Bead Blasting for Preparation: Cleaning Surfaces with Precision
One of the more unique things that we do here at Reid Metal Finishing (RMF) is surface cleaning and preparation through bead blasting. Bead blasting is a pretreatment cleaning process commonly used to clean a variety of metal components, without the need for harsh or hazardous chemicals or particularly specialized equipment.
Bead Blasting: How it Works and When It’s Used
Bead blasting involves propelling tiny beads made of either glass, or aluminum oxide towards the target surface. When the beads impact, they cause a small deformation on the surface, forcibly smoothing it out and removing any contaminants and corrosion. By changing the blast media, we can also achieve particular types of finishes as well, such as a uniform ‘rough’ surface or a more satin appearance. Though we use it only on metal surfaces, bead blasting can also be used on materials like fiberglass.
At RMF, we use bead blasting as a safe and fast method of surface cleaning, typically as an initial treatment before other finishing methods, as it frees the surface from contamination before the actual coating process. This works both to smooth out the surface and improve the adhesion of the future coatings and treatments further down the line.
Preparing Surfaces for Metal Finishing with Bead Blasting
One of the major benefits that bead blasting offers is its efficiency. Bead blasting can clean off metal surfaces far more quickly and with much more safety–plus the beads are often reusable, which improves environmental impact as well by reducing waste.
Another benefit of bead blasting is precision. Sand blasting is a similar process, but one that’s harsher on the surface, better suited to removing large amounts of material from a surface. Bead blasting on the other hand leaves a comparably smoother, more precise surface–making it excellent for machinery that needs to maintain its dimensional tolerances.
About Reid Metal Finishing
Reid Metal Finishing (RMF) is a premiere metal finishing company with several decades of experience in the industry. If you’re interested in working with us, head over to our website to request a quote!
