I havent responded to this video in awhile and wow am i amazed at how many views and comments have accumulated. Because life just hasn't allowed me much time to mess with anything in the last year tinkering and youtube has been on the back burner. But things are getting back to normal now, I have a new PC and I hope to be able to respond and make a little more content very soon!
Nice video we didn't see your cat or random bits of non information just usable information that we wanted to see when we were searching for answers ,like others have said too bad other You Tubers don't follow your style Thanks
Thank you so much for your video; very informative and easy to follow. I am currently assembling my cabinet and this is the first modification that I will be making. Thank you again, Sgt. Rock
Thanks for the great video! Short and sweet! I like all of the ideas you talked about in this video. The only recommendation I have is put a ball valve instead of the plug which would make media changes much easier and quicker.
Thank you! Im really glad you enjoyed it and found it informative. Im definitely looking forward to making some other videos i have a few ideas! As far as the ball valve idea i had contemplated doing that but it made it a little more expensive haha the plug that i put in is only hand tight so it comes out really quickly. I may end up adding one at some point in time.
This video is AWESOME! I am going to do the same thing you did and this takes all the guess work out of it. I like that you state all the sizes of everything too. Thank you.
Eric Brunner it really works great! If you need any help setting it up do not hesitate to ask. I try to stay active in responding to comments as fast as possible.
Thank you for giving all this valuable information out. I was really disappointed with my cabinet after I set it up and tried to use it. I noticed there's a lot of advice on fixing it. Your way seems to be the cheaper way to go. When you can find the part that's already put together it's normally out of stock and it can range from anywhere from $70 to $130. This was perfect timing I have to go to Home Depot tomorrow so I'm going to pick up all my parts. When spring comes back I'll be ready to finally get some use out of my cabinet.
I was going to build one, and I wish I saw your video first but I actually ordered one just because it is one solid piece with no threads or lips for media to get hung up on.
Very Very Good video. Wish all videos were this informative. Don't want this to come off as wrong. But video was plain and simple and 100% fully informative. I do have one question, being that this is not under pressure, could it be built out of PVC? Thanx Man. Jim C.
Thank you I appreciate it! Its still working so good every time i use it i am thrilled with how well it works. If you need any help setting it up please let me know. When you get it going let me know how you like it! 👍🏻👍🏻
Chamfer the leading edges on each transition to reduce turbulence and promote stable media flow. Also I ran a hose barb and hose to run my metering valve out to the front of my cabinet so I can adjust on the fly
What media and tip are you using? What pressure are you using? What position do you place the small ball valve on the metering valve? I made a exact copy of yours but virtually no sand coming out of gun. Im doing something wrong.
Great video, thanks for taking the time to make it, Ive been fighting the same issue with my HF blaster since I got it. Cant wait to give this a try. The ball valve is genius. I like the look of that dust collector as well.
Thank you! I was really happy to be able to share the setup. Not my idea really, i collected the ideas from other people on youtube and the interwebs and made my own design. I wish i would have explained the ball valve(regulator) more in my video. At the time of filming i thought everyone would understand the concept. I know you do i just wish i would have explained it. I will say make sure that you have a good air compressor. There are a couple comments saying that this metering valve didnt work for them and either their vent(the ball valve) isnt set right or their compressor isnt big enough. Running blast cabinets takes a great deal of air and a good compressor. Also if you would like i will make a video about the dust collector. I plan to just havent gotten around to it. If you would like to see it that would give me some motivation to film it haha. Cheers 🍻
@@alansgarage824 I would love to see a video on the dust collector. I had a big 220v v twin sears compressor that barely kept up with my blaster, when I moved out of the garage I was sharing with a friend I ended upcwith a smaller 2 cylinder protable compressor that was older by ingersol rand and it works better than the newer bigger compressor. The CFM of the compressor has more to do with good blasting performance than the volume of the tank or PSI it puts out. For at home projects Im fine stopping and gibing the compressor a break once in awhile. Its the gun clogging every 2 min that gets frustrating. Hoping to try your mod out soon. I used to run about 50 feet of hose between the compressor and water trap It gave the moisture in the air a chance to cool and condense and get cought by the trap. If I ran the trap right off of the compressor the wet air would flow right through the trap like steam and drip like water out of the end of the gun. I used to roll the extra hose up and stick it in a home depot bucket full of ice to help condense the moisture. It worked pretty good on hot humid days. Thanks again for the video, if you want to film an explanation of the ball valve Id watch that too, looks better than drilling holes in pipes or simmilar I have seen.
Yes compressor size is crucial. Ill make a video on the dust collector and ill let you know when i do. I will make one on the ball valve as wel. I was bummed when i rewatched this video haha. Like why didnt i explain it haha. But ill get it done here in a week or so!! Again im hlad you liked the video i appreciate the fact people like it!
This seems like a pretty simple design. I had bought a pressure pot for my HF cabinet but might return it and just do this instead. I can't find a gun that isn't siphon fed to replace the deadman valve that comes with the pot and and it also won't recycle the media for me. I'm using this for glass so a smaller easy to handle gun would be ideal.
i bought 1" fittings mostly on accident. assembled ~90% of it and sandblasted & painted it red to blend in (anything that wasn't brass). I then bolted the flange to the underside so i didn't have to cut it and silicone sealed it. im just interested in seeing how people did the pickup line and any possible improvements to make with it.
I just bought a cabinet like this and the cabinet is great but the hoses and tube suck, big time! I watched a lot of videos to improve the function. all of the videos show guys making elaborate setups with vent valves and all kinds of other stuff. I have a very old ALC siphon style blaster that works great. Instead of building the setups others are doing, I used the setup on my ALC. I drilled a hole in the supply hose about 2 inches away from the outlet fitting just like on my old blaster. IT WORKS PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no need for a valve or anything else.
I have the same blast cabinet. Ive had the hardest time finding a reinforced vinyl tube the same size and with the same flexibility as the harbor freight feed hose. Can you provide a link where I could find it in 10ft length?
Alan, what cfm is your air compressor? I just had a 15.2 cfm 60 gallon single phase installed and a large Matco cabinet with foot pedal. I am underwhelmed. Alot of air leaking from the pedal despite taking it apart, resealing, and torquing it tight. Just not doing' the job. I have an opportunity to buy metering valve and wanted to know if that would 'boost' the cfm and work better.
What is the length of hose running up from your metering valve? Also, watching you clean the wrench, is the blast radius small because of the nozzle? If so, are there bigger tips for the stock gun or is a new gun required?
Im not really sure what the length came out to be but i will measure it and get back to you. Also as far as gun tips go im not sure what can be done with the actual HF gun. I know there are aftermarket guns that are MUCH better from what i have read. Personally i havent looked into changing my gun out because to me it honestly works really good for how little of money i have into it. I am sure at some point ill upgrade guns but adding the metering valve was a HUGE improvement over the stock siphon tube!
I did the same damn thing. My hose is rock solid. Tip: put the hose in the oven... don’t over heat it, just keep checking every minute and it’ll make it less stiff.
When you demonstrated the result at 5:10, I was surprised that you did not get better performance from the modification you made. I have a very old Harbor freight cabinet with the original siphon tube (which definitley surges) that brought me to exploring potential modifications and finding your video. But I have significantly more media output (and faster results) than what I see in your modification. Have you made any changes or updates to this in the last year that may have further improved on your design? I appreciate the design and think it is ideal. I just wonder why you're not getting more volume in media.
I have not made any changes at all the cabinet has been working great for my needs with the dust collector and the metering valve. I will say that after re-watching the video it doesnt really show how much media is coming out. I think thats the phone camera not picking up the flow.
Yeah my un-modded HF sandblaster gets a wrench like that done in seconds, a ton of media comes out. I wouldn't waste your time with this mod, do the other siphon tube mod
I have found that the media and the diameter of the ceramic tip determine most of the flow. I put a vacuum gauge on the gun and found the best flow was a certain size tip, once it gets worn I throw it away. If anyone replies I'll look up that figure but it depends on the media you use so yours may be different. None of the smaller diameter tips seem to work very well.
I built my metering valve just like yours and mine will not draw out any media. Should the lever be open or closed or some where in between. I'm trying to clean up brake parts and dust shields to No avail???
I can't find what I need to install the quick conmect air like you did. Is there a name for the fitting, like "pass through quick connect on one side and 3/8" on the other" :)
Its nearly instantaneous with not much of a noticeable lag. Id say its faster than the stock syphon tube but i don’t have any actual numbers to back that claim up. If you modify yours this way i can guarantee you will not be disappointed though!!!
I built a metering valve this week modeled after yours, and I can only get my media about half way up the tube and it wants to surge. My valve is built like this: 1" tee on all 3 sides to another 1" tee on all sides to 5/8" hose to gun about 5' hose. Hose is the same size that was on the gun to begin with. On my 2nd tee it is reduced down to 1/4" ball valve like yours. I have a 60 gal running 14 cfm. I changes my 1/4" air fittings coming to the cabinet to high flow and use a 3/8" hose. I thing my valve is to small, I'm going to try a 1/2" or 3/4" this weekend. What do you think?
I"m curious what you learn. I have a similar feed tube and metering valve as his and my sand surges. A whole bunch comes up and fills the tube by the gun. Then the sand stops coming until the gun uses up all the sand in the tube and then another large bunch of sand comes up to the gun. Anybody have any solutions to get a nice even flow?
I've just done the same mod, for some reason I'm not picking up any media no matter how much PSI or how open or closed my valve is, any idea what im doing wrong?
Ok so I enjoyed your video with the metering valve. I have seen may others do the same thing as well and do not have any issues. Well I am stumped ! I bought a cabinet and did not even test it until Indid the same thing. Problem I have is It will not pull up the media. I am running 90 psi into The cabinet . 30-60 crushed glass Not sure what to do with problem
I ended up having to use glass bead as the media and it still was plugging up. I put a 1-1/8 sink basket strainer with the center holes plugged with a small bolt in to limit flow and am using less media. I plan on using the same setup with the ground glass but I'll need a different strainer. The media cycles extremely fast so less is fantastic. Hope this is some help.
Reading your comment it appears you found that less media works better. I wish that in my video i would have explained that i literally only have maybe a 1-2Lbs. of media in the cabinet. I think that if anyone is having issues with this not feeding its because they're adding to much media.
Nice video! Two questions...how many PSI and CFM do you have at the cabinet? And two, why do you have the ball-valve in the metering valve that you built? Thanks!!
As far as pressure goes i run about 90-100psi to the cabinet. As far as CFM at the cabinet i have no idea honestly. My compressor is capable of 11.3 cfm at 90. Whether or not my fitting allow that i have no way to test. The ball valve on the metering valve is to act as a venturi. There is two venturis working in this system. One at the gun where air rushing in syphons air from the pickup tube, the second is on the metering valve as air gets pulled into the 1/4” ball valve it pulls the media along with it. I hope i explained that right!
I made mine almost similar to yours, my problem is I cannot get the media to siphon up the tube to the gun. Any suggestions? I have tried several positions on the ball valve and nothing works
Same issue. But I think it's my sand I am using. Going to get some aluminum oxide. I am using sand from a local contractor's place. I think it's just to thick.
So I did your exact set up, for people wandering costs in parts it was about $75. It works ok but gets clogged it seems. I have a water separator and filter. What are your settings and which nozzle tip do you use? People are saying to gate it down to about 50 psi built they’re running 1/2 in hose. I have a 30 gal compressor producing I think 7-8 cfm. Glass media runs ok but that black beauty seems to get stuck or just not siphon. Any feedback would be great. Thanks for the vid also man!
Glad you liked the video sorry to hear you’re having issues though. My first question will be the little 1/4” valve where do you have it set at. Having that not adjusted properly will cause feeding issues. I really regret not addressing that in my video. How i set that was held the trigger while adjusting the valve until i had smooth and consistent flow. I am using the nozzle tip that came with the blast cabinet gun. Another thing that is possible is that maybe you do not have enough cfm of air flow with that compressor, i am running a 60gal with i believe 12ish cfm id have to look. These suckers take a ton of air even my compressor i feel is on the edge of acceptable however I have a small 10 gal compressor i will hook that up and see how it works and ill report back to you with my findings. Ill see how that effects flow and whether or not i need to adjust the vent valve to compensate for lower flow.
Alan's Garage damn, ok I’m pretty sure it’s my compressor then. I figured if I have my tank full that would suffice for small bursts of work but apparently not. I guess psi at 100 doesn’t matter if cfm is at 7.5? God I hope I don’t have to spend for a new compressor.....or maybe I HAVE to get a new compressor :-D Thaks for responding
CFM is very important when it comes to air compressors. PSI doesnt mean as much without the volume. To compare it to another machine its much like a pressure washer. People are always bragging “well my pressure washer puts out 4400 psi blah blah blah” but its only 1.5 gpm and it hardly does squat haha. This weekend im going to hookup my little compressor to it and see how it does. Maybe it’ll work good and theres just something in your system that needs tweeking! Id like to help you get yours up and running as good as mine does because it works incredible its one of my most favorite tools in the shop right now!
Alan's Garage ok so check check it. Turns out I had some major issues issues that I mitigated. 1. I had waaaaaaaaay too many fittings from my conpressor to the gun. So I disconnected basically everything, went from a 50 ft hose to a 3 ft one and changed my tip to the largest one it came with. B. I bought the high flow Milton connections which was a huuuuuge difference. Works great now! I just need a larger compressor now! 30 gallons isn’t cutting it. Thanks for the help man!
Hell yea man!! Im glad to hear its working like a champ now thats awesome! I knew if you did it like mine that it should be working great just had to figure out what it was. Yea buddy really happy to hear it working. Let me know if you get a bigger compressor you’re going to love it 🤣🤣! 🍻🍻🍻
I did same, but cannot get this thing to flow. I have adjusted the ball valve, air pressure and made sure to have fresh glass bead. What am I doing wrong??
Just found your video. I installed a similar valve that you have which I bought off of eBay. After hooking it up I can not get the media to flow through the hose. I have plenty of air flowing but no media. I can understand why it will not work. Any ideas. What pressure or you running and what size nozzle? I am just trying to determine the root cause. - thanks, Morgan
@@bradybell8930 I have not solved it. I even tried a different size nozzle. I will try a different gun but it should not be this difficult and have way to much invested in this peice of crap.
@@fawcusfitness I did. It took some time but I did. I have a Eastwood pedal and nozzle setup along with the valve so tuning them to work together took a little time.
you need to change the air pressure hose to your gun and all the fittings attached to from 1/4" to 3/8" the difference is dramatic, it will cut you blasting time and speed in half.
4:14 yes it rigid but this hose keep the depresurisation properly and suck better unlike softer hoses who may kind of colapse on themselves and loose depresurisation.
I CANNOT get my stock tube to work at all. Ive changed media and gone to something very fine and it still clogs the gun or work for like 2 seconds. Going to HD to build this today.
@@alansgarage824 I built it and could not get it to work properly. I ended up ditching it and going with a new gun/pickup setup. Works like a charm now. I tried.
I am pretty sure it controls the amount of air in that system. It is gravity fed but a completely closed system out vacuum lock( so to speak). Like pouring gas out of a gas can. Plug the tiny air hole in the back while pouring and see the difference.
I hooked mine up exactly as shown, ad media won’t come up hose. I have an 8 gal compressor. Any one out there help me figure out why media not coming all the up hose?
Im sorry man i cant really say because an 8 Gal. compressor really isnt sufficient at all for blasting anything. The CFM just isnt there to pull hard enough. 90 PSI is one thing but CFM is what really matters when it comes to blasting.
@@chuckmckay5518 i will say this i hooked up my cheap HF 10gal compressor and it did work pretty good. Some things that you can try is adding less media. If you have too much it wont feed properly. I use only about 2lbs or so of media in mine. It doesnt take much for the metering valve ti function. Thats another benefit of the metering valve it takes much less blasting media to operate.
0:22 that's a piece of shit. I've used mine for some time, it was working more or less. But now i see that sand got stuck between the 2 tubes so the air doesn't flow properly, the design is so bad.
My only critique would have been to route the media hose either through the bottom or the right side of the cabinet to keep it out of the way from where you're standing next to the air inlet. Good video, I still think the way you did it is way better than buying all those after market metering valve over priced parts.
I havent responded to this video in awhile and wow am i amazed at how many views and comments have accumulated. Because life just hasn't allowed me much time to mess with anything in the last year tinkering and youtube has been on the back burner. But things are getting back to normal now, I have a new PC and I hope to be able to respond and make a little more content very soon!
I just tried this but it’s not working for me! Any pointers?
Why can’t all videos be this simple and helpful? This entire video was PERFECT.
Thank you so much i hope you had good success with yours.
Thank you for the detailed video. I wish all TH-cam diy videos were this informative and to the point.
Thank you for the kind words im glad that you enjoyed it!!!
Thanks for posting, very informative. I really appreciate how you walked us through the actual sizes of the pipe fittings required 👌
Nice video we didn't see your cat or random bits of non information just usable information that we wanted to see when we were searching for answers ,like others have said too bad other You Tubers don't follow your style Thanks
Short, concise, specific instructions. I wrote down the parts as you spoke, made screen shots form my notes. Thank you for taking the time to do this.
Thank you I hope that your end result worked out good. If you see this please let me know how it went.
Absolutely FANTASTIC ! Thank You so much for taking time to share. Several people are very happy to have their equipment work perfect.
This is the best tutorial I've seen yet on how to improve the blast cabinet, good job! Thanks for your time.
This is the best video I’ve seen so far on how to make a metering valve. Love your step-by-step and explaining the sizes and parts needed. Great job
One of the most explanatory videos on this issue, great video!
Thank you so much for your video; very informative and easy to follow. I am currently assembling my cabinet and this is the first modification that I will be making. Thank you again, Sgt. Rock
this is the exact video I need for my shops sand blaster.👍
Great video and concise. Had to convert in to MM rather than the old inches, hadn’t heard that in some decades!
Just the details I was looking for. Thank you.
Did you put one together on yours?
This is super helpful. Doing this this weekend coming. Thank you.
How did yours turn out?
EXCELLENT! very well done! just the video I needed to set mine up correctly~ THANK YOU!
Thanks for the great video! Short and sweet! I like all of the ideas you talked about in this video. The only recommendation I have is put a ball valve instead of the plug which would make media changes much easier and quicker.
Thank you! Im really glad you enjoyed it and found it informative. Im definitely looking forward to making some other videos i have a few ideas! As far as the ball valve idea i had contemplated doing that but it made it a little more expensive haha the plug that i put in is only hand tight so it comes out really quickly. I may end up adding one at some point in time.
This video is AWESOME! I am going to do the same thing you did and this takes all the guess work out of it. I like that you state all the sizes of everything too. Thank you.
Thank you for the kind words! Im glad that someone found my video helpful!! 😎 If you need any help setting yours up ill be happy to help.
Just saw your video this morning and also thank you for giving me a great guide as how to modify my blaster.
Eric Brunner it really works great! If you need any help setting it up do not hesitate to ask. I try to stay active in responding to comments as fast as possible.
Thank you. That's what I was looking for. You answered my questions.
How did yours turn out?
Thank you for giving all this valuable information out. I was really disappointed with my cabinet after I set it up and tried to use it. I noticed there's a lot of advice on fixing it. Your way seems to be the cheaper way to go. When you can find the part that's already put together it's normally out of stock and it can range from anywhere from $70 to $130.
This was perfect timing I have to go to Home Depot tomorrow so I'm going to pick up all my parts. When spring comes back I'll be ready to finally get some use out of my cabinet.
Did it work out good for you?
I was going to build one, and I wish I saw your video first but I actually ordered one just because it is one solid piece with no threads or lips for media to get hung up on.
Got a link?
Thanks for sharing your Tip.👍👍❤
Nice job. Well described.
Very Very Good video. Wish all videos were this informative. Don't want this to come off as wrong. But video was plain and simple and 100% fully informative. I do have one question, being that this is not under pressure, could it be built out of PVC? Thanx Man. Jim C.
Good job mate! I have the same one👍
Great video!
Wondering if there’s any reason you couldn’t substitute PVC for all the hardware?
Keep brass hose barb and valve
Nice video. I will probably copy your approach exactly.
Thank you I appreciate it! Its still working so good every time i use it i am thrilled with how well it works. If you need any help setting it up please let me know. When you get it going let me know how you like it! 👍🏻👍🏻
Chamfer the leading edges on each transition to reduce turbulence and promote stable media flow.
Also
I ran a hose barb and hose to run my metering valve out to the front of my cabinet so I can adjust on the fly
What media and tip are you using? What pressure are you using? What position do you place the small ball valve on the metering valve? I made a exact copy of yours but virtually no sand coming out of gun. Im doing something wrong.
Great video, thanks for taking the time to make it, Ive been fighting the same issue with my HF blaster since I got it. Cant wait to give this a try. The ball valve is genius. I like the look of that dust collector as well.
Thank you! I was really happy to be able to share the setup. Not my idea really, i collected the ideas from other people on youtube and the interwebs and made my own design. I wish i would have explained the ball valve(regulator) more in my video. At the time of filming i thought everyone would understand the concept. I know you do i just wish i would have explained it. I will say make sure that you have a good air compressor. There are a couple comments saying that this metering valve didnt work for them and either their vent(the ball valve) isnt set right or their compressor isnt big enough. Running blast cabinets takes a great deal of air and a good compressor. Also if you would like i will make a video about the dust collector. I plan to just havent gotten around to it. If you would like to see it that would give me some motivation to film it haha. Cheers 🍻
@@alansgarage824 I would love to see a video on the dust collector. I had a big 220v v twin sears compressor that barely kept up with my blaster, when I moved out of the garage I was sharing with a friend I ended upcwith a smaller 2 cylinder protable compressor that was older by ingersol rand and it works better than the newer bigger compressor.
The CFM of the compressor has more to do with good blasting performance than the volume of the tank or PSI it puts out. For at home projects Im fine stopping and gibing the compressor a break once in awhile.
Its the gun clogging every 2 min that gets frustrating. Hoping to try your mod out soon. I used to run about 50 feet of hose between the compressor and water trap It gave the moisture in the air a chance to cool and condense and get cought by the trap. If I ran the trap right off of the compressor the wet air would flow right through the trap like steam and drip like water out of the end of the gun. I used to roll the extra hose up and stick it in a home depot bucket full of ice to help condense the moisture. It worked pretty good on hot humid days.
Thanks again for the video, if you want to film an explanation of the ball valve Id watch that too, looks better than drilling holes in pipes or simmilar I have seen.
Yes compressor size is crucial. Ill make a video on the dust collector and ill let you know when i do. I will make one on the ball valve as wel. I was bummed when i rewatched this video haha. Like why didnt i explain it haha. But ill get it done here in a week or so!! Again im hlad you liked the video i appreciate the fact people like it!
Thanks! I'll try it out.
Nice job
This seems like a pretty simple design. I had bought a pressure pot for my HF cabinet but might return it and just do this instead. I can't find a gun that isn't siphon fed to replace the deadman valve that comes with the pot and and it also won't recycle the media for me. I'm using this for glass so a smaller easy to handle gun would be ideal.
i bought 1" fittings mostly on accident. assembled ~90% of it and sandblasted & painted it red to blend in (anything that wasn't brass).
I then bolted the flange to the underside so i didn't have to cut it and silicone sealed it. im just interested in seeing how people did the pickup line and any possible improvements to make with it.
Well done! Thank you.
Did you try it out?
I just bought a cabinet like this and the cabinet is great but the hoses and tube suck, big time! I watched a lot of videos to improve the function. all of the videos show guys making elaborate setups with vent valves and all kinds of other stuff. I have a very old ALC siphon style blaster that works great. Instead of building the setups others are doing, I used the setup on my ALC. I drilled a hole in the supply hose about 2 inches away from the outlet fitting just like on my old blaster. IT WORKS PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no need for a valve or anything else.
Superb tutorial!
I was asking myself which compressor you are running?
Regards from Austria!
GREAT JOB Thank You
Thanks for the video, I’m going to try this first thing tomorrow, my cabinet works just fine but keeps stop sucking at times
Nice job thank you
ingenious, thanks for sharing
Thank you and you’re welcome!!!
Good stuff.
Great video! How did you get the 1/2" ID media hose to fit onto the blast gun? The original HF hose appears to have a bigger ID. Thanks
I don't know how he did it but I have used a cup of very hot water to dip the end of hoses into to soften them enough to fit over tight fittings.
great job
Great video thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
I have the same blast cabinet. Ive had the hardest time finding a reinforced vinyl tube the same size and with the same flexibility as the harbor freight feed hose. Can you provide a link where I could find it in 10ft length?
Good video but what blast media are you using thanks
Alan, what cfm is your air compressor? I just had a 15.2 cfm 60 gallon single phase installed and a large Matco cabinet with foot pedal. I am underwhelmed. Alot of air leaking from the pedal despite taking it apart, resealing, and torquing it tight. Just not doing' the job. I have an opportunity to buy metering valve and wanted to know if that would 'boost' the cfm and work better.
What is the length of hose running up from your metering valve? Also, watching you clean the wrench, is the blast radius small because of the nozzle? If so, are there bigger tips for the stock gun or is a new gun required?
Im not really sure what the length came out to be but i will measure it and get back to you. Also as far as gun tips go im not sure what can be done with the actual HF gun. I know there are aftermarket guns that are MUCH better from what i have read. Personally i havent looked into changing my gun out because to me it honestly works really good for how little of money i have into it. I am sure at some point ill upgrade guns but adding the metering valve was a HUGE improvement over the stock siphon tube!
@@alansgarage824 same here looks like it will take a long time to do a large area.
There is other guns tips with smaller or bigger hole but you need to have the one that fit with the sand you use and the capacity of your compressor.
Thank you!
I have the just the blast cabinet not this one. Can I add this metering valve to also?
I did the same damn thing. My hose is rock solid. Tip: put the hose in the oven... don’t over heat it, just keep checking every minute and it’ll make it less stiff.
but as it'll cool down it'll get hard again.
When you demonstrated the result at 5:10, I was surprised that you did not get better performance from the modification you made. I have a very old Harbor freight cabinet with the original siphon tube (which definitley surges) that brought me to exploring potential modifications and finding your video. But I have significantly more media output (and faster results) than what I see in your modification. Have you made any changes or updates to this in the last year that may have further improved on your design? I appreciate the design and think it is ideal. I just wonder why you're not getting more volume in media.
I have not made any changes at all the cabinet has been working great for my needs with the dust collector and the metering valve. I will say that after re-watching the video it doesnt really show how much media is coming out. I think thats the phone camera not picking up the flow.
@@alansgarage824 That's a good point. I appreciate the tips and the time taken to produce and share this modification.
Yeah my un-modded HF sandblaster gets a wrench like that done in seconds, a ton of media comes out. I wouldn't waste your time with this mod, do the other siphon tube mod
I have found that the media and the diameter of the ceramic tip determine most of the flow. I put a vacuum gauge on the gun and found the best flow was a certain size tip, once it gets worn I throw it away. If anyone replies I'll look up that figure but it depends on the media you use so yours may be different. None of the smaller diameter tips seem to work very well.
I built my metering valve just like yours and mine will not draw out any media. Should the lever be open or closed or some where in between. I'm trying to clean up brake parts and dust shields to No avail???
Alan, your 1/4" ball valve, how did you choose that size vs 1/2", would the larger ball valve allow too much air?
yes, usually people use 1/8 valve. You dont need so much air what you want to suck is sand not air.
I can't find what I need to install the quick conmect air like you did. Is there a name for the fitting, like "pass through quick connect on one side and 3/8" on the other" :)
so what pressure and CFM are you running on this mod?
How long does it take from the time you trigger the gun until the long tube from the metering valve delivers media?
Its nearly instantaneous with not much of a noticeable lag. Id say its faster than the stock syphon tube but i don’t have any actual numbers to back that claim up. If you modify yours this way i can guarantee you will not be disappointed though!!!
Alan's Garag
I built a metering valve this week modeled after yours, and I can only get my media about half way up the tube and it wants to surge. My valve is built like this: 1" tee on all 3 sides to another 1" tee on all sides to 5/8" hose to gun about 5' hose. Hose is the same size that was on the gun to begin with. On my 2nd tee it is reduced down to 1/4" ball valve like yours. I have a 60 gal running 14 cfm. I changes my 1/4" air fittings coming to the cabinet to high flow and use a 3/8" hose. I thing my valve is to small, I'm going to try a 1/2" or 3/4" this weekend. What do you think?
I"m curious what you learn. I have a similar feed tube and metering valve as his and my sand surges. A whole bunch comes up and fills the tube by the gun. Then the sand stops coming until the gun uses up all the sand in the tube and then another large bunch of sand comes up to the gun. Anybody have any solutions to get a nice even flow?
@@dougvanderwell sounds like you need more air in at the metering valve
@@dougvanderwell Did you find a fix? My DIY metering valve does the same thing! It is worse than the syphon setup.
so what size air compressor do you need?
What air pressure are you using
How open do you run your air inlet valve on your valve? I keep getting surging with mine. Thanks
You have to run the gun and adjust the valve at the same time. If you have any more question please ask!
I've just done the same mod, for some reason I'm not picking up any media no matter how much PSI or how open or closed my valve is, any idea what im doing wrong?
So what exactly does this mod accomplish? How does it work?
I have a different cabinet but could adapt this to mine.
It deletes the "stock" siphon tube and works on the venturi effect. the media is more easily pulled into the feed tube.
Ok so I enjoyed your video with the metering valve. I have seen may others do the same thing as well and do not have any issues. Well I am stumped ! I bought a cabinet and did not even test it until Indid the same thing. Problem I have is It will not pull up the media. I am running 90 psi into The cabinet . 30-60 crushed glass
Not sure what to do with problem
Just did mine. Same problem. I'll post an update if successful
I ended up having to use glass bead as the media and it still was plugging up. I put a 1-1/8 sink basket strainer with the center holes plugged with a small bolt in to limit flow and am using less media. I plan on using the same setup with the ground glass but I'll need a different strainer. The media cycles extremely fast so less is fantastic. Hope this is some help.
Reading your comment it appears you found that less media works better. I wish that in my video i would have explained that i literally only have maybe a 1-2Lbs. of media in the cabinet. I think that if anyone is having issues with this not feeding its because they're adding to much media.
Nice video! Two questions...how many PSI and CFM do you have at the cabinet? And two, why do you have the ball-valve in the metering valve that you built? Thanks!!
As far as pressure goes i run about 90-100psi to the cabinet. As far as CFM at the cabinet i have no idea honestly. My compressor is capable of 11.3 cfm at 90. Whether or not my fitting allow that i have no way to test. The ball valve on the metering valve is to act as a venturi. There is two venturis working in this system. One at the gun where air rushing in syphons air from the pickup tube, the second is on the metering valve as air gets pulled into the 1/4” ball valve it pulls the media along with it. I hope i explained that right!
What yall running for psi? I have this set-up on mine
No explanation of adjusting the metering valve, and, is the top of it open to the atmosphere or plugged?
What is the 1/2 ball valve for
does the 1/4 opening valve for air intake
has to be all the way open or just half open?
usually people use 1/8 valves and dont open it fully so with 1/4 it will almost be completly closed.
I made mine almost similar to yours, my problem is I cannot get the media to siphon up the tube to the gun. Any suggestions? I have tried several positions on the ball valve and nothing works
What size air compressor are you running? To get nothing from it seems like something is no correct. Let me know!!
Same issue. But I think it's my sand I am using. Going to get some aluminum oxide. I am using sand from a local contractor's place. I think it's just to thick.
Frank how did you make out with the siphon issue? Did changing the media fix the issue?
How open do you have the ball valve?
I've looked at a few videos and done the upgrades like you did and for some reason can't get any media out of the gun, lol.
Thanks
So I did your exact set up, for people wandering costs in parts it was about $75. It works ok but gets clogged it seems. I have a water separator and filter. What are your settings and which nozzle tip do you use? People are saying to gate it down to about 50 psi built they’re running 1/2 in hose. I have a 30 gal compressor producing I think 7-8 cfm. Glass media runs ok but that black beauty seems to get stuck or just not siphon. Any feedback would be great. Thanks for the vid also man!
Glad you liked the video sorry to hear you’re having issues though. My first question will be the little 1/4” valve where do you have it set at. Having that not adjusted properly will cause feeding issues. I really regret not addressing that in my video. How i set that was held the trigger while adjusting the valve until i had smooth and consistent flow. I am using the nozzle tip that came with the blast cabinet gun. Another thing that is possible is that maybe you do not have enough cfm of air flow with that compressor, i am running a 60gal with i believe 12ish cfm id have to look. These suckers take a ton of air even my compressor i feel is on the edge of acceptable however I have a small 10 gal compressor i will hook that up and see how it works and ill report back to you with my findings. Ill see how that effects flow and whether or not i need to adjust the vent valve to compensate for lower flow.
Alan's Garage damn, ok I’m pretty sure it’s my compressor then. I figured if I have my tank full that would suffice for small bursts of work but apparently not. I guess psi at 100 doesn’t matter if cfm is at 7.5? God I hope I don’t have to spend for a new compressor.....or maybe I HAVE to get a new compressor :-D Thaks for responding
CFM is very important when it comes to air compressors. PSI doesnt mean as much without the volume. To compare it to another machine its much like a pressure washer. People are always bragging “well my pressure washer puts out 4400 psi blah blah blah” but its only 1.5 gpm and it hardly does squat haha. This weekend im going to hookup my little compressor to it and see how it does. Maybe it’ll work good and theres just something in your system that needs tweeking! Id like to help you get yours up and running as good as mine does because it works incredible its one of my most favorite tools in the shop right now!
Alan's Garage ok so check check it. Turns out I had some major issues issues that I mitigated. 1. I had waaaaaaaaay too many fittings from my conpressor to the gun. So I disconnected basically everything, went from a 50 ft hose to a 3 ft one and changed my tip to the largest one it came with. B. I bought the high flow Milton connections which was a huuuuuge difference. Works great now! I just need a larger compressor now! 30 gallons isn’t cutting it. Thanks for the help man!
Hell yea man!! Im glad to hear its working like a champ now thats awesome! I knew if you did it like mine that it should be working great just had to figure out what it was. Yea buddy really happy to hear it working. Let me know if you get a bigger compressor you’re going to love it 🤣🤣! 🍻🍻🍻
I did same, but cannot get this thing to flow. I have adjusted the ball valve, air pressure and made sure to have fresh glass bead. What am I doing wrong??
How much are you adding?
Can you please make a parts list I don't know much about all those tubes
Just found your video. I installed a similar valve that you have which I bought off of eBay. After hooking it up I can not get the media to flow through the hose. I have plenty of air flowing but no media. I can understand why it will not work. Any ideas. What pressure or you running and what size nozzle? I am just trying to determine the root cause. - thanks, Morgan
Hey There, did you solve this? i have been having the same exact issue with my setup? I'm stumped why it won't work
@@bradybell8930 I have not solved it. I even tried a different size nozzle. I will try a different gun but it should not be this difficult and have way to much invested in this peice of crap.
@@morganleblanc730 Me too. I should have just spent more in the first place and bought a decent USA made cabinet.
Figure this out yet?
@@fawcusfitness I did. It took some time but I did. I have a Eastwood pedal and nozzle setup along with the valve so tuning them to work together took a little time.
how many PSI should the regulator be set at?
How much was this? Roughly
So I did this now my cabinet will nor pick up the media?
what PSI do you have best performance with? I'm using walnut media.
around 100 PSI but it also depend of the air flow.
you need to change the air pressure hose to your gun and all the fittings attached to from 1/4" to 3/8" the difference is dramatic, it will cut you blasting time and speed in half.
Larger fittings definitely help with flow.
I did this same set up and I can't get mine to draw a steady flow of sand. I'm frustrated.
yes me to, it does work but not as good as i'd expect. It take me more time than i'd expect and the sand flow is not perfect.
@@frederic6998 I did find that I have to use the glass media vs the black coal sand. The black sand is too big and gets clogged up
4:14 yes it rigid but this hose keep the depresurisation properly and suck better unlike softer hoses who may kind of colapse on themselves and loose depresurisation.
I CANNOT get my stock tube to work at all. Ive changed media and gone to something very fine and it still clogs the gun or work for like 2 seconds. Going to HD to build this today.
How did it work for you?
@@alansgarage824 I built it and could not get it to work properly. I ended up ditching it and going with a new gun/pickup setup. Works like a charm now. I tried.
How to set the ball valve.
What is the PSI of air pressure you use sir?
Around 90psi
You also need a good flow, not only pressure.
Can someone explain what the valve pointing up is for?
I am pretty sure it controls the amount of air in that system. It is gravity fed but a completely closed system out vacuum lock( so to speak). Like pouring gas out of a gas can. Plug the tiny air hole in the back while pouring and see the difference.
What’s the ball valve for ?????
to suck some air to mix with the sand because it'll not suck 100% sand it need to be mixed with some air to flow up in the hose.
I hooked mine up exactly as shown, ad media won’t come up hose. I have an 8 gal compressor. Any one out there help me figure out why media not coming all the up hose?
8 gallons is likely not enough. You need more than that and high cfm @ 90 psi
Im sorry man i cant really say because an 8 Gal. compressor really isnt sufficient at all for blasting anything. The CFM just isnt there to pull hard enough. 90 PSI is one thing but CFM is what really matters when it comes to blasting.
@@alansgarage824 thank you.. that helped a lot
@@chuckmckay5518 i will say this i hooked up my cheap HF 10gal compressor and it did work pretty good. Some things that you can try is adding less media. If you have too much it wont feed properly. I use only about 2lbs or so of media in mine. It doesnt take much for the metering valve ti function. Thats another benefit of the metering valve it takes much less blasting media to operate.
I have done everything you have done. And it will not push the sand to have gun. The sand is maybe one foot into the hose from the bottom
Same here. Did you find a fix?
Man I bout a 3/8 tube I doubt it picks up sand that well
Subd
Y did you quiet doing videos
I just havent had time recently but i hope to be able to very soon
0:22 that's a piece of shit.
I've used mine for some time, it was working more or less. But now i see that sand got stuck between the 2 tubes so the air doesn't flow properly, the design is so bad.
Boy that’s slow!
Pas convaincu
if you buy good quality you don't have to modify buy USA not china
My only critique would have been to route the media hose either through the bottom or the right side of the cabinet to keep it out of the way from where you're standing next to the air inlet. Good video, I still think the way you did it is way better than buying all those after market metering valve over priced parts.