Rayzist and Butch Young team up to create the Super Grit Pit, a premier blasting cabinet

Rayzist And Butch Young Team Up:

Voilà, The Super Grit Pit!

The most technologically advanced, user-friendly sand-blasting cabinet available.

Here it is, folks. In my twenty-one years of sandblasting I have never endorsed a commercially fabricated sandblasting cabinet--until now. When I began blasting, the medium had barely advanced beyond throwing gravel at a piece of glass from across the street.

Many of the cabinets in existence at that time were created for other purposes such as blasting paint and rust off of car parts, or things of that nature. For the most part the cabinets were metal with very small viewing windows,inconvenient doors at one or both ends, extremely poor lighting, and totally ineffectual dust evacuation systems.

In addition, the systems had no foot pedals so both air flow and grit flow had to be started and adjusted, or both had to be turned off if you needed to make another pull or remove the glass from the cabinet. An innovative guy, still living in Belen, New Mexico, brilliantly came up with the first pass through cabinet, which I bought. It was made of wood, and had better lighting, and a front opening. It wasn't perfect, but I liked it much better than what was otherwise available. Bob Christensen, the inventor, actually almost had the idea stolen from him by people in the industry, but eventually prevailed.

Over the years I found it easy to build my own cabinets out of wood, using Bob's as a model, yet making many changes over time. However, no matter how much I extolled the virtues of good lighting, a big enough window to actually see your work, a front opening, a better means of arm entry so that freedom of movement could be enhanced. Cabinets twenty years later are still basically the same. Check them out on the website and see the same small windows, side openings, poor lighting, movement-limiting arm holes--and the list goes on. Enter the SUPER GRIT PIT, the first commercially fabricated cabinet to make sense.

And I'm proud to have been a part of the process. Over two years ago, I was visiting Rayzist, to gather info for an article I was writing, and had a long talk with Billy Willis, Head of Sales, and his brother Josh, Fabrications Manager. They actually listened to me, and the rest is history. I feel that the SUPER GRIT PIT is the finest cabinet made today, not to mention being the largest, self-contained unit made for our industry.

Just take a look, read the specs and, if you're in the area, stop by Rayzist and take it for a test spin. The PIT will also make appearances at many glass shows in the future and will be happy to be photographed with you. I could go on forever, but you be the judge. If you don't get all of the information you need here, call us and we'll be happy to answer any and all questions you might have.

Super Grit Pit: Back View

There are two doors that open into the dust separation chamber. There are eighteen teflon-lined bags that accept the dust that is blown in at great force, and travels up the bag, loses its acceleration and falls back down and through the bottom of the cabinet and into a clear plastic bag that keeps the dust safely contained until you choose to dispose of it.

Super Grit Pit: Panel doors open

Note the telfon-lined bags. The system is so effective that the interior of the chamber remains completely clean.

Controls

Most, or possibly all other cabinets have a single switch that turns the evacuation system and the light or lights on at the same time. I have always been of the opinion that things should be separated (As a kid, I didn't like my different foods to touch), so I insisted that there be one switch for the three stationary, recessed lights, another for the two adjustable lights, and a third for the double, vortex media separation system. To me, this only makes good sense. Use what you need, not what someone else has decided you need.

Wide viewing window

The fabulous viewing window is 24" x 42" and comprised of a first layer of 1/8" glass which is the innermost layer. The next layer is of laminated glass, or two pieces of 1/8" glass glued together for your personal safety. The beauty of this is that when the inner 1/8" layer gets too frosted for good visibility, you simply slip it out and replace it. Very Easy! Are we geniuses, or what? Notice the hinged front opening door for easy insertion and removal of glass.

Front interior view

The majority of the interior is lined with black neoprene for two great reasons. The first being protection of your projects. The second, equally important reason, is so that you have a dark background to offer a strong contrast while blasting. It is especially helpful when executing light frosting techniques. The shelf is adjustable and simple to change, even with the door closed. The double Vortex system is wonderfully effective, and works by spinning the abrasive and the resulting dust in circles until centrifugal force pulls the lighter dust into the center where it goes into the Teflon bags and finally down into the plastic bag. The grit, being much heavier than the dust, falls back into the cabinet, where it remains until it is automatically strained and returned to the pressure pot that lives below the blasting space. As I mentioned before, the Pit is the largest blasting cabinet to be an all-inclusive unit. All you need is a compressor and the will to succeed as a decorative sandblast artist.

Additional Info

If you compare the photos of the cabinet in the New Year's ad, starring Billy and Liz, you will notice that the controls are on the right. After using it for awhile, I realized that they would be better on the left, since when the door was open, the controls were out of reach. I mentioned it to Billy and Josh, and, the next Super Grit Pits to be made, had the controls on the left. It's magic, folks, and, that is one of the reasons I love working with Rayzist. The main reason, of course, is because they immediately recognized my genius, when no one else did, and built the Pit. HaHa! But, seriously, since Rayzist manufactures these dudes on site, from cutting the steel, to welding, to doing the electrical, and, everything else but the powder coating, improvements and innovations can be made on the spot. They don't have to buy fifty or a hundred of these guys and then sell them, even if the manufacturers forgot to put the fourth leg on or something like that. And, that's also why you won't have to pay any more than necessary. There's no middleman. Boy, are they going to be sorry. You know how a woman changes her mind, don't ya. Gee, I wonder what a pink pit would look like? Or maybe one with cup holders. Or a built-in massage chair. Or earphones. Maybe tires, an engine, and mower blades, so that I could multi-task. Hmmmmm! I think I'm on to something here! Now don't just take my word for it.

Browse the specs for this awesome cabinet on the Rayzist web site: