Anyone ever seen one of the barrel blasters?  I am looking for some sort of a reasonably priced blasting cabinet and a compressor.  Can anyone lend some advice on a cabinet and a compressor?  I am not doing tons, but I want something I can use for refinishing.

-C4-

I have been using this set up at the house for years.
www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38440.

On the backside of the cabinet is an exhaust duct (hooded), which comes with a plastic plug.  To scrub the dust, I ducted the exhaust side threw a 5 gallon buck of water for the scrub tank, then made up a variable controller for the shop vac using a light switch dimmer (two gang J box, outlet/switch cover plate, and the plug end of a extension cord). The vac sucks on top of the water/sealed bucket, and the cabinet airflow is just tube down to the bottom of the water (dust gets filtered out threw the water).
Note: On the top right hand side is an intake hole (filtered) to allow air to be drawn threw the cabinet to prevent the cabinet from becoming a vaccum when not spraying.

Using the old plastic plug from the exshaust hole, I punched a new hole in the side of the cabinet that the plug will seal, which allows me to insert one half of a barrel into the cabinet at a time to blast, and when the hole is not needed for items longer than the cabinet, the plug is used to seal off the cabinet/work hole.


As for a compressor, something like this will keep up with the smaller cabinet without problems.
www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90234

In regards to the vac system, something like this will work.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90981
For the draw side to scrub the dust, a Pvc fitting off the back of the cabinet, then a section of hosing to the 5 gallon bucket. PVC fitting on top of the bucket, then a straight section of PVC pipe just short of the bottom of the bucket.  For the suction side, a PVC fitting that fits the end fitting on the vac to draw air off the top of the bucket (threw the lid which makes the seal on the scrub unit).
Note: running the vac full strength is too much suction, and the dimmer switch allows me to turn the vac/draw up or down as needed.

Add a 50 lb bag of media, and you have the whole thing set up for under $300 from scratch.  
Note: Do still wear a dust mask since when you open the lid with the vac still on, a little bit of dust will flow out, and you don’t want to breath in glass dust.


As for media, I have 50 lbs of oxide in 120, glass in 180 threw 320 mixes (allows me to match different finishes).  The oxide is used for paint surfaces prep'g or a flat matt finish, and the glass is used for finished surfaces or pre-parkerizing/anodizing prep’g.