Sandblasting is the act of propelling very fine bits of material at high-velocity to clean or etch a surface.

 

Grit Blasting

Grit blasting is a process of propelling hard sharp angular grit at the item to be clean. It is an excellent way to remove oxide and rust from black or welded mild steel and provides an excellent surface for subsequent chemical pre-treatment or as a key for powder coating.

There are four main types of blasting media that can be used.

• Garnet: is a blasting media free from silica and iron particles, which can be sourced from either India or Australia. Garnet would generally be used for mobile or onsite applications as it has lower dust levels than iron sand.
   
• Grit: is finely crushed ball bearings which gives the steel the blast profile needed for paint to adhere to the surface. Grit can not be used on anything that has a magnetic force such as alternators etc.
   
• Shot: is a ball bearing like blasting media, very small in size - .04mm to 1.4mm. It is very popular with recycling units as it can be reused 40 to 50 times. As with grit, shot can not be used with anything that has a magnetic force either.
   
• Iron sand: is a traditional blasting media normally found on beaches around New Zealand, but due to recent studies has been found to be harmful to operators of blasting equipment. This media is used less these days because of this reason.  Iron sand is fairly fine and can be used when blasting car panels and glass.

Example of rusted part:	finished sandblasted product: