Dust collectors for sandblast Cabinets-A Complete Guide
Whenever you considering buying a sandblast cabinet there are a variety important factors that you should consider to ensure you buy a blast cabinet that’ll meet your needs effectively at a price that is appropriate for your facilities application. Common factors to consider include whether you will use a suction fed or pressure fed blast cabinet, type of blast media you will use, the cabinet size, what your goal is when it comes to surface profile, and production volume you intend to maintain. Additionally, you will want to consider the type of dust collection you will use. The type of dust collector you decide on for your blast cabinet will have a large impact on the volume of production you can maintain, the visibility of the blast cabinet, potential blast media you can use in your cabinet, and the type of material you can remove from a products surface safely. We will cover a lot of these factors so that you can determine what might be the appropriate type of blast dust collector for your blast cabinet needs.
Factor 1- Volume of blasting production
if you only blast on a very occasional basis you may not need a high end dust collector and can often use options that have been designed for infrequent use like bag house style dust collectors that have to be manually emptied by shaking the bags when they fill. For mid to high production needs where you will blast anywhere from a few hours to multiple hours a day it can make sense to consider a dust collector with pulse capability, it can also make sense on lighter production cabinets for convenience as it reduces the need to manually shake dust out of a bag style collector. In particular, with higher production levels you should often consider an automatic pulse timer as this will cause the filters to routinely clear of any debris which will allow the operator to continue blasting without having to manually clear the dust cartridges. For lighter production, a manually pulsed cabinet or the bag filter option is usually appropriate. Additionally, you will want to consider what the dust is emptied into, typically emptying into a 5 Gallon drum allows for the easiest removal of dust in comparison to other options like a drawer that can sometimes be used.
Factor 2 – The amount and type of contaminant that will be removed
If you will be removing high volumes of contaminant from the product surface a lot of dust will be created as a result. With high volumes of dust you will need a higher rated CFM of a dust collector to be able to appropriately keep the blast cabinet clear. Common dust collector ratings for a blast cabinet range from 300 – 900 CFM (though they can be quite larger than this depending on the application) and usually a particular blast cabinet will have recommended dust collector sizes. If you plan on blasting contaminant that creates a lot of dust or on higher production you will typically want to consider the higher CFM rated blast collector. A lot of times this is something a blast cabinet provider can help you determine, which we offer as a part of our free consultation when considering a blast cabinet. If you have any questions on whether your blast cabinet will be easy to see in based on what your removing you should consider the larger dust collector.
In addition to the size of the collector, if you have certain contaminants in what your removing you may need to consider a HEPA filter for your blast cabinet. HEPA filters are higher efficiency than standard blast cabinet air filtration and will remove harmful compounds as well as excessive dust from air that is that your blast cabinet used and eventually shoots back into your facility. One common use of a HEPA filter is for coatings with chromates in them but there are other compounds that HEPA filters are important for as well.
Factor 3 – The type of blast media you will use
Certain blast media create excess dust in the blast cabinet and can require certain upgrades to accommodate media (or at least should offer upgrades). For example aluminum oxide can often be harsh to the internal of a blast cabinet dust collector and so you can often upgrade the collector to accommodate aluminum oxide.
Conclusion
Ultimately by considering the volume of blasting you perform, the amount of contaminant you will remove, type of contaminant you will move, and the media you use to remove the contaminant you can select an dust collector that is appropriate for you blast cabinet needs. Selecting the appropriate collector will allow you to blast in a cabinet that is easy to see while maintaining the production schedule you need to for your application if you have any questions about your particular blast cabinets need and what may be an appropriate collector for your application you can contact us at a time.