Sand blasting cabinet dust collector

thingiverse

I'm upgrading my sandblasting cabinet, a Harbor Freight special that I've modified with several upgrades. The latest improvement is an enhanced dust collection system. Initially, the vacuum was located on the left side of the cabinet and a hole was present in the top right corner of the back panel. Air flowed from right to left, carrying dust with it. However, this setup created a problem: blasting media would be sucked up by the vacuum due to its proximity to the sandblaster gun, which I use with my right hand. To address this issue, I made two modifications. First, I reversed the air flow direction so that it now exits from the back of the cabinet in the top right corner. Second, I incorporated a dust deputy - a cyclone-style dust separator that drops the collected dust into a white bucket. This allows me to easily empty the bucket and return its contents to the blasting cabinet if some media is still sucked up. I utilized an affordable vacuum cleaner for this purpose, dedicating it solely to this task. If needed, I can always upgrade to a larger model and use the existing one elsewhere in my shop. To facilitate connections between components, I 3D printed several custom parts.