A key element of a good sandblasting cabinet setting is a vacuum system, which can suck out dust, sandblasting media and removed materials faster than collected indoors. The cyclone separator can do this, but because it dumps all waste from the cabinet into a bucket, it can make the reuse of sandblasting materials a dirty job. However, as Daniel bauen explained in the latest engineering video, his two-stage dust collector can keep the cabinet clean while separating the used blasting materials into its own container.
This cheap dust collector is only suitable for large particles.
Basically, the idea here is to use two different cyclones: one is very effective and the other is a cheap model that can only remove large particles. Firstly, the air in the cabinet is discharged through a cheap separator, and the used sandblasting medium is collected into a special barrel. From there, the air flows through the high-efficiency separator to extract finer dust. Finally, Daniel’s vacuum cleaner has its own washable HEPA filter to capture anything passing through the two suction filters; Although he noticed that it rarely needed cleaning.
Usually, the system is directly connected to the blasting box, which can capture a large number of used blasting media in real time. However, in order to ensure that the media is indeed cleaned when reused, [Daniel] will run the contents of the first bucket in the system several times to separate more stubborn dust that may be mixed.
Of course, not everyone has space, and it is not even necessary to carry out such a complex blasting setting. If you just want to clean some parts quickly and cheaply, you can make a basic blaster for about $6. However, I wish you catch the media.