Another place you might look for a blasting cabinet is use-enco.com. If you time it right, you can get discounts and free shipping. No affiliation, just satisfied customer.

Bead blasting should clean the parts up nicely. The most important thing to know is if you have enough clean, dry compressed air. Those rascals will go through a ton of compressed air in a hurry. Even if the parts are small and you are patient, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting for the compressor to catch up if you're using a 5 gallon, 3.5 cfm model. I have the 60 gallon, 13 cfm and it does the job nicely.

Also, the guns in those cabinets work by the suction method. The air blowing through the gun sucks the media out of the bottom of the cabinet through a tube (venturie effect) and after being blown on to the work piece, falls back into the bottom of the cabinet. There is some mess, because the seals around the doors aren't perfect. But for the most part, the media is recycled.

Those suction type guns tend to pulse and not shoot a continuous stream of media, again wasting some time and compressed air. Also, they are easy to clog, hence the 'clean dry' air listed above. I've been thinking of getting a pressurized blast pot for mine. That should give a more constant supply of media.

For media, I use glass beads, they won't harm the metal. I think crushed walnut shells work about the same, but I never used them. DON'T use aluminum carbide...I use that to etch glass. You're parts will never be the same. And don't use play sand as there is a hazard of silicosis (sp?). I'm not familiar with soda blasting.

Yes, a shop vac will cut down on the dust, but use the bag filter instead of the foam one, or it will just blow the dust into the air outside the cabinet.

It says that the nozzle is ceramic, so it should last a long time shooting glass beads. Not sure why you're worried about the hose length. You're going to need a supply hose no matter which cabinet you get.

And if you need to buy a compressor for this project, that's a whole other discussion!

HTH's.

Glass beads aren't going to deburr and walnut shells are used for polishing and basic paint removal.

OP said clean, didn't say anything about debur. Glass beads are used because they're remove paint and dirt without any degredation to the metal. If the OP wants to deburr, I guess that's his choice.

We are dealing with steel parts, you can't hurt them with basic blast media.

This is what aluminum oxide will do to stainless steel:

knife.JPG

I wouldn't want to use it on any precision surfaces.

I bought a standup cabinet, and I didn't pay anywhere near that. Wasn't the HF something like this?

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=325-0001&PMPXNO=5765762&PARTPG=INLMK3

I don't do a lot of blasting, and my compressor is in the shop (oh, the noise!), so it has a supply of conditioned air, I haven't had a problem with water. I guess it depends on the amount of blasting you're going to do. Maybe start with a good filter/water trap. If that can't handle it, get a dryer later.

Sorry, got my oxides and carbides confused. Aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. Silicon carbide cuts better, but is more spendy.

Not every part gets paint. I wouldn't use it on any smooth surfaces. A scoring reel shaft, for instance. Too rough. I don't know if a modern pinball machine has any precision surfaces in it, but I sure wouldn't use it on something like a press fit bearing race.

So THAT'S what that's for! I always wondered if my buddy got all the glass beads out of the cylinder head I blasted for him.

Ok, that explains my confusion. The SKU you put on your original post came up as a bench top model.

http://www.harborfreight.com/abrasive-blast-cabinet-42202.html

This is the one I ended up with:

http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=803-0036&PMPXNO=3009582&PARTPG=INLMK3

Don't remember what I paid, it's been a few years.

Edit: Or at least it's a picture of a benchtop model.

Ain't that the truth. And it seems like the problems are not as much in design or material, but assembly.

The guys that do etched glass use what's called a "pass thru" cabinet (tried to find a pic, but no joy). There's a slot on each side for the glass to slide through. The slot is covered up with 'bristles' to keep the media leakage to a minimum. Maybe a smaller cabinet could be modified to do cabinet legs with a 4" hole saw and a couple of cheap paint brushes. Just a thought.