Hi, I’m Mike Huggins. I’m with SPE North America. I’m in charge of North American sales for Shot blasters and Scarifiers.
There are some things that you should be aware of when you’re shot blasting. That is, what types of projects or surfaces are going to give you the best results?
For shot blasting, the harder the surface, the better the result you’re going to get.
Some of the more challenging surfaces to remove for shot blasting would be elastomeric type toppings, or polyurethane type toppings. Even if they’re thin toppings but have any kind of elasticity to them, you’re going to have much more resistance removing that surface because of the elastic nature of the topping.
What tends to happen is that the shot is more deflected from that rubbery surface than it does in removing it.
Contrary to popular belief, shot blasting is extremely easy and very simple to use and to operate. It’s probably one of the most efficient methods of prep that there is out there in the market.
I think one of the most impressive things when looking at a shot blaster for surface preparation—especially if you’re able to see a demonstration of this—is that just in one pass, you can see that the surface is prepped and ready to go for your next step.