Collapsable / Folding Media Blast Cabinet / Enclosure

Removing rust, paint, scale and corrosion can be a pain. An easy way is to use a media blast whether it be sand, glass or any of the numerous different medias all with different properties for removing what you want to clean in different degrees of aggression.  You can use a blast cleaner outside but it can be a lot of clearing up so if you can enclose it it makes for an easier job and better reuse of the media and be more cost effective.  In this instructable I will show you how I made a large folding enclosure for my blast cleaning gun.

Step 1: Safety First

As with any project take the time to think about what you want to achive and how to do it with out putting yourself at risk it is your responsibility and no-one elses, I spent a long time planning inorder to build this project with the least amount stress.

Step 2: Parts List

In this instructable I will give some sizes as depending on your requirements it is best you work them out to suit your needs.  For my enclosure I wanted a folding unit as I do not have have the space to store a solid built cabinet and I have access to a comercial dry and wet blast cabinet to base my design on, blast cleaning does not work very well if at all on soft/flexable materials so I chose a 1000kg builders bag commonly used to deliver sand and shingle etc. and the solid sections to be made from reclaimed wood my entire unit was made using free left over items the main structure was made from a pallet.

Step 3: The Frame

I measured the opening of the builders bag and made a frame to fit loosely inside with thick uprights and thiner sections for the top and bottom.

Step 4: Closing It In

Next I used an old shelf for the lower part of the front which the hand holes are cut and two thinner pieces which I cut a rectangle for the window which I used a offcut of shed window plastic that was duct taped into position and then sandwiched between the two bits of ply and a few screws to secure it altogether, On the reverse of both parts I fitted spring door clips to hold the front on and at a later stage I think I will add some other latch or bolt to make it more secure incase of manouvering a large item and knocking the front off.

Step 5: Test Fitting

I fitted the bag over my frame and used an old rachet strap to hold the opening onto the frame and fitted the front panels in place, while on the ground it stood upright and fairly square to make it a useable height I intend to have it on my B&D workmate bench on there it wanted to fall over backwards so I added  two of the thinner pieces of wood one behind the other to the bottom rail of the frame making it much more stable and giving me a place to add a clamp if needed.

Step 6: Hand Protection

While blast cleaning does not work well on soft items it is rather uncomfortable on your skin so I am using some old rubber drain cleaners gloves. To hold the gloves in place and keep the media inside I cut four rings from the thin ply I was using and stretched the gloves over a ring and passed the cuff through the hole in the panel and then stretched the outside over another ring I will see how this works it may be a little restictve if so I will cut the hands off this pair of gloves and use them as gauntlets over a second pair that can be removed.

Step 7: Testing

The last thing to do is check it all works so using the knot hole in the lower panel I can lay my airline through into my enclosure and I had a little blast at a few rusty bits I had laying about and all the media was collected back up and put back into the guns canister for reuse then I packed it all down flat and put it away happy that it is ready for use.

I hope this helps you build your own version so you can make your own projects either removing rust or etching glass.