Abrasive Blast Rooms Explained
Updated: December 22, 2023Abrasive blast rooms are a safe and effective way to prepare your metal for finishing. By using an abrasive blast room, your business can save time, money, and the environment by recovering and recycling abrasive materials time and time again.
Abrasive blasting is used for removing mill scale, a prior coating (paint), and rust from a metal component so it can be restored or re-coated. Abrasive blasting will blends the surface for an even texture.
What Is a Blast Room?
Abrasive blast rooms — or blast booths — are large chambers designated for storing abrasive blast pots, collecting abrasive leftovers, and recycling the blast abrasive. A blast room consists of an enclosure that prevents fine abrasive material from entering the outside air and a system designed to reclaim your abrasive material.
After the leftover abrasive is recovered, it is moved to a recovery system that separates dust from the leftovers so the high-quality abrasives can be reused. Through the use of an abrasive blast room, you can save money by efficiently recovering and reusing abrasive material that is still worthy of reuse.
What Abrasive Blast Equipment Do I Need?
A blast room consists of the following components:
- Blast enclosure: Prevents abrasive material from escaping and entering the outside air.
- Blasting system: Contains abrasive materials and pressurized air with valves that allow workers to stop and start the flow. Sandblasting booths are a popular choice.
- Abrasive recovery system: Automatically recovers leftover abrasive from blasting and sweeps or sucks it into a dust collector.
- Dust collector: Filters the air in the room to keep particulate matter from escaping into the outside air.
- Recycling station: Sorts through leftover abrasive to separate the fine dust from quality high-grit abrasive that can be reused.
How Do Abrasive Blast Rooms Work?
Abrasive blasting can be performed manually by using abrasive blasting hoses and nozzles specific for each project type. Mechanical abrasive blasting rigs that are operated automatically on tracks are also available.
During abrasive blasting, unfinished products can be stripped of paint, mold, and rust to create a smooth and even surface ready for finishing. As abrasive blasting is performed, the abrasive and fine particles of dust fall to the floor.
After the blasting is complete, the leftover abrasive material left on the floor is gathered by a recovery system. There are several options for recovery systems, some of which use sweepers, moving walls, air jets, or even moving floors to gather all material into a recycling system.
Upon reaching the recycling system, fine particles and dust are removed from the mixture, leaving the remaining high-quality abrasive material clean and ready to be placed back in the blasting pot.
Blasting rooms can be customized to best suit your product needs. They can be outfitted with manual blasting hoses, rail blasting systems, and various types of recovery systems. With ample options for customization, there is no one-size-fits-all blasting room.
Build a Comprehensive Abrasive Blast Room With Finishing Systems
When you’re ready to build an abrasive blast room, reach out to Finishing Systems for our competitive prices and personalized approach to business.