Here are the parts I had. And to think that I thought I had enough to make an entire storage rack!

1/15/05

Using clamps to hold the legs in place. Note the inclusion of the length of angle iron... I've made this high enough that once the wheels are on, and the hopper/base in place, it will lie just below elbow-high to allow a comfortable position for my arms while the cabinet is in use.

1/16/05

This is a portion of the hopper/base for the cabinet. It is about 1' deep in the rear, and starts the slope at 4" down.

1/22/05

I was agonizing over what to do to make sure that the weight of the sand didn't destroy the hopper, and then I remembered some angle stock I had from an aborted ceiling storage shelf (my rafters in the garage wouldn't cooperate). I drilled holes along the edges, and drove screws through them and into the plywood.

1/22/05

Here's another shot of the braced hopper and framework. All of the angle iron started at 90 degrees, and I had to pound each piece almost flat to meet the angles of the hopper properly.

1/22/05

The hopper from the inside. And let me take this time to say, "Plan out your projects, from start to finish!" Really, take the time to measure and lay out panels. It saves a lot of wood, and if you get the angles right, you won't have the horrid gaps in the wood like I have. Teaches me for taking something like this on without laying out the pieces on paper, first...

1/23/05

My screws were long enough that they stuck through the plywood, but Mr. Dremel made short work of that! It's amazing how fast the cutting wheel gets through a screw.

1/23/05

All of the screw tips are ground out, and the carnage can be seen here: Cut tips everywhere!

1/23/05

It was at this point that I decided it was high time to tackle that leg that went off at a crazy angle. I cut the welds using the Dremel, then re-set, and welded. Amazingly, it was still not 90 degrees! Oh, well. 100 degrees is close enough for an operation like this.

1/23/05

Still not feeling 100% about the hopper, I decided that I would weld all of the overlapping angle iron. Now, this was galvanized, and welding galvanized material gives off poisionous gas. That's the reason why I had my fan blowing on the operation. Doesn't make for pretty welds, but it held together, and the base is almost bullet-proof, now.

1/23/05

Instead of wasting time with drilling, shimming, and bolting the wheels on the frame, I opted to just weld them on. I put the wheel on the overlappin angle iron, welded it on, then welded from the lower angle iron up to the edge of the wheel base. This gets the job done satisfactorily, and was much quicker than the alternative.

1/23/05

To get the hopper in the frame by myself, I used my saw horses, with a board spanning them, to hold the hopper in place while I clamped the corners. Luckily, and not at all by design (remember, I didn't really HAVE a design), it was almost the perfect height! Once one corner was clamped, I used a level to ensure that all four corners were on a plane.

1/23/05

Now began the drain. My original idea was to make a trap door in the back side, but the problem witih that would be that it wouldn't seal. Then, I thought about making a drain... Brilliant! ;-) Finding the pieces required some work, but in the electrical section of HomeDepot I was able to find a threaded pipe with threaded nut, and in the plumbing section I was able to find a cap that fit the electrical fitting.

1/23/05

1/23/05

A view from the bottom, with the cap in place. All of that goo around it is Liquid Nails, which I used to caulk up all of the gaps in the panels, and should work to help keep the drain in place when I loosen and tighten the cap. Note the poor quality of the welds on the angle iron.

1/23/05

This is a view from the inside, with the Liquid Nails filling all of my gaps. It was thick enough that it filled, without oozing through the gaps, like a normal caulk would do. Also, this should cure to be fairly hard, where a normal caulk would stay pliable, and I don't want that for the base, as I'm trying to make it as hard and slick as possible.

1/23/05

The hopper, mounted and ready to roll!

1/23/05

Having made a few bass speaker boxes in my time, I decided to leverage material I had laying around from that, as well as the technique to create the top. I plan on this having both a door at one end, and the ability to flip up on hinges.

1/23/05

View from the front. Again, no real plan, just eye-balling what looks good. In order to make the sides as similar as possible (angle, size, etc.), I used two-sided 3M mounting tape to hold them together. I then cut them to size/shape together.

1/23/05

Note the board on top. Since I don't have enough work left to justify buying another sheet of wood, I used some 1x12 planking I've had kicking around the garage for a few years. Good wood, good use of wood, good improvising! :-)

1/23/05

Since I used the 1x12 planking, the the panels needed are wider than 12", I cut down one and screwed it in place to fit the gap. However, I want it to closely match the wider piece, so I used strips of wood clamped in place to get the panels planar, and then used ratcheting tie downs to pull the pieces together (since I don't have pipe clamps, this was my compromise... I think I like it better than pipe clamping!).

1/23/05

This is a frontal view of my bodged together top...

1/23/05

After allowing the Liquid Nails to set up good and firm, and being done with the top as much as I could for one night, I mixed up some Bondo I had lying on my shelf. It's really old, and doesn't mix as well as fresh, so in order to save on some sanding time to get it all smooth, I layed cling wrap over the top, and used a roller to smooth out the Bondo. Once it cures, I'll pull off the wrap, and sand it down. Since this stuff was so poor, I'll use the other can I have (newer, and glass filled), and put another layer down, as well as coat the remaining corners.

1/25/05- Baby Poo

This was the first time I've used fiberglass filled Bondo, and it's NASTY looking! It really does look like baby poo when you mix it. However, since it was a newer can than the last Bondo batch I used, it was much easier to work with. I'm going to use one more can to finish out the hopper, and then begin on smoothing it all and painting.

1/29/05

I ground down the bondo using a flap wheel on my angle grinder. It was messy, but did a great job of smoothing the bondo down.

1/29/05

Here's the inside after sanding down, post-grinder. This gives a nice, smooth finish to the bondo to allow for a smooth coating of paint.

1/29/05

...But not so fast! There were lots of air bubbles and pits that needed filling with spackle. I've since determined that spackle is not the ideal thing to use over bondo and between enamel paint. If I were to do it again, I'd get some sandable body filler designed for filling pits in Bondo.

1/29/05

A nice, shiny coat of black paint. I have two layers on it, so far. The final finish is smooth, but not thick enough for my taste. I'll add a couple of more layers before I'm done.

1/30/05

The green paint on the edge is to seal up the edging and allow for a good surface for the gasket which will seal the top and the bottom, and prevent dust from going everywhere.

1/30/05

I put the final panel into the top. I still want to paint the inside of this white, and coat it with silicone, before putting it on top of the base.

1/30/05

Here is what will become the access door.

Protecting It

One of the problems with using wood in making the cabinet is that reflected blast media will remove the paint/wood on the inside of the cabinet. I decided to try combatting this with a thin layer of silicone along the back wall...

Laying it down

After squirting beads of silicone along the back wall, I used a body filler spreader to thin out the coat and get a good layer down. The resilience of the silicone should allow the media to bounce off without eroding the wall. We'll see...

Drilled Corners

Drilling the corners allows for the jig saw blade to get through the wood, and transition from one angle to another.

Holey Hole

Again, a hole to start cutting the circle.

Shaping Up

It's starting to look more like a sandblasting cabinet and less like a big white box on wheels!

Hinges

The hinges on the rear allow for lifting the top of the cabinet up to allow for larger parts or maintenance.

Sealing

The top half is sealed to the bottom half with weatherstripping, and the perimeter of the access door is sealed with the same material. A simple latch keeps the door closed, and pressed firmly against the cabinet.

6/26/05

Here, I'm using some plastic flanges I purchased at Home Depot. I noted that the gloves are almost exactly the right diameter for the arm holes, and the flanges have an interior lip that with modification should be just right for catching the rolled edge of the gloves and clamping them in place.

6/26/05

I used my Dremel with the router attachment (for the first time in the five years I've owned the attachment!) and a cutting bit to trim a channel through a web. This allows the rolled edge of the gloves to sit in a nice little channel, preventing them from slipping with pressure, as well as sealing off the access holes nicely.

6/26/05

Here is a close look at the web I've modified.

6/26/05

Here you see both arm holes installed. I have six wood drywall screws holding the rings in place, and cut the pointed ends off with the Dremel.

6/26/05

To help evacuate dust that will be created by the degradation of the blasting media, I made a one-way valve by drilling breathing holes in a circular pattern, and inserted a machine screw through the center.

6/26/05

Here is the working end of the valve. The machine screw somes through to this side, and holds a circle of rubber, kept in place with a large washer. When the vacuum is turned on, air will come in, but won't go out if the vacuum suddenly turns off.

6/26/05

This other end is where the shopvac will attach to provide suction. The shopvac has a HEPA filter installed to protect me against potential silicosis (a disease contracted by prolonged exposure to silica dust).

6/26/05

I used one of the rubber grommets from a set of control arms I had on my shelf as a grommet for the fluorescent drop light I'm using to illuminate the interior of the cabinet. This will allow me to remove the light for repairs or to use it for something other than the cabinet, as needed.

6/26/05

The cord on the drop light is very long, so I installed a hook on which to hang it. I'm just missing the plexiglass window, in this view!

6/26/05

Here you see the interior of the cabinet. Note the drop light (another Harbor Freight buy), and the gloves... We are almost ready for action!

7/24/05

Using a stepped sheet-metal drill, I put screw holes into a sheet of acrylic that became the viewing window. Using a stepped drill is a must when working with acrylic, as a normal drill bit will cause small fractures in the sheet, around the holes, that will eventually spread.

7/24/05

Here is the interior of the cabinet, with the air whip installed, and zip-tied to the sand pickup hose. Keeping these two hoses together prevents tangling them with the part being worked on.

7/24/05

Here you see the burst glove. The air flow coming through the arm hole, however, ensured that sand stayed inside the cabinet (or in the vacuum!).

7/24/05

An inside view of the broken glove. I guess I'll be making another run to Harbor Freight for a new set of gloves!

7/24/05

The ensemble: The air compressor hose goes to the air filter, which connects to the whip going into the cabinet. The vacuum is attached to the cabinet to, in theory, remove only silica dust particles (a HEPA filter in installed in the shopvac).

7/24/05

This is the disk shield prior to blasting.

7/24/05

Here is the shield after blasting. It's as good a result as any other blaster I've ever used...