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Friess Equipment, Inc.

Finishing & Cleaning Equipment Specialists – Since 1963

Blasting Cabinets

Pro-Finish Blast Cabinets

If your operations involve cleaning with chemicals, acid etching or dipping, liquid honing, wire brushing, sanding, deburring, grinding or peening, moving up to a Pro-Finish® cabinet will normally expedite work, improve quality and eliminate the environmental problems associated with chemical finishing.

Built for production blasting, these rugged cabinets enable you to perform a long list of tasks ranging from blending surface flaws to removing foreign matter, such as carbon from pistons, without affecting tolerances. By simply varying air pressure and blast media, you can perform almost any surface finishing job more quickly and precisely than with alternative methods.

Pro-Finish cabinets can be specified with either suction or pressure blast systems – a pressure system being the preferred choice for faster production and more precise control of media at both high and low operating pressures. In addition, they are available in seven sizes and loaded with standard features that reduce operating and maintenance costs.

Modular design, plus an extensive range of factory options, lets you select a system that's just right for your applications.

Modified Blast Cabinets

If your application is highly specialized, you can take advantage of the benefits of a Pro-Finish system. We can economically tailor a cabinet to meet your specific needs and reduce lead times over custom engineered purpose-built equipment.

Empire Modified Pro-Finish® Cabinets are re-engineered to meet individual work piece and process requirements.

If you are confronted with a unique application or want to accelerate production rates through partial automation, Empire can meet your needs. Empire has created hundreds of modified cabinets to satisfy focused customer needs in a wide range of industries.

ProFormer™ Cabinets

  • Consolidate all Systems in One Enclosure
  • Move Easily between Work Areas
  • Hook Up with Only Two Connections

Empire ProFormer™ cabinets put it all together in a single assembly that's easy to move and simple to hook up. These cabinets require only two connections, air and electrical, and include features offered in our high production Pro-Finish® line. Plus, they come in two sizes: the 3642 with interior working dimensions of 36 inches deep by 42 inches wide by 48 inches high and its bigger brother, the 4652, with working space of 46 inches by 52 inches by 48 inches.

Both include a tunable media reclaimer, capable of recycling a variety of abrasives, and a cartridge-type dust collector, monitored by a minihelic gauge, contained in the same enclosure as the cabinet, along with all electrical and pneumatic interconnections between components. Forklift slots are also provided, making these units easy to move between work stations.

The dust-collector filtration system is designed for easy maintenance. Filters can be pulse-cleaned with the press of a button. When filters need replacement, they can be changed quickly and cleanly with a twist of two nuts. The filters slide into the cabinet where any loose dust falls into the cabinet, not onto the work floor.

Designed for production blasting, these versatile cabinets enable you to perform multiple tasks. You can clean or peen and perform almost any finishing job in between by simply varying air pressure and blast media.

These rugged cabinets can be specified with either suction- or pressure-blast systems and a wide range of standard factory options.

Rolling turntables, designed to expedite loading and processing, are just one of many standard factory options available with ProFormer™ cabinets.

Ergo-Blast Cabinets

    • Reduce Operator Fatigue
    • Extend Productive Working Hours

    Ergo-Blast cabinets accent the scope of Empire's Pro-Finish® line, the world's most rugged, reliable and versatile blast-cabinet system. By focusing on operator performance, Ergo-Blast cabinets give manufacturers an edge in many hands-on processes.

    Designed for sit-down blasting, these ergonomic cabinets include a padded armrest, an elevated foot rest for treadle control, top-entry piping for less arm stress, a sound dampener to reduce noise and a front mounted pressure regulator – all aimed at improving operator comfort and performance during long, repetitive blast cycles.

    In addition to supporting operators, Ergo-Blast cabinets include all Pro-Finish® features, such as a tunable media reclaimer which adjusts to recover a wide range of abrasives. You also have the choice of a pressure or suction blast system, three methods of dust collection, and many options to fit your specific application.

FaStrip® Blast Cabinets

      • Strip Delicate Surfaces Fast
      • Eliminate Hazardous Chemicals

      Empire's FaStrip® cabinets provide a safe, efficient alternative to chemical stripping and cleaning of parts. Designed specifically for use with plastic media, FaStrip cabinets strip coatings from metallic and composite materials quickly and thoroughly without adverse effects on substrates. Materials on which these plastic media cabinets create the necessary etch for superior bonding of new coatings include Alclad and anodized aluminum, titanium, steel, Kelvar, fiberglass, carbon graphite and magnesium.

      Built for non-stop production, our rugged FaStrip cabinets combine a tunable reclaimer with a highly efficient dust collector to improve finishing results and reduce media costs. These units also incorporate Empire's patented Sure-Flo® Media Regulator to assure smooth, consistent flow of plastic abrasives. All FaStrip cabinets can be ordered with a variety of factory options designed to meet your particular application requirements.

      High-intensity lighting, a venturi blast nozzle with lightweight blast hose, and abrasion resistant operator gloves boost productivity.

Basket Blasters

BB2 & BB4 Basket Blasters

  • Accelerate Finishing of Small Parts
  • Process 300 Pounds Plus per Cycle
  • Deliver Repeatable Results

Empire's BB2 and BB4 Basket Blasters automate cleaning, peening and finishing of small workpieces. With certain types of parts, no other finishing method can compare to these heavy-duty production machines in terms of speed and quality results.

Operation is simple: Load parts into the unit, set the precision timer, and the Basket Blaster does the rest. By tumbling parts within abrasive blast streams, these machines deliver consistent finishes – automatically.

Empire's heavy-duty Basket Blasters feature an unloading chute to speed parts handling and a polyurethane-lined media reclaimer supported by rugged ductwork to reduce maintenance requirements.

Two models are available: a BB4-3K with a 350-pound parts capacity and three pneumatically controlled oscillating blast nozzles that increase production rates while reducing power consumption, and a smaller BB2-3K unit with two fixed nozzles and a capacity of 300 pounds.

Continuous-Belt Air Blasters

  • Batch Finish Parts up to 24″ Long
  • Process 800 Pounds per Cycle
  • Deliver Consistent, On-Spec Results

Empire's Continuous-Belt Air Blasters process multiple parts with the speed and economy of our Basket Blasters while expanding the envelope of tumble blasting from nuts and bolts to heavier work pieces.

Our CB-3.5 machines, available with either pressure or suction blast systems, automate cleaning, peening, deburring, profiling, finishing and many other surface conditioning tasks. Plus, they handle a vast range of parts formed from casting and injection molding, as well as the molds used to produce the parts. Often, no other finishing method can compare to these heavy-duty production machines in terms of speed and quality results.