What is the best blast cabinet for tractor truck fabrication shop?

Media Blast has been manufacturing blasting cabinets for more than 40 years and we offer a machine for nearly every abrasive blasting application. In the case of tractor truck fabrication, there are a couple of things to consider.

Blast Cabinet Compressed Air

Compressed air is one of the most important factors when it comes to blast cabinets. When it comes to tractor truck fabrication, we can make a couple of assumptions about compressed air availability as well:

1. Most truck shops use large air tools operating at 120 to 175 psi to remove the big assembly bolts. This normally means there are two-stage horizontal piston air compressors on site with higher cfm and higher tank pressure.
2. Often this type of repair facility is using 3-phase power because of the in-house machines required for their work. This means they are capable of running a 10hp or larger air compressor using the higher pressure piston compressor design with higher tank pressures.

Blast Cabinet Abrasives

Simple surface cleaning is often done using glass beads, and they are a great option if you’re cleaning a surface prior to painting. Unfortunately, glass beads can seal some contamination into the surface of the part creating a bad weld unless you are using a wet blaster.

Welding and repair require cleaning the surface being welded to bright white steel and removing all contamination to get a strong repair. Cutting abrasives strips away the surface and should be used for welding fabrication.

Our Blast Cabinet Recommendation for Truck Shops

Based on limited information and our assumptions about the abrasive and compressed air needed for tractor truck fabrication, we recommend Media Blast’s PowerPeen Direct Pressure blast cabinet. This machine comes in many different cabinet sizes and uses 60 mesh aluminum oxide cutting abrasive. It has an Industrial Dust Collector with dust collector pneumatic cleaning cycle and all the features included to prevent wear on the high wear items. This direct pressure model is great for large fast cleaning cutting abrasive delivery to remove the heaviest of coatings for needed repairs, shaft buildup with machining and other items used in farm tractor repair. Another similar direct pressure model is the Charger that includes the space saving side mounted dust collector.

If you only have limited compressed air we would suggest a siphon abrasive delivery model.  For daily machine usage of more than one hour daily the N-200 siphon model available in 13 cabinet sizes would be advised. Our Shop Standard siphon is another model using only 20-25 cfm and it would be a great choice because it also has the 700 cfm blower and 90 sq.ft. 100% weld negative pressure cartridge dust collector for a clean work area.  Because smaller cfm guns do not generate lots of high frictional heat the part sizes should be smaller or you will be blasting all day on a single part.

ProTip: Labor time, or lessoning of labor time, means dollars saved. The Industrial cabinet models will pay for the additional machine cost in labor time saved in the first year of operation if you have a 10 hp air compressor and larger.

To Sum It Up

Media Blast & Abrasive has been manufacturing sandblasting cabinets since the 1970s. We make more than 50 models totaling 180 individual cabinets with some models available in as many as 13 different sizes. In addition to a comprehensive list of included features, we offer more than 80 optional features for increased productivity, durability, and operator safety. If you’re not sure what cabinet is the right fit for your needs, give us a call or visit our Buying Guide.