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Steel construction and steel trade, shipyards and ship building, and heavy equipment and machinery building rely heavily on specially designed shot blasting machines to prepare their components.

Rösler expertly designs shot blasting machines for these industries and others to descale, clean, and prepare structural steel for surfaces for end-use. The particulars of each machine largely depend on the size and shape of the specific components in need of preparation.

This installment of our Structural Steel FAQ series will answer that question: What are the most commonly used blast machines for structural steel surface preparation and how do they compare?

Machine Types by Workpiece

Whether surface preparation is needed for steel beams and plates, round bars, pipes and weldments, ship building, pipeline construction, or heavy equipment and machinery, there are machines tailored to produce consistent surface finishing results for each component.

The most common machine types are:

Roller Conveyor Blast Machines for Plates and Beams, RRB
Roller Conveyor Blast Machine for weldments, RRBK
Spinner Hanger Blast Machine for large components, RHBD-K
Continuous pipe systems for round steel and pipes, RDR

Roller Conveyor Blast Machines for Plates and Beams, RRB

The classic Roller Conveyor Blast Machine can be used to blast rather simple geometries such as sheet metal, profiles, beams and pipes. In terms of dimensions, the system can accommodate components with a width of up to 5 meters; the workpiece height is limited to 600 mm. The workpieces are transported evenly and continuously on the roller conveyor. The robust systems are low-maintenance and deliver an all-round, comprehensive and always reproducible blasting result.

Roller conveyor blast machines can be equipped with a blow-off station at the machine entrance to remove water and loose impurities. Preheaters can also be used to remove ice and snow and prepare the workpieces for the subsequent protective coating steps.

Roller Conveyor Blast Machine for weldments, RRBK

Extremely large and heavy steel and welded constructions, flame-cut parts, pipes, profiles or bars and long, flat workpieces are blasted reliably and thoroughly in the RRBK Roller Conveyor Blast Machine for weldments. Thanks to an extra-large passage opening and extremely robust design, these shot blasting systems can accommodate welded parts several meters long, 4 meters wide and 1.6 meters high and transport workpieces weighing several tons.

However, the extreme robustness of the system does not come at the expense of the blasting result: The RRBK is just as suitable for complex steel constructions with difficult undercuts and also works cleanly, reproducibly and quickly in these cases with a throughput time of up to 6 meters per minute. Numerous optimization and expansion options ensure optimum adaptation of the shot blasting system to local conditions and individual requirements and ensure cost reduction and efficiency.

Spinner Hanger Blast Machine for large components, RHBD-K

If large and solid workpieces are to be processed in large quantities, such as steel structures for rail vehicles or construction and agricultural machinery, the RHBD-K Spinner Hanger Blast Machine for large components is the ideal solution. In its largest version, the standard system can accommodate workpieces with a height and width of up to 3.5 meters. With up to 20 rotating Gamma 400G turbines mounted in an X arrangement, depending on the system version, the RHBD-K offers maximum performance. Replaceable manganese steel plates suspended using the roof tile principle also ensure minimal wear.

Thanks to flexible transport systems such as the Power & Free conveyor system, it is easy to connect to further production stages such as painting technology and drying. This means that the RHBD-K can also be easily integrated into existing lines and systems.

Continuous pipe systems for round steel and pipes, RDR

These machines are typically used for solid steel bars and tubes and can process components several meters long and up to 500 mm in diameter. To do this, the bars and/or tubes are placed on a special transport system known as an inclined conveyor with diabolo rollers, which simultaneously rotates the workpieces as they are moved through the machine.

The complete and highly effective design of the RDR enables the comprehensive and uniform blasting of tubes or round bars in a continuous throughfeed process. Optimum integration into existing production lines is possible.