“I’ve been looking a long time for a solution like this,” says Felipe Salazar, owner of ACCU-TAC, about his new Clemco 4-Gallon Tumble-Basket Blast Cabinet. ACCU-TAC manufacturers high-end firearm bipods, scope rings, and other firearm accessories. “We had been running two Raptor manual blast cabinets with two operators, with overtime and even nightshifts” Felipe explains. “But now with our new Clemco cabinet, it’s so efficient that most days we run out of parts to put in it. It won’t be long until the machine pays for itself.”
Felipe goes on to explain that blasting that would take five hours with two operators each working one of the Raptor manual cabinets now takes one hour in ACCU-TAC’s new 4-Gallon Clemco Cabinet. “That’s a 400% increase in productivity!” Felipe exclaims. “And we’ve had the machine only a little over a week!”
ACCU-TAC’s 4-Gallon Tumble-Basket Blast Cabinet arrived the first week of August. It uses fine glass bead to finish batches of parts usually less than an inch long, many of the parts the size of marbles. The parts are components in rifle bipods, the bread and butter of ACCU-TAC’s business. Typically, ACCU-TAC’s shop runs six 10-minute batches or four 15-minute batches of these parts per hour to remove machine marks and create a matte finish, for a total of about 1,300 parts an hour.
“We are still experimenting with the process,” Felipe shares,” but it’s important that we do everything in house so that we maintain control over quality and delivery time, and blasting is essential to our process. Blasting with our Clemco cabinet is a huge savings in labor costs, and the quality of the cabinet’s construction and output are outstanding. I’m loving it.”
“Felipe runs a state-of the art shop with a CAD/CAM system and 12 Haas CNC machines” says Sean Jewett, who has worked for 15 years at Kleen Blast and currently works at its location in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., where ACCU-TAC also is located. Kleen Blast is a Clemco distributor and one of the West Coast’s largest distributors of abrasive blasting media and equipment, and it has four other locations on the West Coast. “I showed Felipe videos Clemco has on its website on how to operate and set up the 4-Gallon Tumble Cabinet in addition to Clemco’s print literature,” Sean explains. “I knew the machine would be a great fit for Felipe because his business is growing so fast, and he is dedicated to using automation.”
ACCU-TAC’s firearm accessories now are sold across the United States and in 28 countries around the globe, as far away as Australia. But it wasn’t always that way.
“I’ve always been a gun enthusiast,” Felipe says, “but shooting gear can get so expensive, and sometimes the quality isn’t there. In my twenties I worked in machine shops, and I felt I could make better equipment for myself, so I made my own bipod. People at the shooting range I went to asked me about it. They ended up being my first customers.”
Felipe went on to sell his bipods on eBay, began cold calling local gun shops, and then renting booths at weekend gun shows. Sales grew. In 2015, Felipe formally incorporated ACCU-TAC, and now ACCU-TAC has 15 employees.
“I still work in the shop when I can,” Felipe says. “Because machining was my first profession, I knew I could make high-quality firearm accessories people would want. I’m grateful to the people who have supported me along the way and to Clemco and Sean at Kleen Blast for helping me jump to the next level. I will be buying several bigger Clemco cabinets soon.”
Check out our video of Kleen Blast at the SSPC Coatings+ Conference 2020 in Long Beach, CA.
The conference host – the SSPC (Society for Protective Coatings) – is the leading source of information on surface preparation, coating selection, coating application, environmental regulations, and health and safety issues that affect the protective coatings industry.
Since its founding in 1987, Papua New Guinea Air has been cleaning its aircraft wheel parts by hand, using a slow and expensive chemical stripping system. Recently we were contacted by this regional airline after seeing our website on Google. Mr. Fabian Renne, Supply & Logisitics Training Coordinator at their Port Moresby office explained that in 2015 they acquired a new fleet of ATR 72-600 turboprop aircraft, with more due in this year, and his team was looking for a better method of cleaning the wheel hubs. The professionals at KLEEN BLAST recommended a proven dry blast technology with the newest entry in the field: a CLEMCO / ZERO SHOP-MATE ECONOMY SUCTION CABINET, custom built utilizing a filter-bag style dust collector and a 50Hz electric motor to accommodate the grid Down Under. Using 12/16 T2 Urea plastic media, they report a significantly improved turnaround time with more uniform results than ever before. In fact, the SHOP-MATE is “the duck’s nuts” says Fabian. You can’t get much better than that!
Long it reigned as L.A.’s “Taj Mahal of Misdeeds”. It stood proudly since 1926, swathed in white Sierra granite, molded in the august beaux arts style. Then after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Los Angeles Hall of Justice was Red Tagged and abandoned due to structural damages. Its 14 floors of courtrooms, jail cells, and coroner tables mothballed till a plan of proper restoration could be funded
KLEEN BLAST is proud to be part of this historic project. Working with our distributor HD SUPPLY, we supplied Kleen Blast Engineered Abrasive (copper slag) and plastic blasting media, as well as six new Axxiom/ Schmidt portable blasting pots to MILLER ENVIRONMENTAL and LVI ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES.
Who would miss this landmark building registered as a national historic site, a place many hated and others cherished? The walls and halls where “Perps” were held till justice and punishment meted out held many famous and infamous memories. It was here that Robert F. Kennedy was officially declared dead after his assassination at the Ambassador Hotel. Where RFK’s killer, Sirhan Sirhan, was tried and convicted. Serial cult killer Charles Manson was said to have complained about his “Stone Age” cell. Actor Robert Mitchum (August 6, 1917– July 1, 1997) — being held after a 1948 pot bust— chose to spruce up his cell block, mopping floors for the news cameras. LA Justice Hall RestorationOutside, Harold Lloyd used the iconic buildings Italianate columns as a back drop in many of his one reel comedies; inside, Errol Flynn and Charlie Chaplin had slumped through sex and paternity cases.
Beneath the cellar of the hall lay sanctified criminal ground. The lot was known as “Pound Cake Hill” where bordellos stood in the late 19th century; in 1870 half the LA Police force was wounded or left dead in a gunfight on the site. It was said that and even the building’s mice were first class thieves, habitually entering the evidence room and consuming baggies of pot and contaminating evidence!
The $300 million restoration stripped the interior down to steel beams using full containment and media blasting.
ON THE “ROCK” WITH KLEEN BLAST
Alcatraz Guard Tower Restoration Project 2013
The tower is one of the few first historic structures immediately seen when landing at the dock on the legendary Alcatraz Island. “It stands a centurion watch over the main road and tourists arriving Alcatraz Island,” describes Jasun Boles, Bara Infoware Site Superintendent and Quality Control Manager for the Alcatraz Dock Guard Tower preservation project. Kleen Blast supplied blasting media and equipment for the project. I got a chance to get down to some nitty gritty about the project and here is a snapshot of what we talked about.
Sherry: For a job this size, what type of blasting material was used and how much does a job like this require?
Jasun: “Approximately twelve thousand pounds of blasting media was estimated. Our choice….30/50 Brite Blast. We used 50# palletized bags because it was easier to handle the material in the containment, keep the work area clean, and it’s far more accurate for record keeping of work completed vs material quantity left on hand.”
Sherry: I like Brite Blast — It is a ‘green product’ where typical beer bottles and other glass disposed into home recycling bins has been repurposed for blasting media. Best of all, it is silica free!
Jasun: “Yes, which makes it safe for the men using it! The application and clean-up is a whole lot less meticulous!”
Sherry: Why did you select Brite Blast media for the job?
Jasun: “After talking with the Kleen Blast team, we selected Brite Blast because of the product’s eco…”green” nature, and to meet our required painting profile and project specifications. “
Sherry: What is being blasted off, and the desired profile?
Jasun: “We were removing a two coat, non-lead based paint system which had varying degrees of corrosion after 20 years of exposure to salt air and shade which kept residual moisture from drying off the surfaces. We wanted to obtain a brush blast SSPC-SP-7 finish over areas which had not been affected by corrosion. A 2.5 mil profile with a SSPC-SP-6 commercial blast was achieved on the corroded areas. Due to varied conditions of the steel’s surface, many areas of the SSPC-SP-6 reached an average 3 mil profile!”
Sherry: What were some of the tricky things or special considerations on this job?
Jasun: “Working on any island presents several unique challenges: physical, environmental and positive public relations.
Sherry: How has Kleen Blast made this job easier?
Jasun: “Kleen Blast has been amazing. While setting up the order, they answered all questions and made sure every part and piece was compatible with each other, our equipment and project spec’s. Kleen Blast had everything necessary for this project or sourced it immediately.”
Sherry: Kleen Blast provides customers with a full service operation……abrasives, equipment sales, parts, rentals, and spent abrasives recycling….
Jasun: “We bought our Bullard Air Compressor, 1” id air supply lines, debris bags and Brite Blast media from Kleen Blast. The ‘spent media’ was tested through the sister company, Kleen Industrial Services. They recycle the spent media (abrasives) when the project is completed. It’s easy and we don’t have to handle any of that! We would definitely rent from and continue purchasing from Kleen Blast.”
Sherry: I am glad to hear you have done well by the Kleen Blast full service business!
Jasun: “I highly recommend Kleen Blast to anyone looking for an industrial/ commercial supplier of abrasive blast media, rental/purchase of blasting equipment and KIS recycling! We will definitely rent from and continue purchasing from Kleen Blast.”
Sherry: Sounds like Kleen Blast is “With You To The Finish!
