Today I was keen to make the case for wet blasting as an effective process for increasing the die sucess rates in your extrusion plants at the correction stage.
But, before I start have a look at the above die...
This was taken on a recent trip to a customers extrusion plant where I had the opportunity to have a look around their correction shop. As you can see there is quite transformation from untreated (left) to wet blasted (right).
Now, the big question is, why does the wet blasted die come out so much cleaner?
The answer is found in the consistency of processing and the uniform polishing that is achievable with the Vapormatt wet blast process.
By lubricating the abrasive particles in water in the Vapormatt process allows the media to remain in contact for far longer than the dry alternative. This allows for a greater cleaning action in the same amount, if not less, time.
This happens primarilly due to the introduction of water which creates a "buffer" around the media which allows it to flow across the critical faces which are often hard to reach when manually filing.
So, back to the question in hand.
Why is wet blasting better?
With a Vapormatt system in your die correction shop you will experience an increase in throughput by reducing the amount of time spent on manual inspection. You will also see savings overall as the Vapormatt finish will increased die success rates.
