8 MUST Have Modifications - Harbor Freight Blast Cabinet

[@HTMR]

Blog post with EVERYTHING mentioned in this video - www.howtomotorcyclerepair.com/hfblastcabmods/

[@kansascityshuffle8526]

MatthewMCRepair is there any way to make one of theses cabinets handle long pieces. For example square tubing longer than the cabinet? I know it will hinder the ability of the cabinet to contain dust. But can you modify it with something that can hold back some of the particulate?

[@stanleysergeant272]

This link is broke with ads popping up every 10sec

[@cobaltsmith1]

YOU sir are doing a great thing! I really appreciate the breakdown and explanations of everything. Well done!

[@johnapplianceguy9317]

I wake up everyday thankful that I am able to gain so many valuable tools and techniques from such bright people. Thank you.

[@StinkPhist]

I did the siphon tube mod today and what a difference! Actual constant flow with my 20gal tank! Thank you again for your very informative video!

[@johngammel]

I bought a used one so it was assembled. I had used it at the former owner's garage and had issues. I modified the pickup tube closely as documented - what a difference. With only about 10 lbs of media is works much better than before - and with less there's less to change if you want to use something else. I kept the original light but added a spot on the back panel on the back away from the door - what an improvement. Also did the window change using 8/32 a 1 1/4 screws retained my #10 speed nuts. This gives it a little wiggle room when reinstalling the drilled out frame. I added plexiglass to the glass just in case I hit it - don't want a shatter moment. Very helpful video.

[@littlejackalo5326]

LOL. I was looking at where you wrote "8/32" screws, and was trying to figure out why you didn't write "1/4" instead. Then I realized you meant 8-32 screws. #8-32x1¼

[@SCRIDify]

All great tips! All I need now is the dust catcher. I don't know about the rest of you, but my plastic loading door was bent from the factory. I had doubled up on sealing foam in the past but recently got pissed enough at it that I removed the door. Clamped it flat down to a piece of 3/4" plywood with the outside facing down. Drilled some 1/4" holes around the perimeter about 2" in from the outside edges and a few in the middle. Then used that Great Stuff expanding foam and filled the door up through all the holes. That straightened my door out so it hits the foam door edge seal properly.

[@crcor2572]

The mods for the pickup and vent tube changed my blaster completely! Thanks for posting this!

[@paulhealey8221]

I just completed my new harbor freight blast cabinet. I did many more mods. The first was tossing the siphon tube and making a metering valve from plumbing piping.at Home Depot, also I installed a router to control the shop vac power which in turn tunes the negative pressure in the cabinet. (Very important) I used the larger back vent in the cabinet as the exhaust port and the side vent for the air intake with a adjustable air intake cover. I also used speed nuts on the top of the cabinet with the bolts threads facing up, and using wing nuts to secure the glass frame in place. This way I can change the old etched glass from the outside of the cabinet instead of crawling inside the cabinet fighting it. Takes only a few minutes to change the glass! Also I installed a water separator and air pressure gauge to keep the media dry. Installed flood lamps as well. I agree the dust deputy is a major upgrade as well, I made a custom spin off lid for the bucket. Put the whole thing on roller casters with a lower shelf. I went with a upgraded blast gun and foot peddle from Eastwood. I tossed the silicone that came with the cabinet and instead used clear acrylic calling, goes on white so you can see where you put it and drys clear for a professional appearance, takes a long time to cure but is very durable and seals all the seams great! Word of caution....keep that air intake wide open or you will crush that shiny new blast cabinet like a beer can from too much negative pressure from the shop vac! Almost happen to me! Thank God I had the router set to low power! I also got rid of the supplied clear media hose because it is rock hard especially in a cold garage, instead I used automobile heater hose which stays very flexible and won’t fight you and the blast gun, much more durable as well.

[@canesrock82]

Did you make a video of your changes?

[@walterschilling4512]

kudos .... Paul with the using the rear as the exhaust and the side for intake, I can adjust the amount of air coming in on my unit.

[@truckerbugBR549]

I have an led light in mine. Uses less electricity and dont put off much heat like the flood light bulbs do. Its plenty bright and easy to see my work.

[@ThielTube]

thanks for this video.. one of the easy mods i did was replace all those annoying to reach nuts and bolts around the viewing glass with 1/4-20 bolts and tapped the holes for them.. it holds it plenty tight even in the thin sheet metal cabinet and makes removing the window super fast and easy to do.

[@joejones2847]

Love it brother! The vent in the pickup was my issue. My gun wouldn’t even blow a steady stream. It was blamed on nozzle size and all kinds of stuff. Thanks again. Florida is rough on media anyway. It is always appreciated.

[@HTMR]

Nice! Glad it helped.

[@alanvinegar5729]

I just bought a used cabinet and made all the mods you suggested. Works great. Thanks for sharing your tips.😊

[@bokeybear]

I modified the pickup tube today and the difference is night and day. Smooth and no more surging. Gonna add the dust deputy next.

[@HTMR]

Awesome. The dust deputy is awesome also.

[@guardguy1963]

Incandescent bulbs can get quite hot. If exposed in the cabinet, while using plastic media, the dust will melt to the bulb. I switched to LED. Thanks for sharing the modifications.

[@pedullabass]

Bulbs help keep the media dry. I have LED but thinking about switching.

[@rustedbeauties262]

I can't like this enough times thanks for the siphon tube modification I've never had a cabinet run so well highly recommend this modification

[@spaight711]

I have the same cabinet. Great ideas, dude. I've got a chamber made from acrylic tube [capped with solid PVC turned and threaded on w/ O rings] full of desiccant on my intake, too. Some media is finicky about moisture in the air supply. One chamber with quick connects on both sides works for the blast cabinet as well as the plasma torch and anything else that wants to be dry. Waaaaay cheaper than an in-line fridge drying unit...

[@sirknickolissiv4083]

We are currently doing all of these mods to our cabinet. It just didnt clean right. Thank you so much for sharing knowledge!

[@TnADoStuff]

Thanks for these tips, especially the siphon tube. The newer versions don't come with a vent tube, so we're going to do a video on making that happen and building this on the cheap with a few minor changes. Thanks for all the info!

[@drefhill]

they put 2 pipes together, the sucking pipe is inside the vent tube, the air pass between the 2 pipes.

[@TnADoStuff]

@@drefhill yes and it works poorly.

[@Pete-from-Tn]

Updated lighting on mine. And after turning the air pressure down to 40 PSI. Mine works good as it is. Was ready to throw it away. When using higher pressure like most online were telling everyone to use.

[@housewenslay3335]

I am definitely going to take all of this advice! It should be mentioned ALWAYS wear respiratory safety gear when using heat on PVC to reduce it to it's pliant/elastic state. The more ventilation, the better. It can off-gas some really nasty stuff that causes cancer and other equally horrible things.

[@bluegrallis]

@5:28 , I bought one of those plastic cyclones back in 2017 for $17 shipped to me. I use it for cleaning corn for my corn burning furnace. I used to have to clean the shop vac filter at least once a week doing about one bushel of corn a day. Now I can go all winter cleaning 160 to 170 bushel of corn and never touch the shop vac filter.

[@JK-co6wk]

Glue a few earth magnets to the air gun you added to the inside of the cabinet. You can use the magnets to stick the gun up out of the way and you'll always know where it is. easier to find and easier to keep up out of the way.

[@scbane]

Excellent idea! Thank you so much!

[@aperahamlincoln6168]

Just bought a cabnet. Thank god I watched this video before I put it together 👍🏼

[@TheUncleRuckus]

Good video with some handy tips and tricks!! I really like the dust collection bucket holder you made. It's quite brilliant. I know this is a older video but I think one thing I'd suggest is instead of trying to cut the cutoff piece of the siphon tube in half (which can be tricky and pain) and then JB weld it in place. Is using Quick Steel Putty by itself to seal it. It would be a lot stronger hold than JB weld and you wouldn't have to try cutting what appears to be 1/2" tubing in half to act as a patch to cover the drill hole. Quick Steel putty dries in like 5mins and can be Filed, Drilled, Tapped, Sanded and painted. It can even be applied underwater and it still dries. I don't work for them lol I've just been using it for 20 odd years and I love it. Again its a great video!

[@HTMR]

Yeah, several way to accomplish this.

[@BryanCrooks-cp2fv]

well done Mathew, clear concise and easy to follow with some great tips along the way.

[@mcneillrenovationco5858]

"Hey, what's this, Daddy?'" Ha, been there! Great video. You're relaxed, articulate and confident - good detail and camera work, too.

[@tiredowalkin]

Kids in the shop are awesome, they find everything that you hoped they wouldn't mess with.

[@Xanderviceory]

Thanks for posting this, I just got a sandblaster to etch glass work and carve glass and this video covered everything I had issues with my cheap blast cabinet

[@monteracer2008]

First you said not to drill all the way through the siphon, then in your illustration you show drilling all the way through the siphon. Same over all end result. Going to try that on mine. Thanks for posting all these mods

[@HTMR]

Drill through 3 walls, then plug the outer one.

[@ryanharriss7950]

Good job, I like the dust management especially.

[@marlinschwanger2817]

Just completed the siphon tube mod. I actually enjoy using my blaster cabinet now! Thanks! (Now i just need a bigger compressor lol)

[@KensGarage1]

Thanks, I really needed another project. Really, thanks. Now I can improve my HF blast cabinet. I used it yesterday and it was intermittent at best.

[@4speed3pedals]

Keep the light, replace the flourescent tubes with LED tubes that eliminate the ballast and paint the interior of the cabinet white. Very bright and you won't be breaking bulbs.

[@MrTheHillfolk]

Paul Straney Ooh I like the white idea. I’m always sayin I wanna paint a section of the shop floor in white for the reflection, I’ll start small!

[@gtbarnes11]

agree 100%

[@hilltopmachineworks2131]

Only thing to add is upgrade the gun and add a foot pedal so your hand doesn't tire out.

[@HTMR]

Agreed. I have that on my list as a future upgrade.

[@jacquespoirier9071]

...and , your trigger does not stick with media granulate, I made that before the first use of my new cabinet

[@DIYskate]

Tacoma Blasting Company carries a great kit for that. Using one on my HF cabinet now and it works better than it ever has

[@headlesnorseman701]

break shit n cuss a new gun or a pedal ?

[@stevecleveland2630]

I did that with a pedal from Eastwood, 100% improvement

[@garymeredith2441]

When you did all this work you definitely did something that harbor freight should have done I'm glad you showed the modifications you did thank you for how you did this the main question I have here is the media that you're running it's a sand based , Walnut shell based or is it glass based , and is there a way to keep the inner glass from getting blasted and all scratched up so you can see what you're doing when you're blasting parts .

[@sherryhodge2207]

Besides vinegar you can save the $50 on centrifugal collector and use any old bin style vacuum cleaner bin. Most are same cyclone idea.

[@ONE_GEN_X]

There is like a whole underground movement of people modifying the crap Harbor Freight sells. Lol

[@jacobpoucher]

not underground atall dum dum

[@Stahodad]

On Canada it is Princess Auto...We modify their stuff.

[@jacobpoucher]

@@Stahodad canada is full of goofs

[@garyslama4092]

If you want perfect, pay 3 or 4 times more to get it. Otherwise, use your ingenuity.

[@hermbobsquarehead]

Nice one. Just bought a blaster. Gonna give these mods a go. Thanks.

[@salspec3381]

I had this same blast cabinet when I built my car. I made some of the same mods like the dust deputy. I gave the cabinet to a friend that has a shop after I was done with it. It was just too messy. I still have access to it so it's win-win. I used glass bead primarily. If I had kept it I would have put some sort of vibrator on the pan. It would suck air sometimes and I would have to bang it to get the bead back down to the siphon tube. Lastly and I guess this isn't a problem with soda. Glass bead builds static electricity. I was getting shocked through the gloves or sometimes an arc would shoot out and hit my chest. It hurt. I solved that issue with a grounding band for computer work wrapped around my arm.

[@HTMR]

If you think it is to messy, then convert it to a vapor blaster. No shocks either LOL. Watch this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4bJmJ2BataSg8U

[@salspec3381]

That's pretty cool. I didn't know you could wetblast. Well done! That said it doesn't really suit my purposes. I don't blast much anymore and when I do it's to prep steel parts for cad plating. The rougher surface works better for cad. Not that the bead gets steel that rough.

[@HTMR]

@@salspec3381 You can run coarser media in wet blast as well.

[@salspec3381]

That's good to know. Vapor blasting definitely has some clear advantages over conventional blasting.

[@Smcquoid12345]

What a great video. I have a princess auto cabinet (that I’m sure is the Canadian version of harbour freight). I’m going to make these changes. Good job.

[@raymondj8768]

i used a small tube light from a fish tank n put a peice of plexi glass under it for protection and i used a bildge fan for a boat to get the powder out n put pany hose over the end and vented it outside.o yea i made it all from wood cheep

[@ViragoCafecom]

I haven't tried this yet, I just picked up the same cabinet used and know already it will have material pick up issues and decided to watch this video and was curious as to what your fix was. I also considered changing the cabinet pickup all together, but planned to alter in a way it resembled a more expensive gravity fed sandblasting system which is known to be much more reliable and consistent. Drill a hole in the material dump flap under the cabinet and let the material constantly drain out the bottom of the cabinet through a PVC valve into the top of a PVC "T" anywhere from 1/2"-2" in diameter based on how much air pressure you have. The more air you can run, the larger diameter tubes you can use for faster blasting capabilities. Then connect your incoming air into the left side of the "T" where as it passes under the cabinet and the valve you installed it picks up the blasting material thru top of the "T" based on the amount of material you constantly releasing with the valve under the cabinet. Then connect the hose leading to the gun to the right side of the "T". This would pick up the air and blasting material combo as air passes under the cabinet while the blasting material is gravity fed out bottom of the cabinet into the incoming air, and would turn the cabinet from a siphon fed system know to be less reliable into into a gravity fed system which is much more reliable and consistent system since with gravity it is harder for the blasting material to create air pockets stopping the air from picking up the blasting material. It also helps to mount your shop vac under the blasting cabinet so that the vibrations from the vacuum constantly agitate the blasting material keeping it draining out the bottom of the cabinet consistently so you can better regulate how much material you are allowing the gun to pick up and blast with. . I have a question about your conversion and the 5/16" vent hole you drill in bottom of the siphon tube. Instead of drilling thru both tubes about an inch up from where you cut the siphon tube. Why not drill just the inner wall of the vent tube right underneath the bottom edge of the siphon tube? That way the air pressure coming out the side of the vent should break up any lumps at bottom of the siphon tube allowing it to suck better and you also would not have to plug the outer hole since you would only have to drill through 1 wall on the inside edge of the tube instead of drilling through all 3 walls from the outside of the tube. I have always had issues with sandblasters and them creating air pockets under the siphon tubes slowing the material pickup unless you keep banging the cabinet. Where the 5/16" vent hole blow out the side of the tube underneath the siphon or pickup tube should help agitate the material and eliminate any air pockets.

[@garyfuller194]

Great tips! I'll be implementing everything you described!👏

[@akbychoice]

Lots of mediums can be used depending on your prices and equipment. Black Walnut shells, glass beads, steel shot, cork, copper slag, silica sand, silt, etc etc.

[@HTMR]

Yes, I use soda mainly for carb cleaning. Works great.

[@Anonymous-it5jw]

What a great video! Thanks to you and thanks to the guy on the CJ-7 Blog who originally posted some of these suggestions. A full size blasting cabinet on a beer budget! And it works day in and day out.

[@Rubbernecker]

This is one of the most useful videos I've seen on KZbin! Thanks for sharing!

[@uawsux]

Recently I purchased Harbor Freight sandblaster $80 it had a large tube of caulking which I did not use I ran my vacuum cleaner hose into the one hole on the side are from the backside all plugged up with Great Stuff foam the door shuts type I'm going to put a light in it and all will be good it is a little cheap POS sandblaster and for a little parts that does a great job

[@throttlebottle5906]

FYI. the later models are tube inside a tube, with a spot weld or two off center. the feed is still rather poor and in clumped surges(HF glass media), it's unhappy below 120PSI. if you can maintain 120+PSI it works pretty good as factory supplied.

[@adamsoto6466]

Thank you for this video! Now I can fix my cabinet

[@47marwynne]

Thanks for the great video. I am going to modify the pick up tube. I know it was not your idea, but it was well presented. Thanks again

[@sfbadger45]

Maybe this has already been clarified but when you were describing the mods on the siphon and vent tubes, you showed the three, 5/16" holes drilled towards the bottom as going through two walls of the vent tube and one wall of the siphon tube. You show the opposite on the white board. Have you already covered the mistake? Thanks for a great video.

[@bobmcdonald2905]

It doesn't matter from which way you drill it as long as you patch the outer hole.

[@yves3560]

Saw that too, but the result is the same :)

[@masterofnonetv8361]

I have one of these and all I did was fix the vacuum pipe so it doesn't surge and I hook my shop vac to it that has a new filter in it to keep dust down. That's it and it works great! I see all these vids of people putting a ton of work and hundreds more dollars in these and if you're going to do all that you might as well buy a better brand and save yourself the trouble.

[@HTMR]

I nice cabinet costs $800. I have about $300 into mine.

[@drewt3210]

This is great info! I just bought an Econoline cabinet at auction that I'll apply some of these mods to. I especially like the blow gun idea. Thank you!

[@brianmcintyre6407]

I've watched a lot of people on youtube, the white board, with complete explanation is a first! Well done brother!

[@HTMR]

Thanks.

[@Xanderviceory]

Waterbong set up lol, as a pipe maker I approve lol. Now ive got to make a fun glass water fiter with glass

[@ot9180]

This was like a lecture in semiconductor physics. Thanks.

[@danreynolds8028]

Great video Dude. I bought this same exact cabinet years ago - brand new - and it never worked very well. Now I know how to doctor it up!

[@mattprice37664]

Incandescent lights put off a little bit of heat therefore helps to dry the media

[@Stu-SB]

Excellent upload, thanks for taking the time and effort on this. I'm just about to do tube mod 👍.. did you show how much dust, media ended up in the hoover ?.. be interesting to see that. Stu 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@davesaam7693]

Made these changes, works great.

[@Alabama_deplorable]

Just bought an HF blast cabinet. Appreciate the mod suggestions.

[@HTMR]

No prob.

[@cowboyassass1n]

Sitting here giggling like a schoolboy at "any caulk will do." Dammit, do you know my ex wife? LOL

[@beardedtoolreviews7185]

Lol

[@turbobike749]

Great video mate. I will try these mods as I have just bought a blaster like yours. Thanks again.

[@mikesantimore6971]

Thank you for sharing. pretty wise the way you set that up

[@grady1807]

Thanks for posting this informational video. I am going to try it today.

[@sherryhodge2207]

Have you tried using vinegar to neutralize the soda? Works well. No need to powerwash the crap off.

[@RobertSmith-qc3jf]

Great video.thank you for taking the time to make.

[@iron60bitch62]

Your attention to detail is nice I’ve been my shop vac outside down one story

[@r.joseph8911]

excellent video, Matt! I think a beer or two is the least I can do! I can't wait to now try and get myself a cabinet. I hope I have the space for it. Thanks so much for your time and detailed explanation.

[@deangross9192]

changed all my hoses to 1/4 in works great and no bulkenes in the hood lol

[@JL-dz8sj]

Yeah I just spent all day building that same blaster and the gun or pickup system barely works.. I think I’m going to be doing some if these mods.

[@gtbarnes11]

look for metal flash inside your gun, then drill it out. also drill the air jet bigger if u have a good/big compressor

[@WilliamMcNett]

Home Depot bucket? Try a Dust Stopper also available from Home Depot 🙂

[@blackbear92201]

I like the modification ideas/improvements. Clearly explained. Thanks for posting! :D

[@kevinhayden8558]

Great video! Someone changed the pick up tube to a single one. Can you please give me the length of each tube? Thx in advance and have a great day!

[@tjf1531]

Nice job, i made about 14 mods to mine and work fantastic

[@HTMR]

Please share some mods that I have not mentioned in video. I have a list of "future" mods I may do.

[@keithyoung7950]

Great vid Matthew. I've had one of these cabinets for a few years and mods you've highlighted get the best out of the cabinet.

[@oldmarine312]

Awesome details And loved the whiteboard session!

[@davidhomer5331]

Fantastic video, trying to blast some calipers and i dont have great media flow, defo take some tips from this vidro

[@zbow1974]

i just used a plastic cap over the end of the vent and a shallow rubber plug in the hole, 20 cents at napa lol, makes for a much faster fix and so far after over a year of use it hasnt failed 1 time yet

[@buddha65281]

are you talking about "plugging the vent tube"? Thank you, anticipating your reply

[@zbow1974]

@@buddha65281 the end he smashed i just put a plug in, there are also little caps you can push over it and with a bit of glue it wont come off

[@64maxpower]

It would be cool if they could design an airbox intake that isn't restrictive to catch dirt bike that before it hits the filter. They could run smaller filter elements because they stay clean

[@davidrose5589]

Very good video with great detail. However, the board drawing shows the red tube with holes in a different location than the actual piece. A quick edit might do the trick

[@rambokd]

Noticed the same thing, however the gist is the same as long as the hole doesn’t go all the way through.

[@rhino67]

My good man on the siphon tube mod, you show the "3 wall" hole through both sides of the vent tube then through the siphon tube with the JB weld on the vent tube... In the whiteboard drawing you show the hole through the siphon tube into the first wall of the vent tube, please clarify which is correct(?) Thank you

[@HTMR]

As long as the hole is in the inner walls that is all that matters.

[@throttlebottle5906]

"I initially made a water bong setup" perhaps too much was toked before that solution was dreamt up. 🤣🤣🤣

[@stoveboltlvr3798]

You can also extend the life of your cabinet window by adding strips of duct tape to the window and when it gets too frosted to see just tear a strip of tape off and it's like new.

[@HTMR]

Mine came with liners or tear offs. I'm not using them since soda does not etch glass.

[@mshawnmhulett]

Great video. I always find useful information here from you. Subscribed!!!!

[@tybikerman]

thanks, excellent video. you explained it so good. one of the best ever!! thank you

[@Marcover4831]

Very nice. I have a same one but I have a problem with Negative pressure…?

[@davidboeckmann748]

Venturi is the word that describes the airflow "entrainment" you're describing; the "pulling" in of the medium into the airstream - check out Venturi effect. Great tips on the mods. The lighting and airgun are smart but especially like the medium scavenging to save your shop vac.

[@jamesmclane2826]

Thanks for doing that video extremely helpful👍🙏🖖

[@donovanlucibello379]

Nice work, Matt. Appreciate the great tips

[@arta2870]

That what i was looking to make. a dust collector for my Joe Box table top blaster. great idea. awesome advise too

[@Coffieman5150]

Much useful information... but what pressure and cfm's are you running, I cant seem to find any reasonable 'recommended settings' charts or end user made videos on the most useful settings.

[@HTMR]

For soda, 80psi and cfm I'm guessing is around 10-15cfm.

[@alandilaura7490]

Thank you your video is amazing also may I ask what Air compressor are using?

[@scottrockett6382]

Fantastic information. Many thanks!

[@ponydown418]

Nice mods. Yea I have to change over my stock light system. I like how yours came out.

[@HTMR]

Thanks. My lights were cheap and easy. Go for it.

[@chatty9856]

I am having hell getting this cabinet to suck up media. What psi and CFMs is needed to blast. Also, I ordered the pickup tube from Skat and wanted to mention, there is no cover over the drilled hole on the Siphon tube. I guess since the big hole is just below it they decided not to cover it. Just letting you know. Thanks.

[@nathanblackwell6250]

My pick up tube is completely different than that one mine is just one long tube I have yet to run my cabinet yet though.

[@robertd6305]

What air compressor are you running? Great video also thank you!

[@darkshadowsx5949]

so you basically turned the pickup into a venturi syphon. those actually work quite well.

I like how you call it this thing? What is this thing? That really helps when we try and google it.

[@StinkPhist]

Fantastic video! Very well described and extremely helpful. Keep up the good work!

[@MikeyMack303]

Matthew, thank you very much for posting this video...again! Very helpful information!