A Japanese shipyard now uses a pneumatic Bristle Blaster® Ultimate with a tungsten-carbide-tipped disc to remove thick coating and rust from its working decks. It replaced chipping hammers after a demonstration showed how much faster the disc takes the build-up off.
Shipyards are used to MontiPower tools on hulls. This job was on the yard itself: the decks and working platforms where crews walk, park equipment and work every day. Years of coating layers and corrosion had built up, and the crew removed it with chipping hammers: slow, loud and hard on the hands and arms.
| Customer | Shipbuilding company, Japan |
| Surface | Working decks and platforms with thick coating and rust |
| Before | Chipping hammers |
| Tools | Bristle Blaster® Ultimate Pneumatic with disc attachment; Bristle Blaster® belt for finishing |
The demonstration
MontiPower Japan demonstrated on the deck itself. The tungsten-carbide-tipped disc, running on the pneumatic Ultimate, took off build-up that MontiPower Japan's footage shows at around 5 mm of coating and corroded steel, noticeably faster than the chipping hammers. Compressed air is everywhere in a shipyard, so the pneumatic drive fitted straight into the existing set-up. The customer adopted the tool for its deck maintenance.
Remove, then finish
Where the area is to be recoated, the same drive unit takes a Bristle Blaster® belt for the second step: the disc removes, the belt cleans and profiles the steel to a Grade 1-equivalent finish.
Why it matters
Decks that are kept sound are safer to work on and last longer: prevention rather than cure for the yard itself. Replacing the chipping hammer means less vibration, less noise and less strain for the crew (People). No blast media means nothing to sweep up and dispose of next to the water (Planet). And a tool that runs on the yard's existing air supply gets the work done faster with what is already there (Power).
Still using chipping hammers? Ask us for a demonstration on your own deck or structure.
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