Abrasive Blast Equipment

Abrasive Blast Equipment - Blast Cabinets, Sand Blasting, Blast Rooms, Air Compressors, Soda Blast Equipment

Abrasive blasting is a process of blasting or propelling certain abrasive materials to surface in order to achieve a desired effect. This effect could include smoothening a rough surface, roughening a smooth surface, removing certain imperfections or contaminants in a surface, or even shaping up a certain surface. What propels the blasting media is usually pressurized air or other types of fluid. This article will walk you through the different types of abrasive blasting equipment, including soda blast equipment, blast cabinets, sand blasting, and blast rooms. If you want to learn more about the soda blast equipment and other abrasive blast equipment, just read through this article and find out more.

Soda Blast Equipment

If you are dealing with projects, which are typically hard to work with, such as removing graffiti on exterior walls, restoring old automobiles with hard-to-strip paint, and applying chlorine, among others, the soda blast equipment is the right tool for you. With your bare hands and other crude tools, achieving any of these would be impossible, since these things were made to last. Thankfully, there is a lot of soda blast equipment that you can use, and this will make everything easier for you. By using air compressors, the soda blasting equipment can shoot a small amount of granular baking soda that will strip paint, remove oil and grease, and other hard-to-remove contaminants or imperfections on surfaces that you want to preserve. You don't have to worry about damages, because this won't hurt surfaces like glass, thin sheets of metal, or chrome. This results to a perfectly spotless surface that you can paint over with a new coat without any problems about surface imperfections.

Soda blast equipment is also very effective, because on the average, it uses just one bag of blasting soda per hour. The overall cost would depend on the size of what you are blasting. If you're working on a car restoration, soda blast equipment usage could be anywhere from $500 to $1000 depending on the size and the number of parts to be blasted. However, if you were going to use the soda blasting equipment on a larger machine or vehicle, the job would cost more. It could cost anywhere between $2000 to $5000 dollars, depending on the size and the blasting job done. Despite the hefty tag, you are sure to get a great surface for your car or boat, so that you can finally get an awesome paint job without bumps, tears, and other surface imperfections to worry about.

Aside from the great cost, another interesting feature of blasting using soda blasting equipment are its characteristics. First and foremost, soda blasting won't endanger the look that you want to achieve with a surface. That means the glass that you're working on won't be damaged, the chrome of a metal won't get scratches or blemishes in any way, and it won't remove permanent paint from the fiberglass. Aside from this, using soda blast equipment also assures you that there would be no pitting and no warping. It gets the blasting job done quickly, and it doesn't pollute or contaminate the environment because it is water-soluble. The person doing the blasting job with the soda blasting equipment won't be harmed because this process is non-toxic. Aside from all these, using soda blasting equipment removes grease and oil on any surface, and can neutralize the rust that has developed in metal surfaces.

But if still want to explore other abrasive blast equipment aside from the soda blasting equipment, there are still a lot of options that you can consider. One of these is the abrasive cabinet, which will be discussed further by this article.

Soda blast equipment alternative: blast cabinet

Blast cabinets could be considered as one of the most widely used abrasive blast equipment in the market, and the range of its usefulness varies greatly because it lets you work on different abrasive blasting jobs with one type of equipment only. They are versatile, thus very economical; it lets you work on projects that involve different sizes of parts or machines, and it can also use different abrasives for various applications.

There are two types of blast cabinets, including the suction systems type and the pressure systems type. In the suction systems, the principle used is the Venturi Principle, wherein it sucks the abrasive to the blast gun, and it will then be blasted against the piece that you are working on. On the other hand, the Pressure system requires a pressurized container that has the abrasive inside. It is then metered to the compressed air stream, until it travels out of the blast hose because of the extreme pressure that it is under. Depending on the project that you are working on, the blasting cabinet should be large enough to accommodate the piece you are preparing. If you are planning to buy a blast cabinet, you should be prepared to pay from $700 to $7000, depending on the size that you'll be working on. Compared to soda blasting equipment, this one is roughly similarly priced, but it gets pricier as the size goes bigger.

Soda blast equipment alternative: blast room

A Blast room works similarly as blast cabinets, only this time, it is as big as a typical room and not just a small cabinet. This addresses abrasive blasting needs for bigger jobs and not just small parts or equipment. A blast room is really useful if you are working on a car restoration project, since you'll be able to blast the old rusted body of the car at once, without the need to separate them into manageable parts and pieces. Using a blast room is also more expensive, and it can cost you anywhere above $1000, depending on the size of the abrasive blast job required.

Soda blast equipment alternative: Sand blasting

Sand blasting is one of the earliest forms of abrasive blasting, and it involves propelling sand as the main abrasive. It is mostly used for priming or preparing a surface before it is applied with paint or sealant. Depending on the size of the job, you can just rent a sand blasting equipment for as low as $10 a day, but you have to do the blasting yourself. Hiring a professional to do it for you would surely cost more, somewhere above $100 depending on the size and the structure that you want to sand blast.