I have done quite a bit of research on cabinets from size, accessibility, lighting and of course prices and the outcome is as mostly always, design and do it myself.
this cabinet had a couple of designs, the first was a home made pressure pot suspended from the bottom of the cabinet that didn't work 100%, mostly due to the filling of the pot which was through a 1" ball valve, I never new at what level it was at.
It did work and held around 10kg of media.
But I kept getting blockages in the outlet tee.
this cabinet had a couple of designs, the first was a home made pressure pot suspended from the bottom of the cabinet that didn't work 100%, mostly due to the filling of the pot which was through a 1" ball valve, I never new at what level it was at.
It did work and held around 10kg of media.
But I kept getting blockages in the outlet tee.
So it had to go, fortunately I had made provision for it not working and had made an extension to the hopper where the pickup could sit with the drain valve screwed in. This is an old oil filter with the core removed and the same pcd flange welded on.
Another change was in my old pressure pot, this was made around 9 - 10 years ago and has worked perfect every time, it had been stripped down for fittings so I cleaned it all up and re-fitted with new parts and got it working again.
I have also made it easier to fill by cutting a large hole in the top flange and welding on a 11/2" thread, I made up a cap to accept a tee with a relief valve and pressure bleed cock, before this I had to remove all of the nuts and lift the heavy flange cover to fill.
The red pressure pot did not go to waste as I needed a funnel to fill the pot, so a bit of fabrication and it turned into a funnel/sieve.
Difficult to see inside but there is a course sieve to catch any bits as I pour in.
The cap screws off and the funnel screws on.
I cleaned all of my ally oxide before filling the pot and was surprised at how much rubbish had accumulated in it, from bits of wood to lots of small bits of resist. I also weighed it all before replacing and it came to around 90 kg, 40 went into the pot and the rest into the hopper, the hopper could still do with another 25kg to fully fill.
I cleaned all of my ally oxide before filling the pot and was surprised at how much rubbish had accumulated in it, from bits of wood to lots of small bits of resist. I also weighed it all before replacing and it came to around 90 kg, 40 went into the pot and the rest into the hopper, the hopper could still do with another 25kg to fully fill.
The air system for the guns is operated via electrically operated solenoid valves, I have an electric switch box fitted to the side of the cabinet.
This electric switch system was made by my electrician friend and he made a nice job.
One of the switches operates the extraction system, the middle switch open the air to the pressure pot and the last operates 2 of the other solenoids.
The solenoid on the right is a 1/2" valve and gives a larger volume of air supply to the syphon gun, the only 1/2" valve I could find was a 12v model so have had to wire in a small 12v transformer from a printer.
The middle 1/4" solenoid supplies the pressure pot and the valve to the left is not connected yet but will probably supply air to another gun when I set it up. Each solenoid has its own pressure regulator and I have a blow gun for clearing the dust.
I built the carcass of the cabinet in my garage before moving to the shed for finishing off.
The cabinet has had a lick of paint and is looking great.
The extraction system is plumbed into 2 points at the back using 11/4" plastic pipe.
The suction inlets are protected by metal shields so the heavier particles drop before getting sucked in.
I am using a cyclonic dust catcher to prevent the dust entering the vacuum this model is called the I.C.E (Internal Cyclonic Enhancer) which is purported to collect 99.9% of the dust as opposed to only 99% of the original model.
I have it bolted to a 30ltr sealed drum with sealant between the joints to make it air tight, if it draws air then its efficiency is reduced considerably.
The vacuum was picked up on ebay and is a larger industrial unit, required a huge amount of cleaning bit now works great.
Because the cabinet is made of plywood I have glued a sheet of rubber jointing to the back, this is to protect the wood from being blasted, not that the blast will reach that far back as the cabinet is over 500mm wide.
I have 3 different accesses to the cabinet, the main one being the side door, I have over a meter of depth inside so I can easily do longer work without a pass through hole.
The glass front lifts and this is what I will be using mostly.
I have not gone with the gloves approach but have instead fitted a postbox entrance with brushes top and bottom, two sets, one set inside and a set outside, the use of 4 brushes give great sealing and very little if no dust escapes.
For lighting I have cut a hole in the top and covered in glass so as a LED light can shine through.
I also have a halogen flood light at the back and 2 smaller sealed lights, one fitted and the other on a trailing lead so as to shine through what I am working on. I have also bought a small easel to rest any flat work on.
For the base I have a small hole mess grill fitted on top of a more solid diamond mesh,
Paul
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