If you Google DIY blast room there will be thousands of results. On YouTube I found close to 10,000 in the search results. Many will claim their home-made rooms offer the same results as professional industrial rooms, but please, don’t be fooled.
A DIY Blaster Isn’t Airtight
A blast room made from plastic, wood, or scraps will never be airtight. The abrasives will inevitably seep from seams into your work area. Home-made dust collectors will quickly become clogged.
A DIT Blaster Can Cost More Money
The temptation to save money often ends up costing money because of abrasive waste that ends up in the trash, labor in cleanup, and poor quality results. Processing parts can also take much longer in a DIY room. Your time is valuable.
The wrong equipment can cost money in the same way the wrong tool can waste time, make the job more frustrating, and produce unwanted results. Many of us have resorted to doing in ourselves with a home project only to make the problem worse and the correction more costly.
A DIY Blaster Can Be Unsafe
A shoddy built blasting room can create many dangers. High pressure can be explosive, and dust that is inhaled can cause lung damage. A survey of the YouTube video projects should make anyone concerned with safety shudder.
In my youth I decided to do a drywall project myself, even though I had no experience. My sloppy job with mudding the joints resulted in a great deal of time and effort required to sand them down. Though I wore a simple mask, it soon became overwhelmed. I spent three days on my back coughing up dust.
The OSHA Fact Sheet on protecting workers from abrasive blasting material hazards warns against the high levels a dust and noise as well as toxic compounds.
The safe and cost effective solution is a quality industrial blast room designed for the needs of your business. DIY isn’t always a blast. It can be a bust.