Open Loop Cabin Blaster Layouts.
- Silvio Ruiu
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
All these equipmnet work in a "pass thru" mode, ideal for long parts and to be placed in a production line. Accordingly with parts/shape to process there is always a "pre" and "post" blasting room for safety and for keeping media inside of the machine; media removal system in various shape/size often present to ensure all the abrasive stays inside.
Pass Speed is a crucial setting.
Summary of Cabins type layouts:
Rubber belt conveyor blaster. Wire Mesh Conveyor. Aluminum Profiles Blaster - Etching. Steel profiles blaster. Pipes Blaster. Sheet Metal & Plates. Wire & Bar blaster. Band Saws blaster. Pass-Thru Hanger Blaster.
⬆️Rubber belt conveyor blaster.
It is a cabin where parts are placed on the inlet and came out on the outlet, and carried on by a rubber belt - holed to drain the media. Often there are 2 (or even more) blastwheels working from the top. Media pattern is here below. ⬇️
Pros: very simple concept, easy to automate load/unload, high productivity if sizes go accordignly with parts and total media flow as well. It can be easy placed in line with other operations. An external flipping station can be arranged to blast both sides and bring parts back to the inlet.
Cons: side of the parts lying on the belt is not blasted, flipping needs automation and it is not always easy; belt filling factor critical - it is necessary to protect belt itself from blasting enlonging its lifetime, belt replacing is part of regular maintenance and time consuming, close blasting area not immediate to inspect. In case of robot used to load/unload layout requires two different devices. High capacity fan required to remove media in the outlet.
Booster: software integration if placed in line with other worskstations of the production flow, adding more wheels means better coverage and higher pass speed.
Common applications: paint stripping, surface roughness specifications, localized shotpeening, descaling and cleaning before painting, deburring.
⬆️Wire Mesh Conveyor Blaster.
It is a cabin where parts are placed in a manganese steel wire conveyor and blasted simultaneously from the top and the bottom, perfect blastwheels - 4 is the minimum number - orientation is critical to avoid blind spots and must be designed accordingly with the parts to process. Inlet and outlet with parts of the machine is here below.⬇️
Pros: very simple concept, parts in to process, parts out processed, generally no flipping needed and rady to be placed in line with other workstation like heat treat before and washing then paintng later. Very high production rate.
Cons: "heavy" parts only, otherwise they can "fly" under the media flow; much more expensive of the rubber belt conveyor due to the belt cost and higher number of blastwheels, filling factor crucial for conveyor lifetime, conveyor replacing is part of regular maintenance and time consuming, close blasting area not immediate to inspect. In case of robot used to load/unload layout requires two different devices. High capacity fan required to remove media in the outlet.
Booster: software integration if placed in line with other worskstations of the production flow, adding more wheels means better coverage and higher pass speed.
Common applications: paint stripping, surface roughness specifications, shotpeening, descaling and cleaning before painting, deburring, descaling SA grade or SSPC grade.
⬆️Aluminum profiles blaster - Etching.
Aluminum profiles mechanical etching unit to prepare for anodizing and full clear extrusion lines and scratches, with built in tilting system to remove media from the profiles. Media pattern is here below.⬇️
Pros: extrusion lines and scratches removal in one single action withot loosing any gram of profiles weight, very high production capacity if properly fed; really low wear due to the media used. It can be used for defective profiles to recover them after wrong powder coating or wrong anodizing.
Cons: footprint is big, requires proper care against due to the high flammable waste. Usually 2 minutes of chemical etching are required prior anodizing process.
Booster: to get the maximum output an automatic feeding line for the profiles is mandatory as well building the profiles bundle for the anodizing tanks.
Common applications: finishing aluminum profiles plant specialized in anodizing and powder coating.
Steel profiles blaster.
Steel profiles are commonly cleaned before further operations like painting and so on, profiles are heavy and with complicated shapes, so building accordingly is a must. Here below the media pattern:
[Pic lancio graniglia]
Pros: high productivity blaster with an appropriate frame is possible to process different shapes from the standard profiles.
Cons: frame is mandatory for blasting parts below a minimum acceptable lenght, also shape in parts different than profiles may influence the pass speed to get perfect finishing.
Booster: parts processed are generally "big" and heavy, designing appropriately the production flow may increase a lot the efficiency of the whole process.
Common applications: descaling SA grade or SSPC grade in heavy duty steel industry, specific roughness requirements, shotpeening.
⬆️Pipes blaster.
Specific equipment built to create a "screw" pattern along the pipe and clean it all to the grade required. Here is the media pattern⬇️:
Pros: committed built blaster to accomplish a specific task with very high output.
Cons: pass speed may vary accordingly to pipes size, it is very important to focus on the most common sizes and handle the lower speed on the others size.
Booster: pipes are big and generally heavy, handling them is time/efficiency consuming, a proper designed production flow would help to keep efficiency at its best.
Common applications: descaling SA grade or SSPC grade, Oil & Gas industry, shotpeening, specific roughness requirements.
⬆️Sheet Metal & Plates Blaster.
Specific blaster with vertical layout to handle from thin to thick metal sheets, system is built to maximize effciciency and productivity, cabin design is made to avoid Almen effect of thin sheets.
Pros: high productivity, same results for thick or thin plates, very low footprint comparing with task to perform.
Cons: high thik plates require appropriate media pattern designed cabin.
Booster: production layout is everything to increase efficiency and designing carefully is a must.
Common applications: thick & thin metal sheets descaling SA grade or SSPC grade in heavy duty steel industry, specific roughness requirements.
⬆️Wire & Bar blaster.
Cabinet design to process raw materials descaling with 360 degrees coverage, 3 wheels divided by 120 degree each for perfect coverage; can be used also in specific shotpeening applications.
Pros: small footprint compared with throughtput, consistent finishing results on a dedicated machine; great for shotpeening too.
Cons: raw materilal handling device not included, cabin needs periodical opuning for inspection.
Booster: production flow can be designed accordingly with the equipment to maximize efficiency; software integration 4.0 allows rempote control.
Common applications: descaling SA grade or SSPC grade, shotpeening, specific roughness requirements.
⬆️Band Saws Blaster.
Specifically developed layout for descaling band saws and raw material coils. Cabins can be properly designed to avoid spoiling of teeth angles. Here is the media pattern⬇️:
[bf 100 media pattern]
Pros: very high output and pass speed, can be used for band saws shotpeening too.
Cons: extremely specialized cabinet helpful for mass production only.
Booster: a good rolling/unrolling line can increase uptime by 30% of the unit.
Common applications: band saws manufacturing plants and raw material tratment stations working on coils. Band Saws shotpeening.
⬆️Rail Hanger Blaster.
Parts are hooked and moved by the rail on top, can work by step or continuosly. Simple to fit into production flow, less simple to design an efficient blasting on it. Useless to speak about media pattern without considering the parts to process.
Pros: it is simple to understand as workflow, can fit many industries, specially those manufacturing "average" parts with extremely high productivity, can be placed inside a production flow.
Cons: to work properly needs a proper desing, when designed it is not really flexible due to the media pattern already established. It is a great solution where manufacturing is really consistent.
Booster: Software integration 4.0 allows to fully control remotely the unit.
General blaster components summary:
Wheel blaster, how is made. general overview
Closed blaster cabinets. layouts of most common equipment running on cycle time.
Open blaster cabinets. layouts of most common equipment running on cycle time - this post.
Wheel Blaster Elevator. how it works and how to fix common issues - this post.
Media Washer. How it works and how to set it up.
Blaster Filter house. How it works and common issues.
Blaster Control panel. How to keep it efficient and long lasting.
Blaster accessories and ancillaries. How simple items can improve quality.
Media, the fuel of the blaster. General overview and features of media types.
