How Much Does Vapor Blasting Cost

Industries everywhere are turning to vapor blasting for their product finishing needs. Read on to find out more about vapor blasting cost.

Vapor blasting efficiently cleans the surface of your products and offers a phenomenal surface finish. This finish improves the adhesion of protective coatings to enhance the protection of all of your product surfaces. Compared to other finishing processes, vapor blasting is the most effective and time-efficient option on the market.

With so many advantages, many companies wonder how much does vapor blasting cost?

The truth is, vapor blasting is affordable. There’s an endless number of vapor blasting options available to fit any industry need, preference, and budget.

You can choose to hire a vapor blasting service to help you with your finishing needs or vapor blast your products yourself. Factors such as blasting use, type of abrasive media, time, and supply cost will affect your overall vapor blasting cost.

Are you curious how much vapor blasting will cost? Here’s a breakdown of vapor blasting costs and tips on how to cut those costs!

How Vapor Blasting Works

Vapor blasting or wet blasting is the process of mixing an abrasive media with water and propelling it onto the surface of a substrate. The water and media work together to gently remove surface contaminants such as old paint, rust, oxidation, and grease from the surface of the product.

A perk to vapor blasting is it’s an all-in-one blasting service that cleans and finishes the surface of a product. Other blasting methods, such as dry blasting, require separate cleaning and surface preparation steps which takes more time and causes blasting costs to rise.

The media and water mix forms a slurry that effectively removes surface contaminants upon impact. Vapor blasting also reducing dust and other airborne particles from contaminating the air.

This vapor-based blasting process is safer for both the blasting professional and the product. The water acts as a cushion upon impact, reducing the ricochet angle of the abrasive media particles. The particles create a lapping effect across the substrate’s surface leaving a smoother satin finish.

Compared to dry blasting, wet blasting creates a finer finish with an even surface texture. This finish minimizes damage to the product you’re blasting and offers plenty of adhesion for new protective coats.

Vapor blasting is a fantastic option for cleaning and finishing your products. It’s fast, cost-effective, and safe to use on most surfaces.

Abrasive Media

Abrasive media is the key ingredient to blasting, cleaning, and finishing the surface of your product. The media comes in a variety of materials, shapes, sizes, and densities to fit any blasting need and purpose.

Large angular media with a high density, such as aluminum oxide, is more abrasive than small round glass beads. This blasting media is aggressive will blast through tougher surface paints and contaminants faster and is best for stronger

Smoother and softer abrasive media, such as small round glass beads or plastic beads are less aggressive. While they’ll effectively remove surface coatings and contaminants, this media is gentler on sensitive materials, such as wood, soft metals, and some plastics. They’ll also produce a finer surface texture and are great for polishing certain materials.

The type of abrasive media you choose will influence your vapor blasting cost.

Abrasive Media Costs

There are many types of abrasive media available for you to use in your next vapor blasting project. Each media type varies in price based on the material, recyclability, and the amount needed for your project.

The media material will determine the cost. Garnet abrasive media is a gemstone that works great for blasting tough substrates with thick coatings or heavy corrosion. Garnet is also one of the most expensive abrasive media available.

Glass beads are also very effective at blasting but a better choice for softer materials. Glass beads are much cheaper and recyclable, further reducing the cost.

Your blasting project will determine the type of abrasive media needed for your blasting project. For best results, choose the softer abrasive media option. This will prevent unwanted damage and repair costs to the product you’re blasting.

Factors Affecting Vapor Blasting Cost

There isn’t a single price point that fits every vapor blasting project. Factors, such as the size, complexity, and material of the products along with the blast media will affect the costs. Some projects will take longer to vapor blast, thus raising the cost.

While there isn’t a specific cost for vapor blasting, the following factors will help you decide on the most cost-effective vapor blasting solutions.

Vapor Blasting Project Scale and Frequency

Is this a one-time blasting need or will you need to regularly vapor blast products? The scale and frequency of your blasting projects will have a great impact on vapor blasting costs.

If you’re a company that needs to vapor blast a few products a few times a year, it may be more cost-effective to work with a professional blasting company.

If vapor blasting is an integral and regular step in your product production process, investing in in-house vapor blasting may save you more money.

Each option has its set of advantages and disadvantages. Using a vapor blasting service doesn’t require you to hire vapor blasting professionals, secure vapor blasting supplies, and maintain those supplies. Professional vapor blasting services will base costs on the time it takes to blast products, the abrasive media, and labor.

Professional Vapor Blasting Service

When choosing to vapor blast your products, you have a couple of options. You can work with a professional vapor blasting service to blast your products for you or you can do it yourself.

If you don’t have the skills or supplies, working with a vapor blasting service will be the best choice.

A professional vapor blasting service already has the supplies and skills necessary to vapor blast your products. This saves you time and money as you won’t need to purchase the vapor blasting supplies nor train employees on how to vapor blast different materials.

Vapor blasting services usually base costs on the blasting time and the abrasive media used. Take note, the costs will vary depending on the product shape, material, and whether the surface needs cleaning before finishing. That said, there isn’t any standard fixed price.

Most professional vapor blasting services will charge based on the time it takes to blast the media. Larger intricate pieces will take more time and therefore cost more compared to smaller simpler pieces.

The blasting cost-per-hour varies from business to business. Some companies may start at $50 per hour to $100 per hour along with a minimum time requirement, usually around 30 minutes. Other factors such as the type of abrasive media used will also affect the cost.

Unless you live or work near a professional vapor blasting company, you’ll need to ship your products to the blasting company. Shipping costs can get incredibly high depending on the size and number of parts you’re shipping to blast. Keep shipping costs in mind as you weigh your blasting options.

Advantages of Vapor Blasting Services

Working with a professional vapor blasting service ensures your products result in a perfect finish every single time. Vapor blasting

Some services offer protective coating services in addition to blasting. Taking advantage of these services can save time and cut costs as you’ll be working with the same blasting and painting company.

The other major advantage is you don’t need to hire blasting specialists or purchase vapor blasting supplies. Professional blasting services already have the skills, knowledge, and tools readily available for blasting.

They’ll also help you decide on which type of finish and abrasive media works best for your blasting needs. This reduces the risk of damage to the surface of your product as well as ensures proper adhesion of any protective coatings you add.

Cut Vapor Blasting Service Costs

The longer it takes for a vapor blasting service to clean and finish your products, the greater the cost will be. Fortunately, there are few tips you can follow to keep costs low.

By simply choosing vapor blasting over other cleaning and finishing options, you’ll reduce cleaning and finishing costs. Vapor blasting cleans and finishes substrate surfaces making it a one-step process.

Dry blasting, for example, requires additional cleaning methods before and after as the particles can lodge into the surface of the product. Vapor blasting leaves the surface clean and particle-free.

Before sending your parts to a vapor blasting service, dismantle and prepare them for blasting. This involves removing gaskets, bearings, seals, and anything else that doesn’t require blasting.

Another option to reduce costs is to clean your products before blasting. Removing most contaminants like old paint, rust, and grease will cut down the time required to vapor blast the product.

Many companies and individuals will have the vapor blasting service clean their products for them. Cleaning parts with vapor blasting is often faster and sometimes cheaper than cleaning it yourself.

Reducing the amount of prep work for the blasting service will help keep costs low.

In-House Vapor Blasting

Vapor blasting is a skill that takes time to learn and requires proper vapor honing supplies and safety gear. Businesses that frequently need to clean and finish products through vapor blasting may cut long-term costs by investing in in-house blasting.

Supply Costs

Opting for in-house vapor blasting will require you to purchase vapor blasting supplies. These supplies include:

A vapor blast cabinet or honing machine
Vapor blast nozzles
Vapor blasting compressor
Turntable (optional)
Power Upgrades to your building
Abrasive Media

There are many types of vapor blasting systems including manual blast cabinets, automated systems, and robotic systems. Blast cabinets are perfect for smaller products and indoor-use.

Automated and robotic blast systems are for businesses that have a frequently high volume of similar products. They’ll blast more products in less time compared to manual blast systems.

Vapor blasting supplies and systems range in price, with automated and robotic systems costing the most.

Then, there’s the matter of maintenance. If you’re using a blast cabinet, you’ll need to maintain and replace the gloves and cabinet window along with the blast hoses and blast nozzles. All consumables in a vapor honing cabinet will last 8-10 times longer than any dry blast cabinet.

Blast Nozzles and Hoses

Blast nozzles take a greater beating and have a lifespan based on hours of service. Ceramic nozzles are the most affordable and will wear the fastest, requiring more replacements. Boron and silicon carbide nozzles are much more durable and require fewer replacements.

The type of abrasive media you use will also affect the life of your blast hoses and nozzles. More aggressive blast media will wear down vapor blasting tools and supplies much faster than softer media.

Cabinet Gloves and Window

Expect to replace your blast cabinet window about once per year. Keep an eye on the window gasket as they will need replacement every few years as well.

Blasting gloves will need replacing once per year depending on how often you use the blast cabinet. The size and durability of the gloves will affect the price. Expect to pay around $50 for a new pair of blasting gloves.

Advantages of In-House Vapor Blasting

If you’re regularly vapor blasting your products, having an in-house vapor blasting specialist can cut long-term costs and reduce blasting turnaround time.

After you’ve paid the up-front supply costs, in-house blasting allows you to blast products as-needed for a fraction of the cost. Therefore, labor costs will be lower as you can pay employees rather than hiring a company. Another benefit is you’ll cut costs by not having to ship or transport your products to a vapor blasting company.

If you need to vapor blast a high volume of products including those of varying shapes and sizes, opting for an in-house vapor blasting machine will save you money over time.

You Determine Your Vapor Blasting Costs

There are many factors influencing vapor blasting cost. Cut your vapor blasting costs by identifying the size, frequency, and requirements of your project’s blasting needs. Doing so will ensure you pick the right vapor blasting method for your company and your budget.

Have questions about vapor blasting supplies or services? Let’s get in touch! We’re happy to help you with all your vapor honing needs!