Expected Costs: How Much Is a Vapor Honing Machine
The ability to clean and maintain your equipment and machinery is an important process if you do not want your workshop to fail regularly. If you went out and bought a vapor honing machine for this purpose after you saw an impressive video online, you would not be the only one to have done so. But if you have not picked one up, how much is it going to cost you?
Keep reading to find out more about this process and how to calculate the long-term costs you will face in buying this piece of equipment.
What is Vapor Honing?
You can perform this process with a piece of specialist equipment that makes use of an abrasive medium to score away dirt and imperfections. Instead of using the medium in a dry state, vapor honing mixes the medium with water to act as a carrier and to cushion its impact.
The machine creates a form of “slurry” which is then blasted onto the target as part of the cleaning or finishing process. This is not as aggressive as honing with dry material. You can also drain this slurry back into the system allowing you to use it again.
This is often useful as it produces far less cleanup due to dust not spreading around your workshop. Also, the use of water produces a less harsh finish which can increase the life of both the media and the honed item.
Some vapor honers have extras that increase their ability and decrease their running costs. For example, the aforementioned reuse of the honing material can allow the same media to run through the system many times. This reduces the number of refills you need to make and the number of times you need to purchase the media.
Or, for honing many small parts, you can buy a small porous barrel to hone them in. This can allow for faster honing of screws or other minor pieces of equipment without needing to handle each one separately.
How Much is a Vapor Honing Machine
Professionals produce these machines to a higher level of quality than the custom work found in many quarters of the Internet. This is due to their adherence to health and safety rigors as well as other measures to ensure consistent standards.
In the vapor honing world, the kits you can purchase range in size depending on the user’s need. They start from small devices intended for hobbyists or small-scale use which start at around $750. They also extend up to grand industrial devices reaching prices of over $25,000.
When purchasing these, it is normal to investigate add-ons at the same time. These are numerous and each adds to the cost of the original system. While not all systems can accommodate these options, they are listed below:
Density Meter
This equipment can display the amount of media in the water and can be a warning of if the level of the medium is too high or too low. The meter reflects this via a simple visual test.
A clear pipe displays the slurry inside it. You can then stop the slurry at any time which will settle on a small valve. You can then visually verify how much medium settles in the pipe as a percentage of the water.
This add-on can reach as high as $1,000 for the appropriate equipment to install on a machine.
Immersion Heater
An immersion heater heats the water before vapor honing begins. This increases the comfort for the user as well as improving the effectiveness of a medium to degrease and clean a piece of equipment. Attaining one of these important upgrades for your vapor honing machine can reach as high as $375.
Two-Stage Cartridge
This is an option for closed-loop water systems to gives you an extra level of filtration. It stretches 5-micron thick paper across the basin to catch any water that has run off and captures any detritus instead of leaving it in the water. This equipment can cost up to $250 to include.
Track n Car
A Track n Car is a $2,000 add-on that comes with a turntable and allows you to lift heavier parts into the machine. You can place items onto the turntable before you move it and the items into the machine.
Turntable
You can buy a turntable on its own for inside the vapor honing machine. It gives you extra control of heavy objects. This can reach prices of $650.
460 / 480 Volt Power Adapter
This adapter is for American power supplies. It adjusts the power to suit the available outlet sockets in the USA. It can run up to $1,000 but may be a mandatory addition depending on your power supply.
How Much for Ongoing Costs
Once you have the vapor honer itself, that does not mean the costs are over. The costs over time for continued running and maintenance of the machine can soon stack up. You must understand how much this could come to over time so that you can budget for it.
Custom Gloves
The rubber gloves inside the vapor honer can start to wear away over repeated use. This is especially true if the honer is also used for dry blasting with sand and other similar abrasives.
You should buy new gloves every six-to-twelve months depending on the kind of abrasive you use. They can run for approximately $50 for a single set. If you choose to get a two-person vapor honing machine, this will naturally double.
New Machine Window
Once per year or thereabouts, the windows of your vapor honor may start to need replacement. This will be due to the honing efforts affecting the integrity of the panes themselves. Depending on your provider, these can reach between $50 and $75.
Blast Hose
Every year or two, the many hoses used in the vapor honing machine will need replacing. This will be as their internals strip away due to the abrasive.
Hoses will set you back anything between $50 and $150 for a full reel. Such a reel should allow for several replacements. The amount that you use will depend on how frugal your use of the hose is over time.
Blast Nozzle
The nozzles used in vapor honing vary in terms of the construction material. These different materials lead to a variety of different costs as well as how long they will last. In general, the denser materials will last longer, allowing you to leave longer before replacing them.
The softest nozzles are a form of ceramic. A nozzle built of this material tends to wear away faster than other types. They are also the least expensive.
This fact makes them an acceptable nozzle for soft media which will not wear them away fast. Alternatively, they are good for low-output facilities, or for hobbyists who will not be using the machine quite as much.
Ceramic nozzles can run between $5 and $20 for a replacement and the frequency by which you replace them will entirely depend on the media used.
Compared to ceramic nozzles, tungsten carbide provides a much longer-term solution. They have a significant increase in durability but match that in being a more expensive option. Tungsten carbide nozzles go for between $30 and $120 depending on where you buy them.
Silicon carbide is another leap up in quality. Its durability is such that it can last over twice as long as tungsten carbide. They sell for between $100 and $140 each, so such a significant jump means you may have to consider if you want to go for cheaper or longer-lasting in this case.
The most expensive nozzles are the most durable and can last a very long time depending on how often you use them. These are Boron Carbide, which can last up to seven times as long as tungsten carbide. They cost anywhere between $40 and $140 for a single nozzle.
Mediums
The materials you mix with water to start the vapor honing process can run into being a costly choice. It depends on how you use them and how often.
You should remember that you have the option of reusing a medium using a closed system and a two-cartridge filter. If you do this, you will be able to avoid using up too much in a short time and continue to make use of your vapor honer for cheaper costs. However, the up-front cost for such a system may be too much for a hobbyist user of a vapor honing machine.
Also, you need to remember that some mediums are recyclable numerous times even after their use. In general, glass or metal slag are ones you should clean up after using them. This makes them one of the cheaper mediums.
You can use others, such as aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, or steel shot anywhere between fifty and one hundred times. This allows you to buy them once and not need to worry for a long time about whether you need to replace your supply.
Silicon glass beads
These are a very common medium for vapor honing. They come in a wide variety of sizes, and you can capture some of these sizes of bead via filter processes. Glass beads are perfect for many processes, including cleaning, finishing, and removing small burrs.
Glass beads are also one of the best options when it comes to the process of peening. You should, however, be aware that some authorities may have specific requirements on peening equipment.
Aluminum Oxide
This medium can be more expensive in the short-term but has benefits over time as you can use it again and again. It is one of the hardest materials available, meaning its strength as an abrasive is high. Also, due to its low level of iron, you do not need to worry about rust remaining on surfaces after you have treated them.
Finally, if you can reclaim the Aluminum Oxide, many manufacturers can recycle what you use and will pay for its uplift. This can reduce your ongoing costs a significant amount if you use a lot of it.
Ceramic
One of the highest quality abrasives you can use in a vapor honing machine by far. Ceramic is a very dense abrasive meaning its lifespan in a vapor honing machine is 30 times that of a dry blasting machine. Ceramic being very dense means that the impact of the abrasive is greater due to the fully filled particulate of abrasive. Ceramic bead will also travel with more energy meaning you will not use as mush compressed air as you would with glass bead.
Plastic
Plastic abrasives are perfect for use in aerospace initiatives. This is because they allow for the cleaning of the equipment without altering the metallurgy of what is being treated.
Plastic is also a non-cutting abrasive and as such will only remove an outer layer of paint or grease. Thus, you can have the assurance that the product at the end of the process has not reduced in size after treatment. This may be imperative if your client requires accuracy to the level of microns, such as advanced medical or scientific equipment.
Stainless Steel Shot
Steel shot is also considered a non-cutting abrasive. Despite this, it remains one of the strongest and hardiest media around.
It has significant recyclability and you can use it over one hundred times before needing replacement. This makes it a very strong investment long-term.
You can also use it at pressures of up to 130 PSI. This means it can strike any material you are working with very hard to deal with some of the strongest problems you may face.
Where Can I Find Out More?
As seen above, purchasing a vapor honing machine is a significant investment. We recommend doing a lot of research into exactly what you want before you buy. Not only are there a large number of machine options themselves, but the choice of add-ons and media can make the decision one that has many facets.
To start investigating what works best for you and your workshop, we would recommend you contact us. Our specialists are on-hand to answer any query you might have.
