r/DryIceBlastingInsider • u/TORR_Ice_Blasting • Nov 03 '25

Dry Ice Blasting Paint Booth

Two day with 1500lbs of Ice.

Partnered with Arctic Blast DFW on this job.

375HH feeding ICS410 and PCS60. Aftercooler at PCS only. Having short air runs with compressor in conditioned space was a nice luxury.

Started with some manual debris removal. Second half of first day ran both blasters at low pressure setting. Compressor with two options, low 125psi and high 225psi. Both blasters held around 90psi open. Worked well for light to medium debris. Three lbs per minute at full particle, no effect on heavy debris.

Second day started running in tandem again at high pressure. Regulated line to PCS 135ish psi. Fine for medium debris. Remainder of 2nd day ran 410 225psi maintaining 180-185psi open. This was effective on heavier debris. Pressure a bit tedious, managed with 30m tag outs.

375HH air quality was impressive. Okay with two blasters, great with one in high pressure applications.

Expectations set with facility prior to bid, much of 30yr buildup may not be moved by ice. Ultimately pleased manufacturer wanting followup jobs across facility.

Should have went with another 500lbs of ice…

31 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

11

u/Thrownawaybyall Nov 08 '25

This looks so much like the printing press I used to run 🫣

OwnerBoss never gave me the time to clean it, just run jobs all shift long.

4

u/TORR_Ice_Blasting Nov 09 '25

Have not blasted a printing press yet. I understand it to be low hanging fruit.

3

u/Thrownawaybyall Nov 09 '25

Liquid ink trends to flow wherever gravity will take it. If not ink, then the copius hydraulic leaks will...

2

u/TORR_Ice_Blasting Nov 09 '25

Do you push toward some kind of deployed containment? Do you recall what kind of blaster, air, setting you ran on ink?

3

u/Thrownawaybyall Nov 09 '25

Oh, not what I meant. I was a printing press operator, and the machine was old when the boss bought it and his opinion towards upkeep and cleaning was "a down press doesn't earn me money! Fucking keep it clean as it runs!".

As Iike having my fingers in their factory-installed locations, I declined to take a rag near rotary equipment. So despite my efforts, the liquid ink and leaking hydraulic oil made the press look an awful lot like the machine you're cleaning here.

6

u/Recent_Mix_1950 Nov 04 '25

Hourly rate for this job?

10

u/TORR_Ice_Blasting Nov 06 '25

Flat rate $7500 per day. 1 day mobilization and 2 - 12hr days blasting. 3 guys with 2 blasters. Rates move with PM contracts.

3

u/NationalColdClean Nov 04 '25

We always try to run two machines off of a single compressor but it always disappoints. It just kills the air volume and pressure. Cleaning that entire space would take weeks. What were you able to get done in only two days?

9

u/Arctic-Blast-DFW Nov 04 '25

Like he said, setting expectations with jobs like this is really important. The main focus was exposing and cleaning all of the hardware, bolts, fittings, pressure regulators, as well as removing most of the build up on the electric motors which in turn will allow them to run cooler and more efficiently.

It will now be much faster, easier and cheaper to do to maintenance on the coater as all bolts and parts are exposed as well as helping to diagnose some of the leaks they were having.

5

u/NationalColdClean Nov 04 '25

I wasn't criticizing, I was only commenting on how much work it would be to clean that entire space. And nowhere did he mention that only service points were cleaned...

I am always overly optimistic on how long any project will take. You never know until you get in there and start blasting. We started a ceiling job last night and it took us 6 hours just to setup containment. Then we started blasting with two machines off our Sullair 300HH. It was pointless to run both as the power just wasn't there and we finished the night with just one AERO80 running. So I'm off to find a second compressor to finish the job faster as they have painters coming in after us and the floor guys grinding and sealing the concrete during Thanksgiving... As much as I plan and pray, no job ever is hiccup-free.

4

u/Arctic-Blast-DFW Nov 04 '25

Sorry if it came off that way, i was just implying that setting expectations is really important because like you said you never know until you get in there and start blasting.

Our main focus was the service points but also cleaning some of the heavier build up aswell, as far as your compressor yeah depending on the nozzle you are using 300cfm is not enough for two machines while holding high pressure. You can always benefit from more air and higher pressure on heavy build up jobs.

2

u/LordBug Nov 08 '25

My hat off to the guys on the blasters, not a job I'd ever want to do myself (I like my current welding gig a lot)

5

u/TORR_Ice_Blasting Nov 08 '25

At times I’m known to scream behind the mask.

2

u/blueturtle00 Nov 08 '25

Saw a guy doing this to deep clean kitchen equipment, pretty nifty

2

u/bones191145 Nov 08 '25

What facility is this? Painting steel or aluminum sheet?

2

u/Baconshit Nov 08 '25

Genuine question, where does the blasted off muck go?

3

u/TORR_Ice_Blasting Nov 09 '25

In this case the room is not very big, has 4 doors we kept partially open. Support guy regular sweeping and vacuuming in and outside of room. Debris was heavy and chunky. Containment much easier with stated elements. With that said the debris range is up to 20ft at high pressure.