How to get the most out of a $40 used sandblasting cabinet

[Editor's Note: We'll have a full restoration profile on Ken Blaisdell's 1951 MG TD in an upcoming issue of Hemmings Classic Car, but sometimes restoring the car also means upgrading the tools we need to restore those cars. Such was the case when Ken realized he needed to level up his sandblasting cabinet, and we found his process worth sharing.]

This post isn't about the MG, per se, but about another of the tools I've needed to acquire to aid in its restoration. To go along with the sets of inch and metric tools that I already owned, I've had to get a set of "British Whitworth" size wrenches and sockets as well. I've also bought a number of Whitworth and odd-metric taps and dies to clean up Brutus-damaged threads.

The bench top sandblaster I'd been using.Photo by Ken Blaisdell

One shop tool that is a virtual necessity for cleaning residual paint and rust off of old car parts is a sandblaster. I've had a little, yard-sale-find bench-top unit for a couple of years, and it has been very handy. However, the deeper I got into the MG, the larger the parts became, and I knew that I was outgrowing the little guy. Refinishing the four cylinder's valve cover was a stretch inside the small cabinet.

In one of those "listen to the voice" moments, it popped into my head to ask Kris, the owner of "The K.A.R Shop" in Gilbert, if he happened to know anyone getting rid of a sandblaster. He replied, "Yeah. I talked with a guy the other day who offered one to me, but I don't have room for it."

A few hours and $40 dollars later I was unloading it into my garage. Not surprisingly for the price, I had to restore the sandblaster itself before I could use it to help in the restoration of the car. As I am inclined to do, I upgraded it along the way.

First, of course, I cleaned it, then I found that both of the two-foot fluorescent bulbs were burnt out, so I replaced them with brighter LED versions. The viewing glass was completely opaque from being hit with the blasting sand, so that was replaced with new tempered glass. I modified the sand-siphon as several people suggested on YouTube, then I moved the air connection from the front to the side and added an air gun inside the cabinet to blow off the sand before taking the part out of the cabinet. I also fit the blasting gun with a larger-volume air hose.

I mounted the whole thing on a plywood platform that itself was mounted on casters. The platform is long enough that my DIY cyclone-style media collector and shop vac can stay on it to ride alongside the cabinet. I added an electrical box so that the light and vacuum can be powered from the same place with only one cord running to an outlet. The switch is so that I can turn the vacuum on and off easily without having to reach down and find its toggle switch.

Lastly, I made a set of "nut plates" for the window bezel. These are strips of 1/8-inch steel with tapped holes where the screws come through. There were a dozen separate nuts and lock washers on the screws from the factory. Needing to reach into the cabinet to hold all of those nuts and washers (and not drop them into the sand below) made removing the glass window for cleaning and maintenance something to be avoided. With the nut plates screwed to the cabinet, the window can now be removed from the outside without even opening the cabinet's door.

Photo by Ken Blaisdell

Opaque glass is a recurring problem with sandblasters and is usually overcome by taping a sheet of clear plastic to the inside that can be more economically changed out when necessary. Those sheets do have an associated cost and are hard to get in place while leaning into and contorting inside the cabinet. They also reduce the viewing area somewhat.

Now, back to the MG!