Arwin sandblasting cabin review

Kevin Hofer

28.4.2023

Translation: Julia Graham

The Arwin sandblasting cabin lends itself well to private workshops. While far from perfectly finished, it’s still fun to use.

I recently took my first steps with sandblasting using a homemade cabin. Unfortunately, I don’t have fond memories of the experience. Which is why I’m giving it another shot with an Arwin cabin.

In case you needed a reminder, sandblasting is a surface treatment where abrasive is propelled onto an object with air pressure. This removes things like rust and paint.

Badge engineering

The Arwin sandblasting cabinet is a classic example of badge engineering. Because you can get the same product from a number of different manufacturers. Essentially, it’s not the product that’s «engineered», but rather the name or the «brand». Unicraft and Arebos sell the same cabin in our online store. Why the two products have different star ratings – 2.5 and 4.3 – is beyond me. After all, they’re identical. Perhaps the Unicraft model owes the better rating to its name «SSK 1». It just sounds sexier than «sandblasting cabin».

I unpack my Arwin in the garden, which is also where I set it up.

What’s inside the box and getting started

The sandblasting unit comes with more than just the cabin. You also get a sandblasting gun with hoses and four ceramic attachments in different sizes, as well as sealing tape, a dust filter and a power supply for the lamp. The cabin itself boasts a viewing window at the top that you can open. I use it to add and remove my workpieces. And it seals really well. I experience this firsthand when I open it for the first time. The stench reminds me of a party at four o’clock on a Sunday morning. It emanates from the latex gloves included. They protect my hands from the abrasive. Fortunately, the concoction of scents dissipates after a few minutes. There’s a film over the acrylic viewing window to protect it from the abrasive. But there are also five replacement foils included.

Overall, the cabin appears to be adequately finished. It’s reasonably stable on my garden table. Some screws look like they’ve seen better days. And you have to bear in mind this is a brand new product. For the price, that’s OK. And after all, it’s a working device that’ll wear out anyway.

The cabin features holes on the right, at the back and on the bottom. In fact, there are even two on the right side. Meanwhile, there’s a filter on the top. I could connect a vacuum cleaner to this hole to remove particles from the cabin that are flying around. I connect the hose for compressed air at the bottom right. And below that, the hose for the sandblasting material. The cabin features a trough. This is where the material gathers at the bottom after I blast it out of the gun so that I can repeat the process. As a result, it always circulates in the cabin and I don’t have to refill it as you would in the case of a sandblasting gun with a cup.

You’re meant to be able to add the abrasive through the hole at the back. But that’s not worked for me yet. I can’t tip the canister holding the material enough, meaning the abrasive runs next to the cabin rather than into it. That’s why I fill it through the viewing window instead. Which explains why the plug for closing the pouring hole stays on.

There’s also a grid in the cabin so my workpieces don’t end up lying in the sandblasting material.

How to make it fun

After connecting the cabin to my compressor, I’m ready to go. My workpiece, a keyboard top measuring about 34 × 15 × 2 cm, fits nicely into the 90-litre cabin. It’s only when I have to twist and turn it that space gets a bit tight. So, the cabin isn’t exactly suitable for workpieces that are any bigger.

I use sand abrasive, with particles between 0.2 and 0.5 mm in size. According to its specs, the cabin can accommodate particles between 0.2 and 0.8 mm. I use the second-smallest attachment in the gun. There are a lot of little nooks and crannies in my keyboard, so I have to be precise.

I run the cabin using a compressor with a power output of 200 litres per minute (l/min). According to what’s written on the box, the cabin’s maximum air consumption is 450 l/min. If I had a more powerful compressor, I’d probably be able to sandblast more efficiently. Over 400 m/min is always recommended. Nevertheless, I get the impression I’m making good progress.

I’ve already sandblasted my workpiece once. But spraying it was a flop, so I need to blast the paint away again. The original anodised coating is still on the back of the keyboard, and the sprayed paint coating is on the front. Blasting off anodised aluminium in the cabin is like wiping chalk off a blackboard. This sums up what makes sandblasting so fun. Conversely, the (overly thick) layers of Cerakote that I applied are harder to remove. The ceramic coating is much more resistant than anodised aluminium.

To start with, I «only» fill the cabin with 8 kg of sandblasting material. As the slope of the trough isn’t that steep, the material doesn’t slide all the way down once I’ve sprayed it. As a result, my compressor can’t suction it in and I don’t blast enough material. The solution I came up with was to keep pushing it into the middle. But I got to the stage where it felt a bit daft, so I filled a second canister with 8 kg. That way I can sandblast continuously.

30 minutes later, I’m finished and pleased with my workpiece. This was much faster than the first time round using my homemade cabin – even with the stronger Cerakote coating. And that’s the way it should be.

Let me say a quick something about the integrated lamp. It helps a bit, but you’ll still need to work in a well-lit place.

Verdict: good for private use

The Arwin sandblasting cabin – and all of its badge engineering siblings – are ideal for small home workshops or even small mechanic outfits. But you can’t expect a high-end device. The finish is OK but not perfect.

For about 250 francs, the device does what it’s supposed to. I can use it to sandblast smaller parts and also combine it with a compressor that’s allegedly too weak. However, once your workpiece is over 30 cm, it gets a bit tight space-wise. If you’ve got larger pieces, I wouldn’t recommend this cabin. But if you just want to sandblast from time to time and have space in your workshop, I can recommend this cabin.

Kevin Hofer

Senior Editor

kevin.hofer@digitecgalaxus.ch

From big data to big brother, Cyborgs to Sci-Fi. All aspects of technology and society fascinate me.

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