- Joined
- Jul 5, 2014
- Messages
- 2,787
I picked up a nice Skat Blast cabinet and dust collector awhile back to replace another one that was a clam shell design that took up a lot of extra room in my small shop. I had a HF 110lb pressure blast unit on my old cabinet and just transferred it to the new one. I have been using a dead man gun and it's getting tiresome holding it open to blast transmission housings. So I ordered a pinch valve from Richway to add foot pedal control and do away with the dead man gun.
The pinch valve required a separate pressure regulator to adjust the air pressure to about 25 psi above the pressure I'm blasting with. I have the pressure set at about 45 psi for glass beads so I won't shatter them when blasting.
Here is a pic of what I started with on the HF pressure tank.
View attachment 189588
And changed it to this adding a second HF regulator for the pinch valve. I have had pretty good luck with the HF regulators. I have one on my parts washer also.
Here is the pinch valve setup.
I modified the the original "T" fitting. It had a hose nipple on one end, so I milled that off and drilled and tapped it for 3/8" NPT so I could connect the valve directly to it.
On my cabinet I'm using the original hose that came with the HF blaster. I picked up a 3/8" NPT bulkhead fitting for the hose so I could go through the cabinet wall.
I used a foot pedal I got off Amazon to control the valve.
I took the dead man apart and got rid of the handle and body. Just used the nozzle end and put the hose barb fitting on it and put it on the end of my hose. So much easier to handle now and my hand doesn't get tired at all even when doing a complete housing.
If anyone needs links or part numbers let me know. I have about $150 in the mod. The pinch valve was $68, and the rest was the cost of the fittings (not cheap) and the regulator. It sure was worth it to me.
The pinch valve required a separate pressure regulator to adjust the air pressure to about 25 psi above the pressure I'm blasting with. I have the pressure set at about 45 psi for glass beads so I won't shatter them when blasting.
Here is a pic of what I started with on the HF pressure tank.
View attachment 189588
And changed it to this adding a second HF regulator for the pinch valve. I have had pretty good luck with the HF regulators. I have one on my parts washer also.
Here is the pinch valve setup.
I modified the the original "T" fitting. It had a hose nipple on one end, so I milled that off and drilled and tapped it for 3/8" NPT so I could connect the valve directly to it.
On my cabinet I'm using the original hose that came with the HF blaster. I picked up a 3/8" NPT bulkhead fitting for the hose so I could go through the cabinet wall.
I used a foot pedal I got off Amazon to control the valve.
I took the dead man apart and got rid of the handle and body. Just used the nozzle end and put the hose barb fitting on it and put it on the end of my hose. So much easier to handle now and my hand doesn't get tired at all even when doing a complete housing.
If anyone needs links or part numbers let me know. I have about $150 in the mod. The pinch valve was $68, and the rest was the cost of the fittings (not cheap) and the regulator. It sure was worth it to me.
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