While a sandblaster can make use of any variety of blasting media and still be called a sandblaster, shot blasters make use of shot, which is a collection of small metal abrasives, exclusively.
Industrial Blast Rooms – Great Lakes Finishing Equipment, Inc.
The term “sandblaster” can be used in reference to all kinds of media blasting equipment. “Shot blasting” refers specifically to the use of shards or beads. Sandblasting can range in its applications from glass etching to glass snowing and from shot peening to soda blasting. Shot blasting would not be an appropriate glass treatment method, as the process involves propelling small shards, beads or other metal shapes at surfaces with a stream of compressed air or pressurized water.
Depending on the application, shot blasting professionals may choose media as fine and granulated as silicon carbide or as large as steel pellets. In both cases, but on different scales, the goal of shot blasting is the treatment of a surface. In the case of road treatment, for example, a portable, mobile shot blaster fires small steel beads at concrete surfaces to remove contamination and soft concrete.
This reveals a mechanical profile which allows for improved bonding during later resurfacing. The used shot and dust created by this process are usually collected by shot blaster, leaving a clean surface that is ready for treatment./p>
All media blasters, regardless of the kind of media they utilize, follow a few basic principles in terms of their design and function. Since all media blasters are intended to change a surface by propelling small objects, all media blasters must be equipped with a stock of blasting media, an air compressor or water pressurizer and a system by which those two components are combined and directed at surfaces.
There are three main configurations of media blasters in existence. Gravity-based systems are the simplest configuration and are mostly used in small scale blasting projects. In these systems, a hopper placed above the flow of compressed air uses gravity to combine the blasting media and airflow. In a siphon gun, the pressurized air passes over an unpressurized abrasive chamber.
The change in pressure draws abrasive up out of the chamber and into the flow of air, both of which are expelled through the nozzle at high speed. The third variety of media blaster is the pressure pot variety, which pressurizes both the air and the abrasive, allowing for an efficient flow of both.