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Choosing the best Sponge Media Feed Unit™ can seem like an intimidating task. Sizes, features, and portability vary between models, but they all do the same overall task of mixing blast media with compressed air for abrasive blasting. Some units like the EX product line are for use in potentially combustable, flammable atmospheres, while other units like the Rasp Xtreme and the 100-HP are optimized for portability. 

Many advanced Certified Rebuild Centers (CRCs) and Heavy Equipment Refurbishment facilities are turning away from regular abrasive blasting and/or high pressure washing during their re-manufacturing process. Increasingly, these centers are focusing on cleaning the equipment using Sponge-Jet blasting prior to disassembly.

Now more than ever, Contractors are looking for ways to save money, increase worker safety, and reduce waste. For abrasive blasting projects like cleaning tanks, prepping pipe internals, or blasting walls and floors, robotic abrasive blasting is often a better choice than manual blasting.

When paint starts to peel and bubble, it’s extremely important for the integrity of the asset to remove the old coating and apply a new one. As protective coatings fail, substrate corrosion can accelerate, leading to long term asset damage. If failed coatings and corrosion are not addressed, the damage may not be repairable and the asset may need to be replaced, ultimately costing the owner substantially more money.

Imagine for a moment that ACME Coatings Contractor has recently completed an important water tank exterior coatings project. The job, which involved removing lead-based paint from the 40 meter (135-ft) tall, 3.7-million liter,legged tank, went well from start to finish. The owners are happy, final payment has been rendered, and the project manager is filing the last bit of paperwork when the owner’s representative calls and asks, “Out of curiosity, how can we be sure that ACME didn’t leave lead dust under or around the tank?”

Shipbuilding and marine repair is frequently heavy, hard industrial work. Manufacturing is loud and can get dirty. In a marine environment like a ship yard (which can include one or more dry docks) this process must occur within close proximity to water, posing unique challenges regarding containment and suppression of dust during the building and repair process.

The Sponge-Jet Global Training and Technology center has published its 2018 Third-Party class schedule which features a broad range of accredited classes from leading industrial trade associations like the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE International), The Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC) and committee meetings which include the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

On Monday, January 9th, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) finalized new beryllium standards for professions commonly exposed to Beryllium. Several are affected including workers in the marine and construction industries. OSHA’s new ruling on Beryllium confirms that at trace levels, beryllium can be harmful. Long-term beryllium exposure can lead to berylliosis, as well as cancer and heart failure. According to author John Emsley, a third of those who contract berylliosis die, leaving the rest permanently disabled.

Every great business looks to maximize efficiency. Efficiency keeps costs down and increases profit margins. One way to increase the efficiency of workers is through training. This is especially true in the industrial coatings industries (which includes surface preparation). As industry leaders retire, insight and experience can be lost. Training can help combat this loss of wisdom and knowledge. This is why Sponge-Jet built a Global Technology and Training Center at our Newington, NH Headquarters – just an hour north of Boston. Training courses offered at Sponge-Jet range from internationally accredited NACE and SSPC classes to certified training programs on Sponge-Jet abrasive blasting.

The Society of Protective Coatings (SSPC) released its latest Abrasive Specification – SSPC-AB 4, making it the first update since 2000. The AB series of specifications establish proper quality controls and procedures for using Recyclable Encapsulated Abrasive Media during surface preparation. While these standards are not referred to directly in many coating specifications, they are used from within other SSPC documents – most notably SSPC-SP7, SSPC-SP6, SSPC-SP10 and SSPC-SP5. These are perhaps the most widely cited standards for surface preparation worldwide and certainly within the USA. The SP series of standards has always required that abrasives meet an AB quality standard. Before this AB 4 release, exceptions allowed for the use of composite abrasives like Sponge Media, as no AB abrasive quality standards were applicable.