Skipton based finishing equipment manufacturer Guyson International has designed, built and installed a twin pressure pot, Guyson RB10 PF robotically controlled blasting system into a world leading manufacturer of high-performance coatings, for the dual application of keying the surface of aerospace seal rings prior to plasma spraying and the surface preparation of turbine blade tips prior to thermal spray coating.

The Guyson RB10 blast cabinet has a one and half metre square internal blast chamber dimension and is fitted, in the centre, with a small 7th axis turntable designed to accommodate the customers varied fixtures, due to the multiple uses of the cabinet. Located in the back wall of the cabinet is the encased arm of an ABB foundry plus robot, equipped with a boron carbide blast nozzle which it precisely manipulates around the fixtured components. The robotic manipulation of the blast nozzle maintains the optimum surface speed, blasting angle and the exact offset distance from blast nozzle to component. The robot fixture actually holds two blast nozzles - each with a separate blast media supply - but only the one appropriate nozzle linked to each of the applications is active at any one time.

Blasting is undertaken via either of the two Guyson Model G55 pressure pots (55 litres each) and each could be filled with different media, these generate the blast stream, with media being fed from the appropriate pressure vessel into the cabinet through heavy duty hose to the blast nozzle.

Whilst blasting the media quality is maintained, to give a more consistent surface finish, with a Guyson Cyclone Reclamator mounted above a sieving system and the twin pressure pots. A highly efficient model C800 Cartridge Dust Collection unit is used to draw off the dust laden air from the cyclone reclamator. The dust collector is fitted with a HEPA secondary filter and explosion relief panel which is joined to a vertical ducting assembly that takes the force upwards should the explosion relief panel be triggered.

Monitoring and control of the complex blast system is provided via a PLC/HMI graphical display which gives a real time visual display of what is happening throughout the system. Downtime is reduced as fault notification can be programmed to display specific screen messages regarding warnings and failures. Also parameter changes can be easily made, making future proofing more feasible and simpler.