Shot blasting is used in a variety of industries and for many different types of applications to remove paint, other types of coatings, and even surface corrosion from different types of metals and surfaces. As shot blasting is one of the hard abrasives, it is not recommended for softer types of metals such as aluminum.
Different Types of Shot
There are choices to make in shot blasting media products. One of the choices is to use a pure shot media that has a uniform size of shot. The size typically ranges from one millimeter to six millimeters. The finer the size of the steel shot, the smoother the texture of the surface after the process is complete.
Some manufacturers of shot blasting media also offer steel grit or chilled iron grit. While very fine in texture, this is a more aggressive option in blasting media that must be carefully matched to the surface being cleaned or stripped.
Operational Considerations
A very practical solution is to combine shot blasting media with other blasting media to create a custom solution for the project. Using specifically selected hard plastic media, crushed glass media, and metal used in shot blasting provides effective cleaning and stripping of the surface when a variety of heavy paint, coatings, and organic materials is present. This is particularly effective on hard metals and surface substrates.
Using these types of combination blasting products can reduce the time and the number of passes required to prepare the surface for painting or coating.