Some Blaster Improvements

My friend Kevin was up today and we got a lot done.  The fan blade is done minus balancing, and the new center pipe is done.  The new pipe is 1/4" vs the old 1/16".  It didn't need to be that heavy but no one around here had 6" pipe at all, so Kevin picked it up at a fab shop that does a lot of pipeline stuff near his town.  All they had was heavy pipe that he picked up but it will work well.  Kevin cut the old pipe off and left about 1" to slide the new pipe over while I worked on the new fan blade extensions.  After cutting the pipe the plate warped really bad in a few directions.  I think it was caused by all the patches welded on over time that created a pull and once they were gone it showed up in what was left.  We put a little pressure on it with the press to straighten it, so the thinner base plate wouldn't warp while welding it, and hoping it would be straight when done.  It worked like a charm.  One thing's for sure, it will never wear through or have to be patched.     

We also found out why the pipe was damaged in the first place.  The deflector that comes in to the pipe inside that starts the vortex wasn't straight causing the media to hit the pipe first.  We straightened it out and that should also make a big difference in the suction which is nice.  It was a manufacturing defect for sure of which there were quite a few found since this project began.  They are all getting fixed as things are getting redone and there are several more I've known about for a long time.  When this thing is redone it will be literally much better than when it was new.    

We also did a little rearranging after he dug out a C-160 auto for me that was under the rack shelf that someone is coming to pick up this Wed, and went out for our Pizza buffet of course as usual.    

 

Didn't work on the blaster much today but did manage to get the blade balanced.  It turned into a 2 hour job...  It was really heavy on one side and it didn't make any sense with all the planning that went into the fix.  I started with taking the welds down a little on the heavy side but it wasn't doing much good.  I finally chucked a few bearings in the vise and a piece of 5/8 rod that matched the motor shaft to start doing a lot of measuring and marking.  That's when I found the problem.  The hole in the pipe for the motor shaft was slightly off center, and the original blade spacing was off at the factory welds as well...  

After that the best way to fix it was to add a lot of weight to the outside of 2 blades then work from there, you can see which 2 in the pic.  It's finally balanced and ready to double check on the motor before it all goes together.  If I knew this in the beginning it would have been easier to just remake entire blades.  I really expected a lot more from the premier blaster company out there...  

 

Got an early start today before things got hectic.  All of the remaining parts for the dust collector got prepped, checked over, and a few even got painted.  The 2nd + 3rd pics are when the door was getting sanded, I couldn't believe after all this time there was still a lot of glass in the foam seal.  The vibration from the DA was shaking it all out.  All that's left is the main cyclone chamber, it's getting too late to do it today so it will get painted tomorrow. 

 

The cyclone chamber for dust collector is painted.  Now all of the dust collector parts are painted and ready to be put together.  The only thing to figure out is what will be used for gaskets this time, the thin rubber gaskets someone put on there (made from inner tubes) didn't seal the best... 

 

Did a little more on the cyclone chamber piece this morning.  Like the drawer piece, the sealer keeps coming out even when evenly torqued so it needs to sit until tomorrow and see what it does.  It won't leak for sure but I don't want the bolts loosening up later.  It has grade 9 bolts in it now as well.   

 

I finished up one tractor being picked up tomorrow and another one is coming from Indy next week.  I will need the blaster for it so that has become the temporary priority.  I switch gears a lot but I have so much I need to do there's really no choice sometimes... 

I put the modified blade on the motor to get it ready for a test drive.  The blade is a little wider to help with suction so the rubber gasket had to be trimmed right to the hole in the cyclone chamber.  I put 2 bolts in it loosely to check the balance and it is smooth as new.  In the pic it's blowing the plastic so hard over the pegboard on the far wall it looks like it's been stretched over it.  So far everything is much better than I even hoped, can't wait to use it again. 

Next up was putting all of the bolts in the motor and torquing them, then getting sealer on the bottom drawer piece.  After that it was time to do something one person shouldn't attempt on their own, but what do you do when there's no help around...    Anyway, all went well and the top and bottom are bolted together so the sealer can seal and squeeze out overnight. 

Hopefully I can get the rest of it together tomorrow if things stay quiet... 

 

The pot / vac is all back together and looks pretty cool.  It got hooked back up and works better than I could have ever imagined in my wildest dreams for sure.  I can't believe there is such a difference.  It keeps the hopper clean and no matter how fast the shot goes in it it picks it up immediately even with greatly increasing the media flow and at much higher pressures.  The side door closes itself from all the suction, and the gloves stand straight out when the door is closed.  Now things can get done better and faster than ever before.  I never imagined this thing would work like it is so I am more than happy with all the time spent on it.     

The only downside is like with anything else put back to better than new is the other little quirks start showing up...  The first was the shutoff valve in the pics below.  It releases pressure from the pot so it can automatically refill when you let off of the pedal and goes on the bracket in last pic.  It never worked exactly the way it should, but after taking it off and putting it back on it didn't want to hardly work at all.  After fighting it for awhile to get it apart, the culprit is glass bead dust in it from the previous owners.  Not a big deal now that it's apart, it will get fixed on Monday because it's already late again...  


 

I checked on a new valve today and it was $355.00.  Can't get a rebuild kit or o-rings, peeps are nuts... 

It took a few hours to clean it up but it's looking good now.  The o-ring bore was cleaned up by chucking it in the lathe, and using the edge of a Scotch pad in the groove.  I have scotch pad material for the Dremel and air tools that go from 120-800 grit so I worked the cylinder bore with some of those.  The inner o-ring needed is 2-3/4 ID and 3" OD.  Amazon has them in Silicone, a 10 pack for $10.65, they will be here tomorrow.  With all the price gouging going on I think I'll quit calling peeps for things and just fix everything here... 

The bore isn't perfect but if it sealed in the mess before it will seal now.  Before and afters below.

 

Got an early start this morning and got the blaster shut off valve back together.  It's back on the reclaimer and working better than ever.  It starts blasting the second you hit the pedal and shuts off immediately when you let off the pedal.  Not used to it working like new but I like it a lot. 

I have 9 extra upgraded silicone o-rings left and the cost for the one to fix it was $1.07, and a few dollars worth of shop supplies.  Even with all the o-rings and shop supplies it was still under a $15.00 fix.  A lot better than the $355.00 rip off peeps...  

 

The blaster is down.  I thought it may be the shut off valve so I took it apart and it all looked good.  I replaced the o-ring in it again just for fun while it was apart.  I opened up the main pressure pot and found the problem, the pop up valve in the pics is supposed to be one piece.  I talked to blast it all and they make the pop up valve in house.  They weld a 3/4 rod to a heavy washer then pour urethane around it.  As you can see in the pic they got pretty much no penetration on the 3/4 rod, I'm surprised it lasted as many years as it did.    

You can see in the pics the rod is eaten up some.  I think I'll make a new rod and deal with it here instead of buying an expensive new one that may not be as good as the old one, we'll see...