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How can blast rooms reduce cost and maximise profit?
Manufacturing and engineering companies that undertake surface treatment and preparation processes need specialised facilities - namely, blast rooms and spray booths.
Our customers tell us that the cumulative costs of sub-contracting grit blasting, haulage, and distribution are significant. The ultimate solution to this issue is to bring processing in-house in order to circumvent loss and maximise profits.
What is a Blast Room
Blast rooms are airtight spaces large enough to accommodate people. Inside, operators can process and abrade components for surface treatment. Blast rooms come in a range of sizes, variants, and price points.
They all have five main features:
- An airtight enclosure,
- Abrasive media recovery system,
- Dust extraction,
- A pressurised “blast pot” or blast machine,
- A system for application – in this instance, air blasting.
Media Recovery
Media recovery is the feature of blast rooms that reclaims abrasive media for reuse – in an efficient cyclical operation. Once blast media abrades a surface, it falls to the floor of the blast room, and once there, media recovery takes place.
There are many different types of recovery systems for blast rooms. In terms of efficiency, some systems outperform others but system choice very much depends on budget, process and performance needs. For those needing rapid output recovery, systems at higher initial price points are inherently the most cost-efficient. However, there are several factors that impact system efficiency, including the type of media used and how many times media can be reused.
Blast Pots
Blast pots provide the force for the abrasion to take place. Blast pots come in a range of sizes and variations. A blast pot is a pressurised container that holds and feeds the media.
Compressed air connected to the blast pot forcibly propels media out of the container into a blast hose. As media travels through the hose it is then ejected out of a nozzle.
Enclosure
The size of the components that require abrasion dictates what size the blast enclosure should be. For small, handheld components, a blast cabinet would be used. Large components require a blast room. Inside a blast room, an operator abrades surfaces through the manipulation of a blast hose, from which media is ejected.
Dust Extraction
In the blast room’s atmosphere, dust accumulates due to abrasion. High levels of dust can impede efficiency and can pose a risk to the safety of the operator inside. The way to reduce the number of dust particles in the atmosphere is to use a dust extraction system.
To capture the dust, suction vents are placed at various points around the room, sucking in air and filtering out particulates. After the dust has been captured it is stored in filters. Take a look at our case study in the importance of checking dust filters.
The solution to production disruption and profit loss
Our customers find that bringing production in-house can result in a payback period close to a year – when considering losses through disruption to production, sub-contract costs, and return haulage costs.
The containerised blast room and the kit form blast room are some of the most cost-effective blasting facilities we have in our catalogue. Both the Kit form and containerised blast rooms come in standardised sizes and can be fitted with all our dust extraction and reclamation options.
Capital investments such as a blast room will undoubtedly produce a marked increase in productivity, income, and provide overall cost savings. Back your business and improve profitability with Airblast’s range of blast rooms.
We also have a range of hire options available, so contact our sales team today to find out more, sales@airblast.co.uk
