If you think you can Google “best sandblast cabinet” and magically be directed to the best mediablaster® then you’re dead wrong. Unfortunately, the best sandblasting cabinet is a relative thing. It depends on what you’re doing, how often and for what duration.
What Makes a Mediablaster® the “Best Sandblast Cabinet”
One of the most important things that affects which machine is the best sandblasting cabinet for an individual is the abrasive delivery. There are WET and DRY cabinets, and dry cabinets deliver abrasive via siphon, gravity, direct pressure or micro controls. Special abrasives like soda, plastic and steel shot require even more refinements to operate effectively.
It’s impossible to have the 10 best sandblasting cabinets unless you break them down by abrasive delivery and application.
If you want to know more about what makes the best sandblasting cabinets great, click here.
If you’re not sure which abrasive delivery is best for you, check out this blog.
Five Factors that Make the Best Sandblasting Cabinet Great
Rather than searching the internet, our best advice is to find a trusted manufacturer and then narrow down their media blaster selection to what fits your application. Media Blast® offers 10 machine categories ranging from every abrasive delivery to every duty cycle. We have 60 separate cabinet models and 170 different machines, so it’s a good bet that we make the right machine for your needs. After more than 40 years in business, we have five factors that play a role in determining the best sandblasting cabinet:
- Know how much Compressed Air you have. You must know the volume of compressed air you have access to or are willing to invest in or purchase. If you need a crash course in air compressors, check out Air Compressor 101.
- Know your estimated Daily Duty Cycle (DDC). Daily Duty Cycle is the amount of time you plan on running the machine on a daily basis. It’s incredibly important to determine which is the best sandblasting cabinet for your needs. It affects your required dust collector blower cfm, dust storage filter area storage capacity, the separator reclaimer’s ability to remove and recycle abrasive, and all are based on the gun cfm usage. These factors determine the speed of cleaning and how long the machine can operate before the dust collector requires cleaning. If you are confused just give us a call; this is very important and you need to understand how to calculate daily usage.
ProTip: Each gun size has an almost geometric increase in cleaning speed when air usage is doubled and the pressure is the same. This does affect machine hours of operation before dust collector cleaning is required.
Real World Example: Not knowing your Daily Duty Cycle before you purchase a machine is similar to trying to tell someone how long it will take to paint their house without knowing the size of your brush. Obviously, a one inch paint brush will take a LOT longer than a 12-inch roller.
- Know the abrasive you plan to use. The most common abrasive used in a media blaster cabinet is glass beads, but special machine features are required for cutting, polishing or leaving the surface original, what we call “Do No Harm” in the sandblasting industry.
- Know the mesh size for part texture finish. If you don’t know what this is, give us a call and we’ll help you determine what you need. It really affects the machine type you purchase and how many parts you will be replacing.
- Know your budget range. Unfortunately, most people think budget is the most important factor in determining what the best sandblasting cabinet is. This means many people end up with a machine that is slow. doesn’t meet their needs and makes a big mess.
Choose the Right Mediablaster the First Time
Media Blast has been an industry leader for more than 40 years. We’ve seen almost everything anyone can dream up – so we know how important it is to buy the right machine the first time. We share our expertise about several specific “Best Sandblast Cabinet” categories in various blog posts:
The Best Sandcarving CrystalBlast® Mediablaster®
The Best Home Garage Automotive Blasting Cabinets
The Best Blast Cabinet for Tractor Truck Fabrication Shops
The Best Blasting Cabinet for Powder Coating Shops
To Sum It Up
There is only really one or two “Best Sandblast Cabinet” for any application – even if it’s in a home shop. With more than 40 years of experience, the Media Blast team can help you narrow down your options and choose the right machine the first time. Ultimately saving you from having to purchase a replacement cabinet for a low-budget, poor-fit machine.
If you’re not sure what kind of sandblasting cabinet you need, check out our Buying Guide or contact us.