Using a shot blaster to prep a concrete floor is one of the most effective methods of surface preparation available. With very little cleanup after you blast the floor, you can clean and prep in a single time saving step with the right shot blaster. While the machines are great surface prep tools, they are often misunderstood. Below, we walk you through the way the machine works and how to get the best possible profile.
Shot blasters for concrete floors work off two principles; rebound and suction. The rebound is how the shot flows through the machine. The blast wheel inside the machine propels the shot onto the ground. It then rebounds and bounces back up into the machine. About halfway up through the plenum the suction from your dust collector takes over.
A properly sized dust collector helps to pull the shot back into the dust separation chamber and remove the dust from the steel shot. The shot that is re-usable cascades down and gets separated from the silica dust. The shot that is broken and fragmented is too light to continue rebounding and gets pulled into the dust collector with the silica dust.
Because of this design, shot blasters run very cleanly. When using a shot blaster to prep concrete there is almost zero cleanup, except for using a magnetic sweeper to pick up any shot that has come loose from under the machine. When purchasing a shot blaster, make sure you pair the proper dust collector with the machine. As always, reach out to your friendly NFE customer service team with questions about shot blasters and concrete prep.