Abrasive quality and grade selection, are two of the key factors to efficient blast cleaning of cast parts. Higher levels of re-blasting will not only increase the time taken to produce saleable products, but will also increase the costs in almost every aspect of the process: energy, maintenance, labour and abrasive consumption.
“Selecting a smaller abrasive will increase the number of impacts and aid coverage, especially on more complex parts.” says Paul Abram, head of technical services at Ervin. Choosing harder angular abrasive also has a big effect on the productivity. “Our customers regularly experience over 15-20 per cent reduction in blasting times or reblast rates when switching to those abrasive types.” Continuous quality control, in combination with Ervin’s cutting-edge abrasive production process, also guarantees consistently high performance for users. The experience Ervin has gained over 100 years of abrasives production and customer support is invaluable for optimum performance in the field.
Contrary to popular opinion, increasing output does not have to come at the expense of increasing costs. Productivity is key for maximising output and therefore profitability – and low quality, low priced shot cannot provide the throughput required for success. Those foundries able to measure their overall blast process costs in terms of useful product produced, rather than in blasting hours, find a reduction in cost per piece. This even includes maintenance and wear. Recent field trials at a German automotive foundry demonstrated an almost 30 per cent reduction in blast times, saving approximately €60,000 per annum – the benefits of lower abrasive and energy consumption. One of the largest foundries in the UK switched to a harder angular grit from a low carbon shot and found their standard of clean had improved so much that reblast was almost eliminated overnight. Thanks to the technical assistance of the Ervin team in optimising the setup of their blasting process, they did not experience any increase in either the spare parts or labour costs associated with maintenance.
“We invite companies evaluating if they have the right abrasive, as part of their continuous improvement, to work in partnership with Ervin’s local technical support to help find their ideal steel or stainless steel abrasive solution” concludes Paul Abram. www.ervin.eu