Industries — Materials Handling
Abrasive Blasting & Coatings for Materials Handling Equipment
Materials handling equipment fails by being hit, scraped and loaded rather than by simply weathering, so the coating question is about impact and abrasion as much as corrosion. We blast and coat this equipment in house at our Bayswater workshop, where the blast room takes large items and forklifts and cranes are available for moving them — which matters, because handling gear is usually too heavy or awkward to prepare properly in a general workshop.
What we handle
Typical materials handling items
The range is broad: conveyor frames, stands and support structures, chutes and transfer points, trailers and tray bodies, skids and equipment frames, bins, cages and stillages, racking components and uprights, guardrails, bollards and dock hardware. Some items are new builds going out for the first time; most have been in service and carry a mix of intact paint, chipped edges and rusted contact points.
That mixed condition is the reason blasting is worth doing rather than overcoating. Patching new paint over damaged old paint leaves the failure where it started, and on equipment that gets knocked daily the new coat lifts at those edges within months. Taking the surface back means the whole item starts from the same place.
- Conveyor frames, stands and chutes
- Trailers, tray bodies and decks
- Skids, equipment frames and machinery bases
- Bins, cages, stillages and trolleys
- Racking components, guardrails and bollards
Coating systems
Which coating systems tend to suit this work
Systems for handling equipment are generally chosen for toughness and visibility rather than appearance. These are the families most often specified.
| Coating family | Where it commonly comes up |
|---|---|
| Zinc | A common first coat on blasted steel structures where corrosion protection must survive the coating being damaged. |
| Epoxy primers | Widely specified for adhesion and corrosion resistance under a hard-wearing topcoat. |
| Epoxy and polyester | Considered where impact and abrasion resistance is the deciding factor. |
| Polyurethanes | Durable, colour-retentive finishes — useful where safety colours or fleet colours must hold up. |
| High builds and finishes | Where specified film thickness is required over primer on exposed structures. |
| Alkyd primers and finishes | General-purpose protection for equipment in milder, indoor exposure. |
This is general guidance rather than a recommendation for your item. We apply specified and non-specified systems — if you are working to a paint specification, send it through and we will work to it.
Preparation
Surface preparation considerations
Handling equipment tends to arrive dirty in a way that other industrial work does not — grease from bearings and drives, product residue, oil films and, on anything road-going, accumulated road grime. Heavy grease and oil should be removed before the item comes to us, because blasting over contamination drives it into the surface rather than removing it.
Moving parts and fittings need a plan too. Rollers, bearings, chains, drive components, hydraulic rams, decals, electrical fittings and wear liners either need to be removed before the item is sent or clearly identified so they can be masked. It is also worth telling us if the item has a designated wear surface, such as a non-slip deck, that needs a different treatment from the rest.
All blasting and coating happens in house at 46 Malvern Street, Bayswater. We do not offer mobile or on-site blasting, so items are dropped off or sent by courier and collected once finished.
Services
Services used for materials handling work
Garnet Abrasive Blasting
The main process for handling equipment — it removes damaged coatings, rust and product build-up from frames, decks and structures in one pass.
About Garnet Abrasive BlastingProtective Coatings
Tough multi-coat systems applied in house, including safety and fleet colours over a corrosion-resistant primer.
About Protective CoatingsGlass Bead Abrasive Blasting
For aluminium components common on trailers, trays and lighter handling gear, cleaned without cutting into the substrate.
About Glass Bead Abrasive BlastingTwo items already on the site sit squarely in this category: the beaver tail trailer, blasted then finished in a two-pack zinc phosphate epoxy and polyurethane system with a non-slip deck, and the genset frame, blasted and finished in a comparable system.
See the gallery →Questions
Materials Handling FAQs
Remove bearings, rollers, chains, hydraulics, electrical fittings and anything else that should not be blasted or coated, or identify them clearly so we can mask them. Heavy grease and oil should also be cleaned off first, since blasting drives contamination into the surface rather than removing it.
More general questions are answered on our FAQs page.
Talk to us about your materials handling job
Send photographs, dimensions and any paint specification you are working to, and tell us whether you will drop the item off at Bayswater or need transport arranged.