Wheelabrator: blast wheel upgrade halves cycle times for blasting system
A 40-year-old overhead conveyor blast machine at a Spanish foundry was converted to "Titan 15 Smart" Wheelabrator blast wheels. The modernization halved the blast machine's cycle times and tripled its service life.
Fudike, an iron foundry in Ibarra, northern Spain, has significantly improved the performance of its existing non-Wheelabrator overhead shot blast machine by upgrading to Titan 15 Smart blast wheels from Wheelabrator. A full blast cycle now takes just 5 minutes instead of 11, and the team can achieve 2300 blast hours from a single set of blast wheel blades - more than three times the life of the previous blast wheels. Fudike specializes in brake discs for rail transport. These are desanded and cleaned in an overhead conveyor system from 1985 with three indirectly driven 11 kW blast wheels. Dissatisfied with the service life of the wear parts of 670 blasting hours and the 11-minute blasting cycle, the Fudike team was looking for a modernization. They quickly narrowed their choice down to the Titan 15 Smart blast wheel from Wheelabrator, a direct-drive blast wheel with cast wear parts for lighter foundry applications - i.e. for engine outputs below 22 kW.
Wheelabrator modernization brings immediate results
The Fudike team quickly saw the results of the modernization. With just one blast wheel converted to Titan 15 Smart, the cycle time was reduced from 11 to 8 minutes. Based on this immediate effect, Fudike purchased and installed the remaining two blast wheels and has been operating the modernized system since February 2024. Since then, the machine has not only run more than three times longer without having to change the throwing blades, but the blades can now be replaced in 30 minutes per blast wheel instead of a full hour. Juan Martija, responsible for plant maintenance at Fudike, on the results: "The impact on operating costs is truly amazing. Thanks to the fast blasting cycles, the system only has to run for half the time to process the same number of workpieces. And yet the blast wheels give us three times the blasting hours. The new blast wheels have long since paid for themselves."
Blast wheel upgrade makes blasting system more economical
The short amortization time of the blast wheel upgrade shows the enormous influence that blast wheels have on the operating costs of blast wheel blasting processes. Wheelabrator has therefore invested heavily in its blast wheel portfolio to provide customers with cost-optimized solutions that offer maximum blast operation improvements at the lowest cost - tailored to the blasting task and operating environment. This thinking has resulted in Titan 15 Smart - a blast wheel that is suitable for foundry environments, offers exceptional durability for lighter applications and is also incredibly easy to maintain.