WHAT
IS SHOT BLASTING ?
Abrasive blasting is the operation of cleaning or preparing
a surface by forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material
against it. Usually explained as the use of a material against
another material to make it smoother, remove surface contaminants
or to roughen a surface. It is also the appropriate term for
what is known as glass bead blasting or shot blasting.
Just about all items that come into our facility such as motorcycle
& car parts are either shot/ bead or aqua blasted, of course
it all depends on the base material before the selection is
made, for instance if the product is of an alloy cast the right
choice would be either fine glass bead or aqua blasting.
Why does it need shot blasting?
In short it removes all contaminants such as rust, old paint
etc and gives a good canvas and key to start the powder or painting
process on and at the same time it normally reveals any problems
such as corrosion weakness or broken weld joints.
Good preparation is paramount to a good long lasting finish.
General cleaning.
Please ensure that most of the oil & grease is removed,
we do not expect it to be
spotless as we will take care of that, please note if the work
comes into us not cleaned
we reserve the right to make a charge for extra cleaning.
What is powder coating?
It’s a little more involved than some think, yes it is
easy to get the basic tools but
without knowledge and experience a lot can and will go wrong.
For example we have
had clients contact us with stories of horror and disappointment
due to using the
wrong type of coater ie; large commercial plants or just poor
quality coaters that are
not really set up for this type of work, we are not saying that
they are all poor in fact
there are some very good companies out there doing fine work,
but it's buyer beware!.
What
can go wrong?
There is a lot that can go wrong. I had a new client come to
us saying he had his bike
powder coated by another powder coater and within 6 months the
lustre of the finish had lost its depth of shine. This is normally
due to whoever carried out the work either
used poor quality powder or the powder was of indoor quality
and not UV resistant.
Another chap with a set of 5 Lexus alloys was disappointed because
he had the wheels powder coated around 18 months prior to his
visit to us. The alloy’s were in a very poor state with
the paint lifting and peeling around the edge of the rims. Not
only were they a complete disgrace to the name of the last powder
coater but to add insult to injury only the front face was coated,
leaving the back and the inside of the tyre rims untouched other
than a cursory puff of overspray. This is the very sort of work
that gives powder coating a bad name.
See
also our 'Your
Questions Answered' section
There
are many reasons why things can and will go wrong, the best
way to avoid the
pitfalls is to use an applicator that knows the business. By
following the links below you can see how it is done and what
the advantages are.
SHOTBLASTING
- General Procedure...
Abrasive media blasting is an excellent way to remove old paint,
rust and to increase paint/powder adhesion, as long as the process
is carried out correctly....
Areas that shouldn't
be blasted (bearing raceways, machined areas, etc.), need to
be protected and the correct blasting media needs to be chosen
for the material being prepared and removal of ALL grit after
the blasting process is complete.
It is also important that parts are cleaned prior to blasting
to prevent contaminated blast media re-circulating during the
blast process as parts that have residual oil or dirt on them
will be pushed into the pores only to come out later when baking,
potentially effecting the finished job..
