Blasting Cabinet Metering Valve

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RustyRatRod

RustyRatRod

I was born on a Monday. Not last Monday.
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For those of you who've made the metering valve modification to your home blasting cabinets, how much better does it make it work? I think I may do it to mine. It works ok, but I think it could be better and if this will help it I may do it. Looks cheap enough.
 
I meter my cabinet with the air pressure going to the gun. More aggressive media, like 80 aluminum oxide, I turn down to about 80 PSI. My soda blaster I run at full speed, at 135 PSI. For delicate things like alternators, I use organic media, like walnut shells, and adjust the pressure. I have a big 80 gallon 2 stage compressor, so my options are wide open. My cheap HF in line filter/dryer helps, as the weather up here is usually high in humidity. YMMV.
 
70dart340 said:
I meter my cabinet with the air pressure going to the gun. More aggressive media, like 80 aluminum oxide, I turn down to about 80 PSI. My soda blaster I run at full speed, at 135 PSI. For delicate things like alternators, I use organic media, like walnut shells, and adjust the pressure. I have a big 80 gallon 2 stage compressor, so my options are wide open. My cheap HF in line filter/dryer helps, as the weather up here is usually high in humidity. YMMV.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking about a regulator. I'm talking about an add on metering valve that supplies the media from the bottom of the hopper, where the trap door is to empty the media out.
 
I understand the difference, Bulldog. I modified my home made Scat cabinet per their instructions. I built mine 20 years ago from their plans. My cabinet has a funnel type trap at the bottom of it. I tried putting my pick up tube at the bottom of the funnel. No good, as the moisture went to the bottom of the collected abrasive it was standing. That's were the moisture collected, too. Depending on how much media you use(I use 50 lbs of 80 grit aluminum oxide), I hard mounted my pick up tube about 3 inches from the bottom of the funnel. I use an old A/C filter with a valve to control how the media is sucked up. I also use a cheap HF filter to supply the air to the cabinet. It might sound strange, but I light my cabinet with an old 150 watt incandescent bulb, which helps dry out the media while blasting. I filter the air with my Craftsman vacuum through another port. It might sound cheesy, but it's served me well over the years. I'll send pictures, if you'd like. Paul.
 
My cabinet is a commercial type, with a cyclone where the media is collected. Bottom has a t. One side is mounted to hopper, and one is to feed the siphon hose. Third is an air bleed, it helps with draft to keep air flowing through siphon. Works well. I use glass bead.
 
RustyRatRod said:
For those of you who've made the metering valve modification to your home blasting cabinets, how much better does it make it work? I think I may do it to mine. It works ok, but I think it could be better and if this will help it I may do it. Looks cheap enough.
Click to expand...

I bought this one off Ebay.
upload_2021-6-14_9-54-29.png
BLAST CABINET METERING VALVE HARBOR FREIGHT SANDBLASTING METERING MEDIA VALVE | eBay

I think it does help with the delivery of blasting media. My issue is that the slope on the floor of my blaster is shallow, so the media doesn't funnel very well into the bottom hole.

But, I would say it does help. Just be prepared to make some mods to your blast cabinet.
 
70dart340 said:
I understand the difference, Bulldog. I modified my home made Scat cabinet per their instructions. I built mine 20 years ago from their plans. My cabinet has a funnel type trap at the bottom of it. I tried putting my pick up tube at the bottom of the funnel. No good, as the moisture went to the bottom of the collected abrasive it was standing. That's were the moisture collected, too. Depending on how much media you use(I use 50 lbs of 80 grit aluminum oxide), I hard mounted my pick up tube about 3 inches from the bottom of the funnel. I use an old A/C filter with a valve to control how the media is sucked up. I also use a cheap HF filter to supply the air to the cabinet. It might sound strange, but I light my cabinet with an old 150 watt incandescent bulb, which helps dry out the media while blasting. I filter the air with my Craftsman vacuum through another port. It might sound cheesy, but it's served me well over the years. I'll send pictures, if you'd like. Paul.
Click to expand...

I'd love to see some pictures. But that's one of the purposes behind moving the pickup to the bottom. You only end up need like a cup or two of abrasive. That's one thing that aids moisture collection is having to use so much.
 
jonn6464 said:
I bought this one off Ebay.
View attachment 1715751538 BLAST CABINET METERING VALVE HARBOR FREIGHT SANDBLASTING METERING MEDIA VALVE | eBay

I think it does help with the delivery of blasting media. My issue is that the slope on the floor of my blaster is shallow, so the media doesn't funnel very well into the bottom hole.

But, I would say it does help. Just be prepared to make some mods to your blast cabinet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin about. I'm going to make one I believe.
 
I did it to mine and in my opinion, it's one of the best things you can do aside from a foot pedal control. Mine looks very much like the one shown above available from fleabay. Biggest problem I have is ridge on the inside edge of my cabinet collects media. Someday I'll fix that but I've got a bunch of other stuff ahead of it on the list.
 
jonn6464 said:
I bought this one off Ebay.
View attachment 1715751538 BLAST CABINET METERING VALVE HARBOR FREIGHT SANDBLASTING METERING MEDIA VALVE | eBay

I think it does help with the delivery of blasting media. My issue is that the slope on the floor of my blaster is shallow, so the media doesn't funnel very well into the bottom hole.

But, I would say it does help. Just be prepared to make some mods to your blast cabinet.
Click to expand...
I built a version of this design and it was a significant improvement for my HF cabinet. I have the smaller tabletop version cabinet without a stand and I had to add some feet to raise it up, but it was absolutely worth the effort.
 
check out you tube on rays garage. very interesting article using hf blast cabinet and tacoma company parts. i talked to mike at tacoma company(owner, i have his cell number rusty). after you see the video's and take to him, it makes sense. i am going to buy some of the things he has on the list. i have an oversize cat blast cabinet
 
Well I bought all the stuff to make one and did. I am thoroughly fuckin unimpressed. It really worked better before, which wasn't very good. I'm just gonna scrap this damned blaster. I could use the shop space anyway. Here's what I made.

BLASTER VALVE.jpg
 
I think I might have found the trouble. The blasting gun has a very small amount of suction going on, but I don't know how to remedy that. I did just get a new set of tips. There were small, medium and large. I got the small thinking that would conserve more air. Could that be affecting the suction to the pickup hose? Yall give me some help here. I'm bout pissed off with all this.
 
RustyRatRod said:
I think I might have found the trouble. The blasting gun has a very small amount of suction going on, but I don't know how to remedy that. I did just get a new set of tips. There were small, medium and large. I got the small thinking that would conserve more air. Could that be affecting the suction to the pickup hose? Yall give me some help here. I'm bout pissed off with all this.
Click to expand...

Hey man, if you look at the example from yesterday, the pipe is pretty thick. I think mine was 1-1/2". Also, moisture will mess any of these things up so I put a cheap *** moisture trap from HF on mine. I'll be happy to take mine off and show you all the bits.

A HUGE problem I had was getting thing stuck down in the media itself. That's the one downside is that every little thing will drop down into the system and make it's way to your gun.

I'm telling your brother, this works and works WELL.
 
How big is the black hose going to the gun? I think mine is at least 1/2". That pipe nipple the hose is clamped to is a restriction too. I went with the thinnest brass nipple I could find.
I don't think the feed will compensate for a crappy gun, but it should provide a more consistent supply of media. Mine went from cutting out all the time to a nice consistent flow. I'll try to snap a pic this afternoon.
 
Correction... I used either a 5/8 or 1/2 id feed hose but couldn't find an appropriate nipple so I made one from 1/2" copper pipe stub soldered into a threaded bushing. No restriction there.

80398D0F-81D4-42FF-973D-D6E87AF73558.jpeg
 
gzig5 said:
How big is the black hose going to the gun? I think mine is at least 1/2". That pipe nipple the hose is clamped to is a restriction too. I went with the thinnest brass nipple I could find.
I don't think the feed will compensate for a crappy gun, but it should provide a more consistent supply of media. Mine went from cutting out all the time to a nice consistent flow. I'll try to snap a pic this afternoon.
Click to expand...

5/8 heater hose. The nipple on my gun is part of the gun.
 
gzig5 said:
Correction... I used either a 5/8 or 1/2 id feed hose but couldn't find an appropriate nipple so I made one from 1/2" copper pipe stub soldered into a threaded bushing. No restriction there.

View attachment 1715751921
Click to expand...

Yeah I need to make mine like that. Mine has a lot more places for blockages and restrictions. I just LOATHE going to the local hardware store, because I know NOTHING about plumbing stuff and the bad thing is everybody there knows less than I do. dumbasses.
 
Please keep in mind the ceramic tips wear quickly with aluminum oxide. I switched to a carbide tip. They last much longer, with less pressure loss.
 
70dart340 said:
Please keep in mind the ceramic tips wear quickly with aluminum oxide. I switched to a carbide tip. They last much longer, with less pressure loss.
Click to expand...

I just got steel ones. I don't have the coin for carbide right now. 55 bucks a piece. Caint do that right now.
 
we have an old eastwood blast cabinet that worked sub par. dad put a 5 gallon bucket under in and left the drain plug out of the bottom of the trap. stuffed the pick up hose in the bucket. he said the thing has never worked better.
 
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