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Leaky bead blasting cabinet
(Ronnie Lyons, Meridian, Idaho) wrote in message . com...
I recently acquired a bead blasting cabinet and like the idea, but not
the consequences. The first time I used it I discovered it leaked
glass beads all over the place, which I attributed to the lack of a
vent for the pressure to escape. When I used it, the inbound airflow
would collapse the gloves on my hands so I knew it was building up a
lot of internal pressure anf forcing beads out anywhere they could
come out.
I attached a vent out the back, made of 1-1/2 PVC. It comes out, drops
down to the floor then turns vertical for about 7 feet, open at the
top. That helped a lot, but the vent still spews a fine mist of glass
beads in the exhaust air, which settles out all over the shop.
I guess I'm a little stumped when it comes to the finer points of
blast cabinets. This thing leaks beads out of every screw hole, around
every attachment...if there's a hole or gap, she leaks. Even the edges
where the cabinet bolts together with a gasket, and the frame around
the window glass, they all leak.
I'm considering tearing it completely apart and siliconing the hell
out of everything to keep the beads in, but the vent is still a
problem. What am I going to put on the end of the 1-1/2 PVC pipe to
let the air out and keep the bead dust in? Any points on venting this
beast? Thanks!
Lautard has a pic of a homemade unit in one of his Bedside Readers.
It was meant to be hooked up to a Shopvac so that the stuff inside
didn't make it outside. Not sure how long a Shopvac would run with
silica dust and other stuff running through the motor, those filters
don't catch it all. You'd probably want to vent the thing to the
outside anyway. In the powdercoating biz, we had a cyclone separator
to catch the fine stuff along with a bag house for final filtration.
You could make a cyclone separator and one of those woodworking
bag-type dust catchers might work for a final filter.
Stan
Stan
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