Industrial finishing equipment manufacturer Guyson International has recently installed two Euroblast SBP4 sit down blast cabinets into the in-house 3D print service bureau of Europac 3D, a leading 3D scanning and printing company, based in Cheshire, for surface finishing 3D printed prototypes.
After undertaking extensive customer trials at Guyson’s Yorkshire demonstration and test facility an initial SBP4 sit down blast machine was chosen because of the benefits it brought to the operators who were expected to be blasting for longer periods at a time and the sit-down nature of the machine allowed for a more comfortable and productive work operation. Subsequent to being installed and used for a month a second machine was ordered and delivered into another area of operation due to the great success of the first machine.
Europac 3D (www.europac3d.com) offers an extensive range of 3D scanners, 3D printers and 3D Scanning & Printing services in plastics, wax and ceramics. But whichever substrate is chosen Guyson blast finishing is the preferred method of final product finishing, allowing Europac 3D to deliver on customer expectations by smoothing over product striation lines, removing any excess or loosely adhered ceramic powders and providing a more paint or coating receptive surface on plastic prototypes by removing the smooth shine and replacing it with a finely controlled textured surface that improves subsequent adhesion on the 3D printed prototypes.
The Euroblast SBP4 cabinet has been designed to be comfortably and productively used by a seated operator and provides a versatile blast machine in a small footprint. Built to high quality standards, the cabinet is highly durable, rigid and tightly sealed, being fabricated and welded in 16 gauge sheet steel. The Euroblast SBP4 benefits from having side opening doors on both the right and left hand side of the cabinet, allowing ease of component access. The SBP4 blast chamber is 50 cm high at the back wall, 81 cm wide and 61 cm deep, large enough to accommodate most prototypes, and the cabinet itself stands at 137 cm high. The cabinet is fitted with a large abrasion-protected safety glass viewing window and the interior of the blasting enclosure is brilliantly illuminated ensuring good visibility. The SBP4 blast cabinet comes with armhole sleeves and a pair of rubber gauntlet gloves, and a quick release media changeover facility; the latter proves useful if a variety of different blast media is used.
Blasting is controlled by the left foot pedal, thus leaving both hands free to manipulate parts under the blast nozzle when the nozzle is positioned in the gun holder or leaving one hand free to hold the gun and the other to rotate the part. The right foot pedal controls an airwash for post blast removal of residual dust or blast media from the parts. The blast
