Optimise Your Abrasive Blasting - 4. How your Setup Affects the Project Cost

Is blasting at a higher pressure, with a higher CFM, using a larger blast nozzle, really a more cost effective way to blast?

In this part of Optimise Your Abrsive Blasting, we find out through a series of tests, undertaken by an independent blasting company, with more than 30 years of industry experience.

When it comes to dry abrasive blasting, the efficiency of your blasting setup is often measured by how much area you can cover in a given time, and the amount of abrasive you use to do it.

In this video series we will be showing you how you can optimise your blasting setup to save time and dramatically reduce the overall cost of your job, without sacrificing quality or safety.

0:00 - Introduction
1:41 - Independent Testing
3:41 - Blast Time and Abrasive Usage
6:32 - Project Costs
9:06 - Elcometer vs. Competitors
10:42 - What We've Learned

To find out how your blast setup affects the overall cost of your job, Elcometer commissioned a series of tests.

A number of steel panels were blasted to a nominal profile of 75μm (3mils), and were inspected using an Elcometer 224 Digital Surface Profile Gauge to ensure uniform test samples. The panels were then coated with a 3 coat glass flake epoxy within the thickness range of 500-600μm (19.5-23.5mils). Each layer of the coating was checked with an Elcometer 456 Dry Film Thickness Gauge, during the application process, and prior to testing to ensure uniform results.

Using an Elcometer Abrasive Blast Machine, the panels were then blasted with a 60/30 copper slag, at three different compressor pressures (8, 10, 12bar), using three different Single Venturi Nozzle sizes (#4/¼”/6.35mm nozzle, #6/⅜”/9.5mm nozzle, #8/½”/12.5mm nozzle); and how long it took to blast a pre-defined area to a minimum of SA2.5 would be recorded. The blast machine would also be weighed before and after the test to measure the amount of abrasive used. The hose length was fixed at 90 metres (295ft) with an internal diameter of 32mm (1¼"), and pressures were recorded going into the blast machine, coming out of the blast machine next to the abrasive media valve, and at the nozzle inlet – our all-important nozzle pressure.

We would then use the results of these tests, and incorporate the costs of abrasive, clean up (not including disposal), labour, the blast machine, compressor fuel, and a 550cfm compressor; to work out exactly how much it costs to blast per meter squared for each combination of pressure and nozzle size, to find the most cost efficient blasting setup.

So, what did we find...?

In this video series we will be showing you how you can optimise your blasting. To do that, we will cover what an abrasive blast system is and what it is trying to do, discover the variables that affect the efficiency of your blasting process, how to reduce dynamic pressure losses, explore the difference between air pressure and air flow and how it affects your blasting setup; and show how changing your setup can dramatically affect the overall cost of your job, as well as how we’ve proved it.

For more information on the Elcometer Blast Machines, Valves, ancillary equipment, Personal Protection Equipment, and our complete range of spare and replacement parts - please contact Elcometer at [email protected] or visit our website: https://blast.elcometer.com/

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Click here to download the video script in English: https://downloads.elcometer.com/PDFs/...

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