Normal operation

In the following normal operation, a certain amount of the additive, with adhering oil and grease particles, is continuously removed from the process by dust extraction and by the air flow separator.
For a stable process this amount must be constantly re-filled, at best as continuously as possible.
One requires around 0.5 - 1 litre of additive per wheel and hour of blasting and for pneumatic blasters also around 0.5 - 1 litres per blasting tube and hour of blasting.

For adding manually it is necessary to ensure a good possibility for mixing the additive with the blasting shot, such as by adding to a return-flow screw conveyor for the blasting media.
For process reliability reasons, the automatic metering with a doser is preferable.

Regularly performing a process control, for example when possible by repeating the water penetration test, provides simple quality assurance support. The blasting process can be evaluated at any time according to the requirements for the blasted surfaces on the basis of the required penetration time, the seepage behaviour of the water, and, if necessary, altered according to the blasting results: for example, a maximum penetration time of 60 seconds in the field of surface preparation for corrosion protection coatings.

The values, such as amounts of additive, penetration times and capability of wetting with water, must be empirically determined individually in each process set-up. These are based on the expected amounts of oil and grease on contaminated workpieces and the required results. This results in a so-called operating point for this part of the process, which is then defined and reproducible.