Blast Cabinet Metering Valve – No Drain

Description

Looking for the most economical metering valve that will still drastically improve your blasting? Look no further than our drainless high-flow valve. We designed this valve to create fast, efficient flow while keeping costs low. You get the best of both worlds!

You lose the drain plug with this design, but that sacrifice means a little better performance and more affordable pricing.

Features:

• Huge improvement over the stock siphon tube setup. With our valves you’ll get better blasting performance!
• Affordable
• Durable: This item features all metal, heavy duty components.
• High Flow: The media flows fore freely and rapidly thanks to our unique design
• Tool – Free Adjustment: Adjust the air inlet flow in seconds using no tools!
• Sealed Threaded Connections
• Easy to install thanks to our clear instructions
• Custom machine beveled internal edges at the hose connection to improve flow
• Ideal for those who don’t change media often.
• 3/8 air inlet for better air flow adjustment
• Comes ready for 1/2″ ID blast hose. (Can be converted to other sizes if desired.)
• Clear rust preventative coating

How It Works:

This valve setup completely eliminates the bad suction tube design on your blast cabinet. Gravity feeds media down into the valve and suction from your blast gun pulls the blast media through the hose. No more surging, clogging and slow blasting performance.

Draining Media:

How do you drain media without a drain plug? The same way you’ve always done it! If you’ve got a dump door on the bottom of your blast cabinet, you drain media the same way you’ve always done it. You undo the bolt, latch or other mechanism securing the media drain door and drain it. You can leave the valve attached.  If you leave a little extra hose at install you can sometimes get away with not even detaching the hose. If you do need to remove the suction hose, it only takes a few seconds.

On our Harbor Freight 40 lb sandblasters this valve clears a 5 gallon bucket. We slide the bucket in place under the valve. (Sometimes it’s necessary to go in on an angle.) Next, just disconnect the media hose at the valve, if necessary, and empty via the dump door on your blast cabinet media hopper. If you’ve got shelving or other obstructions you can also cut down a 5 gallon bucket to make it shorter or use a different size or shape container. The good news is you’ll be using less media with our valves so there is less to empty.

Advantages Over The Drain Plug Design:

• Improved flow. We bevel internal lips and edges to create smoother, faster flow. There’s no drain plug to create turbulence and impede flow.
• More Affordable. Less parts makes this product slightly more affordable.
• Improved media flow. This version offers less restriction, less turbulence and smoother flow compared to the versions with a drain plug. There are fewer areas for media to hang up or collect.
• No Drain plug to clean or misplace
• Lower profile design. This design takes 1-2″ of the length hanging off the bottom of your blast cabinet. It works well if you don’t have much space.

Disadvantages of Valve Without a Drain Plug:

• No drain plug means you’ll need to release the media door on your cabinet to empty the media. This may require leaving a little longer hose or sometimes hose removal. Draining may take you an extra minute or two with this setup. It shouldn’t be a significant issue for the occasional hobby blaster.
• Changing media types may be more time consuming and a little more involved. If you change media types often, this setup makes that just slightly more time consuming. There’s no drain plug to aid with removing media. It may take a few extra seconds to blow old media out of the valve since it lacks a drain.
• Fishing small parts out of this valve may be more difficult. If you somehow lose a bolt, nut, or other small part down inside the valve, removing it may be slightly more difficult without a drain plug.

Installation:

Detailed printed installation instructions are provided with your purchase. Basically you mount the metering valve at the bottom of your blast cabinet on the outside. Then you run the suction hose from the valve back inside your cabinet to the blast gun. You can use whatever blast gun and compressed air setup you already have. This setup works with the stock gun, triggered guns, trigger-less foot pedal setups and more.

You’ll need to drill or cut an approximately 1-1/4″ diameter hole at the bottom of your blast cabinet at the lowest point. This is usually done in the drain door. Removal of the door, if possible, makes this process easier. Insert the valve mounting threads through the hole you drilled, place the mounting washer and nut on the inside and tighten to secure. Next, run your blast media suction hose from the metering valve back inside your cabinet to your blast gun. This requires drilling a hole and installing a rubber grommet. Connect the blast hose to the fitting on your gun and you’re done!

Tools Required/Recommended for Assembly:

• Adjustable wrench and or large pliers for tightening mounting nut
• Phillips-head or slotted flat-blade screwdrivers for tightening hose clamps
• A method to cut hose or tubing such as a utility knife, large scissors or hose cutter
• A step drill bit for drilling grommet holes
• 1-1/4″ metal hole saw

What’s Included:

Your purchase includes the metering valve, mounting hardware and instructions only. You’ll need to supply your choice of blast media hose, hose clamps, grommet, installation tools and your cabinet with blast gun setup.

Need hose and installation accessories? We also sell hose kits that include blast media hose, 2 hose clamps and a grommet.

Affordable:

This is our most affordable blast cabinet metering valve solution. If you don’t need a drain plug and want to save a few bucks, this is the way to go.

Durable:

Affordable doesn’t mean cheap quality. We work hard with suppliers to source the best quality durable components for the best possible prices. This product features durable all metal construction on all the important pieces.

Sealed Connections:

Although it technically isn’t necessary, we seal all threaded connections with thread sealant or pipe sealant to prevent leaks and for peace of mind.

Custom Beveled Internal Fitting Edges:

We mill out and custom bevel the top of the fitting where media falls down into the metering valve. By slightly enlarging the area, and beveling the inside lip, we improve media flow. We also use a similar technique at the hose connection.

We use high quality brass hose fittings we use feature a flat square edge in the area where blast media enters the fitting. Blast media flow is slightly restricted in these areas where it bounces around.

We reduce or remove this restriction by taking a few extra minutes to bevel edges of the hose connection during manufacturing. This smooths flow, helps funnel blast media into the suction hose and results in better blasting performance!

Rust Preventative Coating:

As a final step, we seal all of our valves with a tough, clear protective coating. the steel pieces in these valves could start to rust or corrode in humid environments. We eliminate or reduce the likelihood of this happening by spraying all assembled valves with a durable special clear protective coating.

Compatible Cabinets:

This valve works with countless siphon style blast cabinets from Harbor Freight, Central Pneumatic, Princess Auto, Eastwood, Jegs, and many many more! It works great with the Harbor Freight 40-lb floor standing cabinet for example.

More Questions?

Check out our FAQ for answers to many pre and post purchase questions! If you don’t find the answer there, feel free to contact us. We’ll do our best to help!