Sandblaster Tools

History

• The process of sandblasting was first patented in 1870 by Benjamin Chew Tilghman, who developed the wheelabrator that is still commonly used in steel production plants. The large amounts of steel used by the U.S. Navy saw the refinement of the process by the military organizations for cleaning large areas of steel before paint and other applications were added to the metal. Tilghman initially developed the process of sandblasting to increase the speed of grinding and sharpening knives and tools. Sandblasting has been used on a variety of materials, including metal, wood and concrete.

Tools

• Sandblasting is usually completed by an operator using an abrasive blasting machine, which consists of three basic components of abrasive blasting tank, propelling device and an abrasive blasting nozzle or gun. The most common type of sandblasting machine is a suction blast system, which uses a compressed air system with two rubber hoses attached to a nozzle or gun. The hoses are attached to different tanks, one to the compressed air supply and the other to the supply tank containing sand or another abrasive material. When the gun is opened the high velocity of jetted air creates a partial vacuum, moving the abrasive material at high speed out of the gun or nozzle. To abrasively clean parts, a suction blast system is often used in conjunction with a barrel blaster, in which parts are automatically passed through a stream of abrasive material for a set amount of time.

Wheelabrator

• One of the earliest sandblasting tools developed, the wheelabrator is still in general use in many steel mills and plants throughout the U.S. The wheelabrator is used to clean steel parts and materials by shooting steel shot and crushed steel through the nozzle. By using steel as the abrasive material, the spent steel shot or crushed steel can be magnetically picked up for recycling after the process is complete while other debris can be vacuumed to reduce waste.

Other Systems

• Other types of sandblasting tools include the pressure blast system and the wet blast system. When using a pressure blast system compressed air hoses are connected to both the top and bottom of a pressure tank to force the abrasive material through the system using the force of gravity. Material moved by a pressure blast system travels at a higher velocity than those in a suction blast system, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. A wet blast system moves a mixture of abrasive material and water to pump the slurry through a seal-less slurry pump.