Clean Surfaces More Efficiently Than Traditional Techniques
RP Abrasives offers a wide range of abrasive blasting services, also known as bead blasting, depending on the application. Bead blasting typically produces a more uniform surface texture, whereas abrasive blasting creates a coarser finish. Regardless of your unique needs, we can precision blast parts from 1/2″ to 3 square feet, masking off areas not to be blasted.
How Abrasive Blasting Can Improve Parts
- Preparing surfaces to receive coatings
- Removing thin coatings
- Achieving a desired surface texture or roughness
- Cleaning complex surfaces
- Efficiently removing burrs
Bead Blasting Services
- Suction & pressure blasting services
- Tumble blasting services
- Micro blasting services
- Many different abrasive materials, such as glass bead, aluminum oxide, and garnet to name a few bead blasting methods
Abrasive & Bead Blasting Methods
Micro Abrasive Blasting
We do micro-abrasive blasting using Comco Inc. equipment. While this is often referred to as "pencil blasting" because the nozzles are so small, it is actually micro blasting and is well suited for small precision parts that require tight control. Precise surface texture and deburring are both easily done this way. The industry that most commonly utilizes this finishing method is advanced manufacturing.
This process differs from tumble blasting in that we are normally blasting only one surface or even a portion of one’s surface, whereas in tumble blasting the whole part is being blasted. With micro-abrasive blasting, multiple parts are sometimes loaded into the machine simultaneously but are ultimately being finished one at a time.
Tumble Blasting
Tumble blasting is a process of slowly rotating parts in a basket while the blast media is applied. This can be done with one part or with batches of parts. It is a very economical way to uniformly deburr or texture the surface of batches of small parts. We use Empire basket blast equipment. We bead blast medium and larger size parts using Zero brand blasting equipment made by Clemco Industries. This very reliable equipment allows us to supply a variety of industries, including aerospace, computer, medical, surgical, and others.
Abrasive Media
All of our abrasive and bead blasting capabilities can be applied to just about all materials, including but not limited to stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and plastics. The media we use range from mil-spec. glass beads, aluminum oxide, garnet, silicon carbide, and walnut shell. All our media come in different "grits" or sizes to allow our customers to customize the texture of their parts. All the media we use are from the BCS company or Stratus technologies.
Contact the Finishing Experts
Please visit our bead blasting process page for additional information on how RP Abrasives can help you achieve your surface finishing goals. To request a free quote, fill out the form below or contact us online!