Enter wet blasting – a gentle yet powerful surface treatment that transforms AM parts. Here’s why leading industries (Aerospace, Medical, Automotive) are using it:

When it comes to precision machining, the smallest details can make the biggest difference. One such detail - the edge preparation of cutting tool inserts. Edge honing, particularly through wet blasting, is a game changer for improving tool life, performance, and consistency.

Why wet blasting for edge honing?

✅Enhanced tool life – By creating a uniform, controlled edge radius, wet blasting reduces chipping and wear, extending tool longevity

Wet blasting cleans weapons and ordnance by removing dirt, carbon buildup, and corrosion, enhancing surface smoothness, preventing wear, ensuring proper coating adhesion, and maintaining reliability, accuracy, and longevity in demanding conditions.

Wet blasting cleans naval components by removing salt, corrosion, and debris, preventing further damage, enhancing surface integrity, ensuring effective coating adhesion, and improving durability to withstand harsh marine environments and extend service life.

Applications include:

• Propellers and shafts: Removing marine growth, rust, and saltwater corrosion for optimal performance

• Hull fittings: Cleaning rudders, keels, and other underwater components for inspection or maintenance

• Wet blasting removes rust, coatings, and contaminants. The process helps prevent corrosion, enhances durability, and prepares surfaces for optimal adhesion of protective coatings or paint. It ensures vehicles remain reliable, operational, and ready for extreme conditions and demanding environments.

• Gentle yet effective cleaning - Wet blasting uses a mix of water and abrasive media, which is less aggressive than dry blasting, reducing the risk of damage to the alloy wheel's surface. It effectively removes corrosion, oxidation, old paint, and surface contaminants without causing deep pitting or distortion.

• Smooth and consistent finish - The process results in a uniform surface profile, which improves coating adhesion and the final quality of the coating. Unlike dry blasting, which can leave rough surfaces, wet blasting gives a smoother and more refined finish.

The precise edge hone produced by wet blasting (covered in depth in previous posts and on our Round Shank Tool landing page) also allows the tool to generate an ideal 'chip' with an optimum depth and curl, resulting in longer tool life and a better finish.

Here’s how…

Vapormate - Our versatile entry level manual machine. With a generous working envelope, it’s popular with users who need a compact machine for smaller spaces. The Vapormate comes packed with all the features you would expect to find in our larger machines to ensure excellent process control and high-quality finishing.

• Oncilla - Designed for premium-level carbide tools, this machine offers highly accurate process control and robotic automation to ensure a very high-quality finish every time. An optional additional blast chamber allows for two finishing processes in one operation.

• Oncilla Cub - The Oncilla Cub operates in a similar highly accurate way to the Oncilla but has a fixed specification with one blast zone and basic rinsing and drying for a smaller footprint and lower cost.

Let’s start with the applications and benefits…

• Surface Preparation for Bonding: Ensures an ultra-clean, uniform surface for optimum adhesive coverage and ultimately maximum bond strength.

• Surface Preparation for Coating: Ensures an ultra-clean, uniform surface for optimum coverage and adhesion of coatings like paints and lacquers.