What makes a production cabinet suitable for production work is the filter area size inside the dust collector. Negative pressure dust collectors are the cleanest and most efficient to operate. In a negative pressure type dust collector the exhaust blower is located downstream of the dust collector filter area. This creates longer blower service because the air drawn through the blower has already been filtered and cleaned.

Media Blast does manufacture dust collectors with every type of filtration, but it is rare when a production cabinet is sold without cartridge filter dust collection. Dust collector filter area is one of the most important factors when choosing a blast cabinet. Dust collectors with greater filter area can operate longer without service. It is technically feasible, but not practical, to build different collectors of the same filter area. Envelope filters yield about three times the filter area per square foot of floor space than tubular collectors. Cartridge collectors yield double the filter area over envelope filters (six times the area over tubular filters).

All Media Blast production machines are easy to service and include self-cleaning filter assemblies. If filter cleaning is easy, the operator will clean the collector faster and more frequently. If cleaning is difficult and time consuming the operator often neglects this important duty. Media Blast hopper bottom dust collectors are the easiest to drain and allow for environmentally safe dust removal. In addition, enclosed dust storage discharge is also an available add-on machine option.

Media Blast uses a special cartridge filter that allows vibration to effectively clean the filter. Vibration of the cartridge filter effectively creates a dry, ultrasonic cleaning action. If the filter is cleaned regularly, the filter vibrator will remove up to 80% of the dust lodged on the filter. The standard system on all blast cabinets is manual pneumatic; the operator opens a valve and allows the filter vibrator to clean the filter for 2-3 minutes before closing the valve. Media Blast also offers an automatic version that automatically cleans the filters for 2-3 minutes every time the machine is shut off. Media Blast offers single cartridge manually operated reverse pulse and automatic reverse pulse filter cleaning on two+ cartridge dust collectors; the individual filters are cleaned every 30-180 seconds. Media Blast recommends purchasing the reverse pulse for applications that are high production (4+ hours per day) and/or regions of the country that experience high humidity.

Please remember that production is a word that describes many things and when blasting is involved you should think of production type machinery when the blasting is daily for periods of 1 hour or more. Even small 5 HP abrasive guns will discharge almost 2500 pounds of abrasive in 8 hours!