In overhead conveyor machines, the products to be blast cleaned are suspended on hooks and taken into the blasting chamber. The hooks can have auxiliary platforms or additional hooks for smaller pieces, in the shape of a Christmas tree. The hook will rotate and move back and forth as the blasting spray hits it inside the blasting chamber.
When the pre-set blasting time has been reached, the wheel blasting will end and the doors of the chamber will open. The blast cleaned pieces are removed, and new products are loaded onto the hooks.
The optimal size of the wheel blasting chamber is determined by the size of the blast cleaned pieces and the necessary capacity. The heights of the pieces can vary between 1,000 and 3,000 mm. They can have an axial diameter of 600–2,500 mm. A single piece can weigh up to 10 tonnes.
Overhead conveyor
The overhead conveyor can be a straight bracket, in which case the machine will only have one product hook. The overhead conveyor can also have a Y shape, in which case the machine can have two product hooks. A machine equipped with dual hooks will have a higher capacity. One hook may be unloaded and reloaded while the other is inside the blasting chamber and wheel blasting is in progress. This increases the blasting capacity of the machine.
The overhead conveyor may also be of a drive-through type. In this case, the wheel blasting chamber has doors on both sides, allowing for the product to be transported through the chamber.