Hanger shot blasting machines provide an efficient way to continuously process long tubing, pipe, bar stock, extrusions, and other elongated components. As parts feed through the blast zone on an overhead conveyor, stationed nozzles treat the entire circumference to strip mill scale, clean, deburr, finish, or peen.
With throughput capacities up to thousands of pounds per hour, hanger shot blasters meet the demands of high-volume tube and pipe producers. They deliver consistent total surface treatment free of defects, burrs, or contaminants. The automated process also frees up labor versus hand grinding or air tool descaling.
This article help you to choose the best hanger shot blasting machines’ features, benefits, and applications ideal for bar stock, tubes, fasteners, cylinders, rods, and other production line components.
Continuous Processing Solution
Hanger shot blasters offer a high-efficiency solution for surface treatment by utilizing powered conveyors to continuously pass parts through the blast zone. This overhead conveyor system ensures a nonstop flow of parts through the machine, while motorized conveyor speed controls allow for precise cycle time adjustments. Additionally, pipe rotators enable 360-degree coverage for tubes, and strategically positioned nozzles focus blast patterns along the conveyor path. The enclosed design effectively contains noise, debris, and rebounds. This automated approach provides significant advantages over stop-and-go batch processes.
Higher Throughput Rates
Continuous feed with automated cycling minimizes downtime between parts for mass production blasting. Hanger shot machines process up to 15 tons of material per hour.
Reduced Labor Requirements
Once running, the systems require minimal supervision versus labor-intensive manual or robotic blast cells. The blast enclosure also improves safety.
Total Surface Coverage
As parts shuttle through the machine, rotating nozzles treat the complete surface from all angles rather than just one side.
Adaptable Intensity & Media
By using different blast wheels, pressures, and media, the intensity adapts from light cleaning and finishing to aggressive coating removal.
Consistent Results
Programmable conveyor speed, blast pressures, and indexing ensure uniform intensity across large production runs.
5 Typical Applications
Hanger shot blasting machines are specifically designed to target continuous flow production environments that require high-throughput surface preparation or finishing of uniform cylindrical or rectangular section parts. These specialized machines excel in applications where a steady stream of identical components needs to undergo surface treatment, making them invaluable in various industries.
One of the primary applications for hanger shot blasting machines is in tube and pipe mills, where they are used to remove mill scale, oxides, and heat treat scales from the surfaces of the metal. This cleaning process is crucial for ensuring the quality and integrity of the final product, as well as preparing the surface for further processing or coatings.
Refineries also benefit from the use of hanger shot blasting machines, particularly for cleaning welds on piping spools. The continuous blast stream allows for efficient and consistent surface preparation, ensuring that the welds meet the necessary quality standards and are ready for subsequent inspection or coatings.
In the fastener and screw manufacturing industry, hanger shot blasting machines are employed to deburr threads and shafts, providing a smooth and uniform finish to the components. This is essential for the proper functioning and assembly of these parts, as well as enhancing their aesthetic appeal.
Metal product manufacturers, such as those producing extruded shapes, rely on hanger shot blasting machines to finish their products. The continuous flow of parts through the blast stream ensures a consistent surface treatment, which is critical for maintaining the desired appearance and performance characteristics of the final products.
Spring and cylinder makers also benefit from the use of hanger shot blasting machines, as these machines can effectively remove press scales and smooth the surfaces of their components. This surface preparation is crucial for improving the fatigue life and overall performance of the parts.
The continuous blast stream within hanger shot blasting machines allows for real-time quality checks on the outflow of parts. Operators can monitor key metrics, such as surface cleanliness, roughness, finish, or fatigue life, to ensure that the parts meet the required specifications. This in-process quality control is a significant advantage, as it enables immediate adjustments to the blasting parameters, if necessary, to maintain the desired quality standards.
Overall, hanger shot blasting machines are invaluable in continuous flow production environments, where the need for high-throughput surface preparation or finishing of uniform cylindrical or rectangular section parts is paramount. Their ability to deliver consistent, high-quality results makes them indispensable in a wide range of industries, from tube and pipe mills to metal product manufacturers and beyond.
Common Components Treated
Hanger shot blasters accommodate small to large diameter tubes, rectangular or irregular profiles, solid rods and bars – any axially uniform shape conveyable from overhead supports:
- Copper plumbing tubes
- Hydraulic cylinders
- Steel solid bar stock
- Aluminum extruded tubing
- Fastener shafts
- Piping spools
- Axles, shafts, rolls
- Strut channels
- Drive shafts
With custom tooling, even unique profiles stay centered in the blast zone. Diameters from 1/4 inch to over 20 inches process reliably.
Shot Blasting Benefits for Tube & Bar
Shot blasting, when utilized in conjunction with hanger machines, provides a multitude of benefits to the surface treatment of tubes, bars, and rods. These advantages go beyond just enhancing the efficiency of the process, and directly contribute to the overall quality and performance of the final products.
One of the primary benefits of shot blasting is its ability to thoroughly clean the surface of the workpieces, removing oxides, lubricants, and various markings. This clean surface preparation is crucial for ensuring a uniform finish across production runs, as it creates a consistent foundation for any subsequent coatings or treatments.
Another key advantage is the removal of pressing or forming scales, which can be a common issue with these types of cylindrical or rectangular section parts. Shot blasting effectively eliminates these scales, resulting in a smoother, more uniform surface.
The shot blasting process also imparts beneficial compressive stresses to the surface of the parts, which can significantly improve their fatigue strength. This stress relief and peening effect helps to extend the service life of the components, making shot blasting an invaluable treatment for high-stress applications.
Additionally, shot blasting can help to blend and smooth out any seam lines or minor imperfections on the surface of the parts, creating a more aesthetically pleasing and consistent appearance. This is particularly important for applications where the visual appeal of the final product is a key factor.
Improved coatings adhesion is another notable benefit of shot blasting. By creating a roughened, clean surface, the shot blasting process enhances the ability of subsequent coatings, paints, or other surface treatments to adhere securely to the parts, improving their long-term durability and performance.
One of the unique advantages of shot blasting, compared to other abrasive techniques, is its ability to deburr both the inner and outer diameters of the parts in a single pass. This streamlined process saves time and reduces the need for additional finishing steps.
The versatility of shot blasting also allows for a wide range of intensity levels, from gentle cleanup to aggressive mill scale removal. This flexibility enables operators to tailor the process to the specific requirements of the application, ensuring optimal results.
Furthermore, the use of rounded media, rather than angular abrasives, helps to avoid the common issue of surface embedment, which can be a concern with some other blasting methods. This characteristic of shot blasting contributes to the overall quality and integrity of the finished parts.
In summary, the combination of hanger machines and shot blasting provides a powerful and efficient solution for the surface treatment of tubes, bars, and rods, delivering a wide range of benefits that enhance the quality, performance, and longevity of these critical components.
Key Components of Hanger Shot Blasting Systems
While configurations vary across models, hanger shot blasters consist of several core subsystems engineered for performance, longevity, and safety:
Material Handling System
Overhead conveyors, part manipulators, and pipe rotation fixtures smooth material flow through the blast zone and properly expose all surfaces.
Blast System
Blast wheel(s), chambers, hoppers, and nozzles propel abrasive toward parts via air, paddle wheel, or magnetic acceleration.
Dust Collection
Cartridge or baghouse collectors trap airborne dust and spent media, allowing abrasive recycling.
Safety Components
Interlocked doors, noise insulation, central controls, and proper guarding provide safe operation.
Material Handling
Custom hangers secure and manipulate parts, ensuring smooth indexing into the blast zone. Manipulators like Oscillators or rotators flip or roll stock for all-round coverage. Parts discharge onto exit conveyors
Abrasive Recovery
Magnetic floor sweeps reclaim spent media. Bucket elevators return usable abrasive to the blast system. Vibratory screeners remove fines.
Electrical Controls
PLC touchscreens make programming intuitive. Features like low media sensors, access interlocks, E-stops enhance safety and system control.
Enclosures
Rubberized steel cabinets insulate noise while containing dust. Strategically located access doors ease loading and maintenance access.
Conclusion
Hanger shot blasters provide an efficient solution for high-volume tubing, pipe, and extrusion producers to clean scale, blend surface defects, improve aesthetics, or peen longitudinal products immediately off the production line. And the automated media recovery minimizes consumable costs when reusing steel abrasive.
This combination of high speed continuous processing, low operating costs, and consistent treatment establishes shot blasting as a go-to tube and bar conditioning method.
