Shot blasting machine - Transformation to a sustainable foundry
Investment in high capacity shot blasting machine
One of the most evolving markets, and therefore one of the most competitive, is the offshore market. With large projects for offshore oil and gas extraction, as well as offshore wind farm projects. This market demands the manufacture of larger and larger castings with high quality requirements, both internal and superficial. To meet these requirements we have made an investment in a shot blasting machine up to 14,000 kg.
Ebroacero did not have the necessary facilities to obtain the surface qualities required to meet current requirements.
What is a shot blasting machine?
A shot blasting machine is an industrial tool used to treat surfaces by impacting various particles. Its objective is to achieve cleaning and preparation of surfaces, making them ideal for high quality and high performance production processes.
Shot blasting machines are used directly on the selected material or surface to apply abrasive blast media. This technique may involve the use of steel shot, which helps to strengthen metals for a specific purpose, as well as for desanding and descaling parts. However, the shot blasting is most often used as a pretreatment in the preparation of surfaces for the application of new coats of paint or to remove imperfections. In this way, a solid and uniform base coat is achieved, providing high quality coverage and finish.
Background
In 2021, Ebroacero had two shot blasting machines up to 3500 kgwhere the surfaces of fabricated steel castings are cleaned/blasted to achieve surface quality. This allows both to perform the increasingly demanding inspections requested by customers. Also to obtain a good surface quality for delivery to the same customers.
The situation described in the previous paragraph forced us to subcontract shot blasting services for parts weighing more than 3,500 kg. This generated economic repercussions on the final price of the products as well as the loss of days in the final delivery times, which were always tight.
Objectives of improvement
The improvement objectives with the new shot blast machine installation are reflected below:
- Improve the load capacity of the two shot blast machines we currently have, which are limited to parts weighing 3,000 kg and 3,500 kg respectively. With our current capacity to supply parts up to 14,000 kg, it is necessary to clean/blast parts of this tonnage in relatively short periods of time in-house.
- Improve the waste management from cleaning/blasting and to reduce the presence of cristobalite (a by-product of silica sand after being subjected to high temperatures) which, despite having an almost anecdotal presence, after measurements of this element, it is considered appropriate to minimize its presence.
- Improve the security in the passage of large-tonnage parts from the molding hall to the oxy-fuel and shot blasting hall.
Measures achieved
With this investment in the shot blasting machine, Ebroacero will achieve these improvements:
- Increase the competitiveness of Ebroacero in time and price of its parts.
- Increase the efficiency of logistics processes internal. Until then, they were made outside our facilities. This meant an increase in the final price of the products and longer delivery times.
- Increase the productivity and the reduction of delivery times
- Improve the energy efficiency with the speed of movement
- Respecting the environment more efficiently managing the waste from the cleaning of the castings.
- Improve the health of our employees minimizing exposure to dust and grit from the cleaning/blasting process with new machine sealing systems.
- Sustainability and carbon footprint reduction with the elimination of a significant amount of round-trip transportation of parts to and from other companies.
