Five Ways to Keep Blast Room Expenses in Check and Save Bucks!

In our “State of Titan Abrasive” report from late December 2021, we talked about the ups and downs of the business. Like most every manufacturer, we struggle with supply chain issues. And, like everyone, we’re seeing costs rising, sometimes dramatically.

With that in mind, our team came up with five tips you can use to help keep your blast room costs in check – whether you’re currently using a blast room or considering a new one.

1. Carefully consider the correct media for your application

Media comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and materials. From metal shot to plastic to organic materials such as walnut shells, each media type is suited to specific functions.

	Removing Rust or Paint	Polishing, Peening, Cleaning	Wood, Glass, Plastic	Steel; heavy-duty jobs
Aluminum Oxide
Garnet
Glass Beads
Plastic
Starblast
Steel Shot
Steel Grit
Walnut Shells

You also have to order a lot of it; ordering the wrong blast media means you’ll have a costly material sitting around unused.

Choosing the right blast media depends on many factors, such as, the surface finish required, type of material being removed (paint, rust, mil scale, powder coating), application and material type, the blaster (nozzle size, pressure), and how often the media will be reclaimed. If you have a question about which media to use, please call us. We’re happy to help.

Money saved: $$$

2. Don’t skimp on maintenance – especially employees’ health and safety

Abrasive blast equipment requires more maintenance than almost any other equipment in a plant. Why? The constant stress and wear from the abrasive media.

Follow good “housekeeping” practices by cleaning up in and around your blast room at the end of each shift.

Inspect doors and others areas weekly for wear or leakage and fix promptly.

Regularly check valves, hoses, nozzles, and protective gear, including helmets, gloves, etc. Air filters should be replaced based on number of hours used or manufacturer’s recommendation. Follow maintenance schedules as listed in the equipment manuals.

Titan cartridge dust collector filters are self-cleaning and DO NOT need to be sent out. For detailed info, read our FAQ: Should We Send Our Titan Filter Cartridges Out for Cleaning? (Repeat: No!)

Use Titan replacement parts to ensure fit and long-wear

You can purchase Titan replacement parts for our blast rooms, blast machines, abrasive regulator valves, and other components at the Titan Parts Store.

You may be tempted to save money by using generic parts, such as filters for your dust collector. A customer tried this, but the filters didn’t fit properly. Due to poor fit, dust got into the blower and coated the wheel, causing vibration. The result: Destroyed bearings. Read the story.

The customer ended up having to replace the blower. Needless to say, the small savings on filters went right out the window. Always use Titan brand nanofiber cartridge filters, which have been designed for your dust collector.

Money saved: $$$$

3. Blast room fabrication – Reconsider DIY

Fabricating a high-end blast room yourself isn’t the same as doing a house project. Even if you have construction skills, blast rooms have their own set of requirements, including the proper amount of air flow/exchanges, dust/media containment, lighting, etc. — not to mention OSHA safety requirements.

One customer, for example, ordered a Titan blast room and decided to save money by handling the ductwork themselves. This meant they fabricated and installed it. Bad news. They ran into several issues, which delayed their blast room installation. Instead of saving money, they lost money, plus the time that could have been spent blasting.

Read our piece, Everything You Wanted to Know about Blast Room Ductwork! to see a photo of the DIY ducting that used too many elbows, which inhibited air flow.

If you do choose to install Titan equipment yourself, we HIGHLY recommend our Startup Service. You may be able to assemble equipment, but getting it tuned-in and running at optimal performance is best left to one of our expert Titan technicians.

Money saved: $$$$$

4. New blast room installation – Eliminate any last-minute changes

One thing that significantly drives up installation costs is last minute changes because our engineering department didn’t have all of the space dimensions, and other important details, when designing the blast room.

Then, when our installers arrive, they have to stop production because of problems with overhead beams, floor obstructions, or doors that don’t allow enough access.

Another cost overrun is not having electrical or compressed air feeds in place before Installation Day. This means our installers have to come back to connect everything, do a test run, optimize the system, etc. This gets really expensive really fast.

Read Preparing for Titan Blast Room Installation by Titan’s Chief Installer Ken Cloonan. Once you place your order, you’ll also receive a PDF checklist of information we need, and tasks you need to complete, so that we can efficiently design, build, and install your blast room.

Money saved: $$$$$

5. Talk to us first! You’ll save BIG bucks

The more hands a product passes through, the higher its cost (e.g. markup). At Titan, we removed these unnecessary markups by eliminating the middleman – meaning you buy directly from us and pay a lower price.

When you call Titan, you talk directly to our engineering team (or heck, even me, the CEO). By working directly, you eliminate all the back and forth and get expert answers to your questions.

We can customize any application, regardless of how big or small the project. For example, we created a blast room for Framatonme’s Nuclear Motor Refurbishment business in order to eliminate the potential for radioactive contamination. Read the case study.

For Fab-Tek, we created a custom blast room to clean and polish stainless steel for food processing conveyor systems. The new system includes a mechanical recovery system with cross screw (auger), two 6-cubic-foot blast machines, and a 12,000 CFM cartridge dust collector. Read the Installation Tech Tip.

Money saved: $$$$$$

If you’re considering a custom blast room or need blast equipment for your operation, contact Titan or complete our RFQ form.

Our custom-engineered blast rooms have been purchased by companies large and small, including the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force, GE Aviation, and NOAA, and installed across the US and Guam, and around the world, including Canada, Peru, Mexico, Venezuela, and Ukraine.