Preparing metal with the power tools from MontiPower

Prepping metal for paint

Metal surfaces are known for their long life and the little maintenance it requires. Nevertheless, for optimal results, it is not unwise to regularly prepare, treat and possibly repaint metal. Are you planning to repaint your house, for example? Then you will also encounter many metal parts. Frames, pipes, gutters; they are all metal surfaces that you will have to repaint. Fortunately, metal is a surface that is extremely suitable for applying paint, provided this is done in the right way. Applying paint to metal requires the necessary surface preparation. It is important to clean and sand the metal well. Of course the old paint layer has to be removed, but the metal surface also has to be cleared of rust, mill scale or other dirt. If this is not done properly, the new paint layer will not adhere well to the metal, causing it to come off and peel off sooner or later. A good metal preparation for paint is therefore essential in order to achieve a perfect result.

What to clean metal with before painting?

Preparing and cleaning metal prior to painting has several phases. To start with, it is important that dirt, paint, mill scale and other coatings are properly removed. But what is the best way to clean metal before painting? There are a number of different options available, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

Traditionally, metal is cleaned and prepared by means of blasting prior to the application of a paint layer. Blasting is the application of a combination of air and an abrasive under high pressure in order to clean the metal and remove coatings and dirt. Different abrasives can be used for this purpose. The original and best known form of blasting is sandblasting, but over the years many other blasting techniques have been developed. These include glass or corundum blasting, as well as wet blasting.

Sandblasting and blasting with other abrasives are widely used techniques because of the effective effect they have. Because of the great force with which the abrasive is applied to the metal, dirt and coatings are thoroughly removed. Because this is done at such a high pressure, the metal surface is also given a profile by the violent impact of the abrasive that can be used as a bonding layer for the new paint layer to be applied. All these advantages of blasting suggest that it is the ideal way to clean metal for painting, but nothing could be further from the truth. Blasting, in addition to the advantages that it offers, also has its disadvantages.

Disadvantages of metal prepping before paint

Nevertheless, as the years progressed and sandblasting was used more and more frequently, a lot of disadvantages of sandblasting came to light. For example, several dangers of sandblasting were discovered. These dangers lie mainly in the fact that the grains of sand disintegrate into small pieces, which means that the sand can be inhaled easily and unnoticed. These tiny grains of sand, and especially the tiny particles of quartz incorporated in the blast sand, can cause very unpleasant, serious and even fatal health problems when they come into contact with humans. So, on the one hand, it makes sandblasting not only very effective for dirt to be removed, but on the other hand also very unhealthy for humans. Partly because of this, blasting with quartz sand has been banned in most countries for quite some time.

Because of the ban on sandblasting in many countries, other blasting methods have been developed in recent years. Problem solved, you might say, but blasting with glass, corundum or mist also has its disadvantages. As mentioned, blasting is a very persistent method of metal preparation. This makes the more fragile surfaces unsuitable for preparing with blasting agents. In addition, blasting makes it a precise job, which ideally should always be performed by a professional. This makes grit blasting not only difficult and time-consuming, but also a very expensive job to perform.

Prepping metal for paint with MontiPower power tools

Because of the aforementioned disadvantages of blasting with sand and other abrasives, MontiPower went in search of a suitable alternative. After all, there had to be a more convenient and more efficient way of preparing metal surfaces, right? With the Bristle Blaster® and MBX®, MontiPower now offers the alternative to sandblasting. These manually operated power tools offer all the advantages of traditional blasting methods and are also the solution for all the disadvantages they entail. The Bristle Blaster® and MBX® are 100% safe for both people and the environment, as no material is used under high pressure. Also, MontiPower’s power tools are very easy to operate. This ensures that you can simply use the Bristle Blaster® and MBX® yourself, saving you not only a lot of time, but also money.

How does metal prepping work with the Bristle Blaster® and MBX®?

The Bristle Blaster® and MBX® work using a specially developed, patented technology. MontiPower’s power tools are characterized by a rotating brush with curved brush tips. These brush tips are designed in such a way as to work the metal surface with a kinetic energy comparable to traditional sandblasting. In addition, the power tools are equipped with a so-called ‘accelerator bar’ which the brush tips get stuck behind for a short time during rotation. This very brief hitch in the rotation ensures that the tips penetrate the metal surface with extra high force. This not only cleans the surface of dirt, rust and coatings very easily and effectively, but also creates a microprint that serves as an adhesion surface for the paint to be applied.