Media Blast Cabinet
Page 8
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The main parts of the hopper are 2 front sides, 2 rear sides, a left and right side. So that is six side parts. The front and rear sides are split, I had to do this as my sheet metal brake is only 40" long and the length of the an entire front or rear side is 70". The brake is worth its weight in gold here, if anyone is interested in metal fabrication this item is a must!
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Here you can see that I started to assemble the parts. Getting the bent edges to the correct angle was a real pain. They are not 90-degree angles at all. But with the proper persuasion they all fit. I had started to weld the parts but soon learned that I could not camp the parts down to get them to stay where I wanted them. So I said to heck with it and used self-taping sheet metal screws. They will protrude into the hopper some but they will not hold back that much material I think. This worked out fine.

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Just finishing up now. Last side on and attach the bottom of the hopper and its done! Well at least with the sheet metal it’s done. I still have to get some automotive seam sealer, as this hopper is not airtight. And I still have to put PVC cap on the bottom of it all. I am thinking of using fiberglass to attach the PVC cap to the sheet metal, there is a little bit of extra space inside the hopper where the PVC cap is and I will need to plug all that up and make it so the hopper sides transition smoothly into the cap.

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Thats it for now. Taking the summer off of playing in the garage to work in the yard! Will be back in the fall to work on this some more.

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