Don’t get confused between steel shot and steel grit. They are both abrasive finishing media. The difference is the shape. Steel grit has many jagged edges and is a much more aggressive abrasive medium in comparison to steel shot.
Steel shot is made from steel casting. The manufacturing process for steel shot is relatively simple. A molten hot mixture of high grade steel scrap and only select alloys are put through a series of water jets. When the water and steel meet, the hot metal is atomized. When it is atomized, it forms spherical pieces in a variety of sizes or grits.
Steel shot is very popular because of its superior hardness. Also, it has many different uses. It is great for removing rust and scale, cleaning, peening metal surfaces and polishing.
Steel shot is often used for finishing steel. It gives the surface of metal a smoother and more polished finish. When it peens, steel shot removes contaminants from metals. It also prepares metal surfaces for painting and other coatings.
Steel shot comes in many sizes. They range from coarse grit used to eliminate scale and rust to fine steel shot used for polishing. Just like with all other types of abrasive media, when choosing steel shot for a job, you need to select the right grit to guarantee that it meets your needs.
Depending on the application, steel shot is usually mixed with a choice of blasting media. Choose the blasting media based on the desired finish you want to achieve. The blasting media that are usually combined with steel shot are glass beads, aluminum oxide, steel grit and walnut shells.
Steel shot is a popular abrasive medium because it is very hard, versatile and economical. Some of the sectors it is commonly used in are steel fabrication and marine industries, automotive as well as in commercial and industrial painting projects. Steel shot is often used in steel bridges and structures to get steel surfaces prepared for painting.
Steel shot is a very durable abrasive media. It has many benefits and applications. By choosing the right grit of steel shot for your job, you can achieve a high quality finish.
At BlastAndTumble.com, we offer 3 grit sizes of steel shot. We offer 70, 110 and 170 grit.