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Abrasive Blasting 101: Everything You Need to Know
If you want to know how a sandblasting cabinet works, look no further! We’ve been manufacturing mediablaster® cabinets for more than 40 years and we know the ins and outs of abrasive blasters.
A sandblasting cabinet works kind of like sandpaper or a belt grinder. Loose abrasive for a blasting cabinet is much the same as the abrasive you find on sandpaper, grinding wheels, rotten stone (if you work with wood), and other grains like soda, plastic, aluminum oxide, and silicon carbide you find in lapidary polishing.
A blasting cabinet basically eliminates the paper and cloth used on belts to convey the grains and delivers it to the part being processed by one of three delivery methods:
A sandblasting cabinet uses compressed air to speed up almost any type of loose grain (aka abrasive) to achieve a number of outcomes including sanding, deburring, polishing, texturing, surface removal and even coating parts with permanent lubrication blasted into the surface of the part. It is all done using only compressed air, what a unique idea!
There are many different types of grain delivery using compressed air. Lots of people think it’s easy enough to build their own sand blasting machines, but we highly recommend against that for a variety of reasons. The safest thing to do is to purchase a mediablaster from a reputable manufacturer. If you’re not sure what kind of sandblasting cabinet you need, check out our Buying Guide or contact us.