Shot Blasting

Structural Steel FAQ, Part 7 – Comparing Commonly Used Blast Machines

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Structural Steel FAQ, Part 7 – Comparing Commonly Used Blast Machines

Steel construction and steel trade, shipyards and ship building, and heavy equipment and machinery building rely heavily on specially designed shot blasting machines to prepare their components.

Rosler Metal Finishing expertly designs shot blasting machines for these industries and others to descale, clean, and prepare structural steel for surfaces for end-use. The particulars of each machine largely depend on the size and shape of the specific components in need of preparation.

This installment of our Structural Steel FAQ series will answer What are the most commonly used blast machines for structural steel surface preparation and how do they compare?

Machine Types by Workpiece

Whether surface preparation is needed for steel beams and plates, round bars, pipes and weldments, ship building, pipeline construction, or heavy equipment and machinery, there are machines tailored to produce consistent surface finishing results for each component.

The most common machine types by component include:

  • Roller Conveyor Machines for Plates and Beams
  • Round Bar and Pipe Machines
  • Roller Conveyor Machines for Large, Extra Heavy Components
  • Spinner Hanger and Monorail Hanger Machines for Large Components

Continue reading Structural Steel FAQ, Part 7 – Comparing Commonly Used Blast Machines →

Mass Finishing

Optimal Media Mix, Part 2 – Understanding Media Consumption

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As we established in Part 1 of this series, identifying and maintaining an optimal media mix is essential to realizing optimal mass finishing results. Rosler Metal Finishing  understands that our equipment must work in tandem with media to provide you with the desired finishing results.

Understanding how your machine, the work pieces it is finishing, and the selected media will interact is key to delivering an optimal finish each cycle. Doing so requires understanding media consumption factors in order to maintain an optimal media mix.

What are the Factors of Media Consumption?

Media consumption and wear rates depend on ten key parameters. These rates change if even one of the parameters below change. Therefore, quoted wear rates and cut rates are relative values only.

Media usage can only be estimated, the actual consumption can only be determined by the end user under exact process conditions.

Parameters affecting media consumption include:

Continue reading Optimal Media Mix, Part 2 – Understanding Media Consumption →

Shot Blasting

Structural Steel FAQ, Part 6 – Blast Media’s Influence on the Steel Surface Profile

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The surface profile created by shot blasting depends entirely on the blast media and the way it is handled. The right media selection and equipment operating parameters are critical for the surface quality of structural steel components being prepared for paint coating. While mineral abrasives play a role for certain air blast applications, the lion’s share of industrial surface preparation is done in highly mechanized turbine blast machines utilizing steel media.

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Media being thrown by a blast turbine.

Rosler Metal Finishing has decades of experience in the turbine blasting field. Through the years, we’ve used and evaluated all kinds of media and resulting roughness or lack thereof. This installment of our Structural Steel FAQ series will answer:

What influence does metallic blast media have on the surface profile
of structural steel?

Continue reading Structural Steel FAQ, Part 6 – Blast Media’s Influence on the Steel Surface Profile →

Mass Finishing

Optimal Media Mix, Part 1 – Identifying and Maintaining Proper Levels

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The best mass finishing equipment is useless without the proper media. That’s why the experienced engineers at Rosler Metal Finishing pair their quality equipment with the right type and amount of media to achieve consistent results.

Understanding how your machine, the work pieces it is finishing, and the selected media will interact is key to delivering an optimal finish each cycle. Doing so requires understanding why media levels are important, determining and tracking levels, and evaluating media consumption to avoid issues.

How do Media Levels Effect Processing?

Without a proper media level, a machine won’t work properly. Levels that are too high and too low can cause issues that result in poor processing results and unnecessary workpiece and machine damage.

Continue reading Optimal Media Mix, Part 1 – Identifying and Maintaining Proper Levels →

Shot Blasting

Structural Steel FAQ, Part 5 – Assessing Surface Profile

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Besides the degree of cleanliness – the removal of oil and grease, rust and mill scale, dust, and other contaminants – surface preparation specifications must also consider the surface profile and roughness relative to the coating to be applied.  Rosler Metal Finishing builds shot blasting equipment to create the right surface profile on structural steel components as well as cleaning them in preparation for coating and painting.

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Painted steel exiting a preservation line

This installment of our Structural Steel FAQ series will answer What is the optimum the surface profile for a structural steel component prior to painting and how is profile evaluated?

Optimizing for Painting

Shot blasting makes a surface rougher to increase the total contact area between paint and a work piece substrate and generally improves paint adhesion. A surface that is too smooth poses the risk of inadequate paint adhesion, while a surface that is too rough may not cover the peaks. The degree of surface profile required depends entirely on the coating to be applied.

Continue reading Structural Steel FAQ, Part 5 – Assessing Surface Profile →

Shot Blasting

Blade Technology: Straight vs. Curved Blades Explained

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Blade Technology: Straight vs. Curved Blades Explained

As an expert in the shot blasting industry, Rosler Metal Finishing knows about blade technology. All shot blasting machines require blades to propel media towards workpieces. While both straight and curved blades are used, each type offers advantages and disadvantages.

What’s the Difference?

Straight blades are, as the name suggests, blades that do not have curvature when viewed from the side and do not possess tangential curvature with respect to the turbine. Curved blades are blades that have some degree of curvature when viewed from the side.

As the newer design, curved blades are generally better than straight blades, but they also have some drawbacks related to longevity, maintenance, and cost of ownership.

Continue reading Blade Technology: Straight vs. Curved Blades Explained →

Uncategorized

New: English-speaking training courses at Rösler Academy

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Another major milestone for the Rösler Academy has been reached: starting in March 2019, the internationalization of the Academy is set to begin with the English-speaking seminar series. In twelve different training courses, participants will receive basic knowledge of vibratory finishing and blasting technology, in-depth knowledge of individual machine types, maintenance issues or processes such as shot peening. Interested persons can view all seminars with their contents, dates and prices on the new English Academy website; www.rosler-academy.com.Logo_Roesler_Academy_final

The trainers of the Rösler Academy, all experts in their field, are specially trained by a train-the-trainer course including TÜV certification to provide specialized knowledge in an effective and varied way. The aim is to procure a decisive competitive advantage through effective knowledge transfer. Therefore, in the future our international business partners and customers will be able to benefit from the wealth of experience of the certified specialist and use it profitably in their company.

Shot Blasting

Structural Steel FAQ, Part 4 – Evaluating the Presence of Dust

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As an expert in the surface finishing industry, Rosler Metal Finishing knows that all the expertise in the world won’t do any good if the surface of the work piece is not properly prepared. When it comes to structural steel, we receive many frequently asked questions about preparation. This installment of our Structural Steel FAQ series will answer How is the presence of dust on shot blasted structural steel components evaluated?

The Dangers of Dust

Blast-cleaned structural steel surfaces must be completely free of dust to ensure proper coating and painting.sgfdfsdfgdf

Residual dust will reduce the adhesion of subsequently applied coatings and, by absorbing moisture, may promote the corrosion of the blast‐cleaned steel surfaces. The potential accumulation of dust is especially critical on horizontal surfaces, the interior of pipes, and in structural cavities.

Special inspections must be carried out to ensure that such areas are adequately cleaned and free from dust before painting.

Continue reading Structural Steel FAQ, Part 4 – Evaluating the Presence of Dust →

Shot Blasting

Determining The Need For a Shot Blast Rebuild.

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Why Rebuild a Shot Blasting Machine?

Shot blast machines are often a considerable investment for companies. When these highly specialized and high investment pieces of equipment start to show signs of wear and underperformance, expert surface finishing companies such as Rosler Metal Finishing can help prolong the life and effectiveness of your investment by repairing and rebuilding a machine instead of replacing it.013_03_RRB_42_6_L_mitUnscharfHG

Cost is often the biggest factor considered when rebuilding a shot blasting machine. Generally, rebuilds offer shorter turnaround times than buying a new machine. Rebuilds also come with the added benefit of not needing to integrate a new process since the process already includes a proven shot blasting process.

Levels of Rebuilds

The extensiveness of the rebuild process depends on your specific machine, its condition, and your expectations for longevity versus quick repair.

Different levels of rebuilds fall into three categories:

Continue reading Determining The Need For a Shot Blast Rebuild. →

Shot Blasting

Structural Steel FAQ, Part 3 – Evaluating Rust and Mill Scale Pre- and Post-Blast

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Surface preparation can account for up to 40 percent of structural steel painting and repainting jobs. As Rosler Metal Finishing’s Structural Steel FAQ series has already established, the life of anti‐corrosion coatings on a steel surface depends to a large extent

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Application of anti-corrosion paint in a preservation line blasting system.

on how thoroughly this surface has been prepared for painting.

Properly evaluating the surface of structural steel surfaces for coating before and after shot blasting will help balance the cost of preparing, repairing, and monitoring structural steel throughout its impressive lifespan.

This installment of our Structural Steel FAQ series will answer How are rust and mill scale evaluated pre‐ and post‐blast?

The Standards

Widely used standards were developed to visually assess the initial surface conditions and the quality of the required surface preparation relative to the initial steel surface conditions.

The dominant standards for evaluating rust and mill scale are ISO 8501‐1:2007 (based on the Swedish standard SIS 05 59 00), SSPC Vis 1‐89, and NACE. While different in some minor details, these standards are practically identical.

Continue reading Structural Steel FAQ, Part 3 – Evaluating Rust and Mill Scale Pre- and Post-Blast →

Shot Blasting and Mass Finishing Surface Finishing Experts

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