| Soda-Blast.Com is Harmon Distributing's industrial products
division. While baking
soda and corn
cob is the mainstay of the company, this division offers a developed line of
products and applicators that deliver either baking
soda or corn
cob as a parts cleaning medium in metalworking shops.
For most metalworking shops parts cleaning is, well, a pain. It's a
non-value added step in the manufacturing process that while, often
necessary, gets metalworking businesses into areas in which they have little
or no expertise.
If a shop must clean parts, what's the best method? Of course there is no
easy answer. It used to be possible to soak parts in a vapor degreaser and
accomplish most soil removal requirements. That's no longer feasible because
of environmental regulations covering atmospheric discharges and toxic waste
disposal.
Options include parts aqueous and semi-aqueous washing units with
agitation sometimes generated by ultrasonics. These methods work well for
specific materials and soils but lack the kind of general purpose
effectiveness that vapor degreas-ing provides. And, there is usually a waste
disposal consideration with these wet processes. Then there are dry cleaning
processes. These usually employ a grit which is accelerated to high speed to
blast off
dirt or other soils attached to workpieces. Glass beads, metal or plastic
shot--even peanut shells--are versions of this process.
It's into this category of parts cleaning that SofStrip™ falls. They have
successfully used this baking
soda
blast on
applications in aerospace, paint removal for rebuilding and remanufacturing
operations and in plant maintenance departments.
Baking soda
as a grit blast
medium offers several advantages over other solid mediums, according to the
company. As each crystal of sodium-bicarbonate strikes the surface of a
workpiece it crushes against the surface. When the crystal strikes a
workpiece surface, the crystal is destroyed but in the process takes a bit
of the soil with it.
Crystals can be sized to provide the necessary cleaning aggressiveness
for an application. In part, because the baking
soda crystal
collapses on contact, removal problems involving getting the media from
internal passages or small bores is eliminated. In addition, baking
soda is water
soluble therefore getting the media out of highly intricate parts is also
simplified. They can be rinsed free out of the workpiece if necessary.
As a medium, baking
soda is
relatively soft. This makes it an effective
blast medium
for delicate substrates such as aluminum and thin wall sections like
cylinder fins or aerospace structures. There is little or no peening action
with baking soda
blast. Baking
soda is inert
making its use and disposal less problematic than some other materials.
Soda-Blast.Com offers a full line of
blast
application equipment to accompany their baking
soda media.
For job shops with a variety of applications, there is a stand-alone
blast cabinet
available with interior dimensions up to height by width by length of 60 by
24 by 42 inches. There are systems available for higher volume/lower mix
applications as well.
Cleaning workpieces and equipment is a necessity for many shops.
Unfortunately there is no universal method effective for all cases. However,
baking soda
grit blast
offers several advantages over other methods, particularly with regard to
environmental and disposal considerations. That may make checking into a
system for your application a good idea.—
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