"There is a growing shortage of technicians. Everyone knows that by now. As a result, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find workers willing to perform heavy, repetitive or unpleasant work. Fortunately, there are modern technologies that can take over more and more tasks or operations. For example, even the blasting of metal parts can be automated. It not only solves the personnel shortage, but also saves companies a lot of time and money, while ensuring high quality," says Maikel van Orsouw of Rösler, total supplier for surface technology.
Van Orsouw immediately mentions some of the advantages of a Rösler (RHBD) suspension conveyor blast machine where blasting is automated. "They are the workhorses among blast machines. They effortlessly remove mill scale, they derust, de-coat, roughen and de-sand reliably, flexibly, quickly and powerfully. We find that suspension conveyor blast machines are typically used in foundries, forges and in steel construction, where heavy or large workpieces and solid steel parts must be processed. The operator hangs the workpieces on cross beams, then in the blast machine the machining takes place on the parts. Meanwhile, he has his hands free to perform other tasks. Since the hanging conveyor blast machine has two jobs, he can, for example, prepare the next operation."
Hang conveyor blast machines are typically used to process delicate workpieces that cannot tumble over each other, but heavy and large parts with complex shapes are no problem either. "Anyone who thinks that the system does not take in all the nooks and crannies is wrong. The abrasive bounces against everything via via, so no piece is overlooked. This leads to reliable and consistently high quality. The machine never has a bad day."
But what then is the blacksmith's secret? "The machine has a minimum of two - depending on the size of the blast chamber - powerful turbines, each delivering 150 kg of abrasive per minute. They are optimally positioned around the blast chamber to ensure maximum performance with minimum wear." Minimum wear and tear is a key concern. "Therefore, the blast chambers are made of manganese steel (min. thickness 6 mm) and equipped with additional manganese steel plates (min. 10 mm thick), which ensures optimum wear protection." The blasting media is fully automatically fed back into the media recycling system. Here, an extra-wide cascade cleaner ensures even distribution for cleaning it.
Some companies that have had years of experience with manual blasting are somewhat skeptical of automation options at first, says Van Orsouw. "Yet in practice, it turns out that companies that have invested in a conveyor blast machine once don't want to go back to the old situation. In fact, we regularly hear feedback from customers that they regret that they waited so long and should have purchased a conveyor blast machine much earlier."
The hanging conveyor blast machine takes a lot of work off your hands. "But even more automation is also possible," Van Orsouw explains. "In fact, it is possible to integrate this installation into a larger whole so that the entire process - from cleaning, drying, blasting to post-processing - is automated. We expect this to become even more important in the future. Companies in Belgium can strengthen their competitive position with this."
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