Vapour Blasting

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Vapour blasting, also known as wet blasting or aqua blasting, is essentially a non aggressive cleaning and refinishing process for removal of dirt, corrosion or burring from various metallic parts surfaces such as Aluminium, Brass, Copper, Stainless Steel, Titanium and Magnesium. Vapour blasting is the best way to clean and return your corroded and stained parts to an "As New" or better than New condition. ​

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A "slurry" mixture of water and typically glass bead media is pumped to a cleaning nozzle within the vapour blast cabinet. At the nozzle a high volume, but low pressure, flow of compressed air is added to the mixture and this is projected onto the surface to be cleaned. Changes can be made to the media, flow rate or pressure depending on the the vapour blasting finish required.

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Unlike with sand or soda blasting, the parts are very gently treated by vapour blasting. The surface does not get impregnated by media and the physical dimensions remain unchanged. The surface of the parts are slightly peened by the cleaning action of the blaster which serves the dual purpose of closing up pores and slightly hardening the surface. This action stops subsequent contamination becoming ingrained and allows much easier future dirt removal from the part.

 

​Vapour blasting has many varied applications including the surface treatment finishing of some medical devices for human bodily implant, but most typically vapour blasting is the favoured method used by classic car and bike enthusiasts to clean and refinish Aluminium or Magnesium parts when restoring classic or vintage vehicles.

​​​​Dry Ice Blasting

Dry Ice or CO2 blasting also known as cryogenic blasting or cleaning. It is a form of abrasive blasting but rather than using a media such as sand, glass, soda or plastic bead we use small pellets of dry ice - The solid and extremely cold (-78c) form of carbon dioxide. The dry ice pellets are much softer than other media and do substantially less surface damage.​

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The small pellets of dry ice are propelled towards the surface to be cleaned through a dedicated dry ice blasting machine at very high speed and pressure. Upon impact with the surface the pellets instantly sublime back to their gaseous state and expand by up to 800 times the volume of the pellet. This action creates thermal and microscopic shock waves within the bond between the dirt and the substrate to be cleaned which causes the contaminant to flake away easily.

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Dry Ice blasting has a number of benefits over other methods of cleaning:

      

Substantial reduction in equipment downtime.

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​Suitable for use in the Food Industry.

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Safe for use on Electrical Equipment.

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No strip down or re-assembly of machinery.

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Non Abrasive compared to other cleaning methods.

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Environmentally friendly.

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​Minimal clean up as the pellets turn to gas and disperse, leaving only the dirt behind.

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Mobile equipment means we come to you.