Thanks. Because I could not concentrate full time working on it (working on other projects as well) and had some setbacks, took about 9 months. It would have taken longer had I not been furloughed when the gov't shutdown. I was working on cutting out the hopper at the time and figuring out how to make those cuts on my RAS took some figuring, and those 3 weeks were the only time I was able to devote a lot of time to it. Worked out great because I didn't have to start take some test cuts and stop, then wait until the next weekend before I could re-start from where I left off, etc. so I cut a lot of trial and error time down because I was able to follow-up immediately. The hopper came out exactly as I wanted it to, but the hopper is the only area where I am unhappy. I wanted to be able to empty the abrasive directly into 5 gal buckets, because it was so big and I did not want to have to stand on a step stool to use cabinet, I had to make the hopper shallow. In use I have to keep moving the pickup tube around which is a pain.
Per the plans I posted, I built it out of wood and plywood. The cabinet is framed in 2x2's, skinned with 1/4" plywood to keep weight down. The base has the hopper built-in. The cabinet itself is sealed, but it does leak around the doors, some. I did use weather stripping, but still leaks some. I did not go with the typical side door because I wanted to be able to use it as a front loader to get the maximum opening when putting in large pieces, but since I had intended it to sit under my wall shelves, I made it a drop 2 stage drop front door, the top part with the window opens for smaller pieces and then the lower part opens for larger pieces (the top part of the door is hinged on the bottom part so both swing down). Not the most convenient door system, but since its not a tool that I plan on using a lot once I get through stripping my SB and a RAS that I am restoring, I can live with most of the shortcomings and may chop it down some once those larger projects are done.
Paul