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Government · Miami, FL
Military Vehicle Ice Blasting
Military Vehicle is one of the jobs dry ice blasting was made for. We clean it without water, without chemicals and without anything abrasive touching the surface.
What builds up, and why it matters
On this kind of work the problem is carbon, corrosion product, paint and accumulated field grime on fleet and facility equipment. Public equipment is kept long past the point where replacement is easy, so cleaning has to preserve what is underneath rather than wear it away.
Scheduling works around the department's own operating hours and approvals. The people who call us about military vehicle are usually fleet supervisors and facility managers, and the thing they are actually worried about is damaging equipment that is difficult to replace or re-certify.
The method
Why dry ice and not the alternatives
- Non-abrasive
Sand and soda wear the surface down along with the dirt. Dry ice uses cold to break the bond, so the metal under it stays as it was.
- Low moisture
Nothing gets wet, so nothing has to sit and dry. The time saved goes straight back into running the equipment.
- No secondary waste
The pellets turn to gas, so you are left with one thing to deal with: the dirt we took off.
- Often no teardown
Panels, guards and assemblies can often stay put. The nozzle reaches into recesses, so the hours normally spent stripping a machine down go back to production.
More government work
Related jobs we get called for
Questions we get asked first
Will it damage the surface underneath?
On metal, painted parts and most finishes, it does not. The process is non-abrasive. Where we are less sure, an old coating or a soft alloy for example, we try it somewhere hidden and look before going further.
Do you have to take the equipment apart for military vehicle?
In a lot of cases, no. The pellets get into corners and recesses that a brush or scraper cannot reach, so most of the cleaning happens with everything still bolted together.
How much mess does it make?
Some, because the grime has to go somewhere. It falls where we have planned for it to fall, and picking it up is part of what you are paying for.
Do you come to us?
We come to you. Moving a machine is usually the expensive part, so we skip it and bring the cleaning to the machine instead, anywhere across South Florida within about a hundred miles of Miami.
What does a job cost?
We price every job on its own, because a greasy engine bay and a carbon-caked oven are different work. Guessing over the phone helps nobody. Send the details and one of the owners comes back with a figure we will stand behind.
How soon can you look at it?
That depends mostly on your calendar. If a line is coming down for maintenance, give us the date and the window, and we will tell you right away whether the rig can be there for it.
The comparison
What the alternatives actually do
- Media blasting
It takes the top off whatever it touches. That is the point on rusted plate and the problem everywhere else.
- Pressure washing
The water has to go somewhere, and on most equipment that somewhere is inside it.
- Solvent and degreaser
Trades the deposit for a residue, plus ventilation and waste to deal with, and it is hard on the finish.
- Hand scraping
Fine on a patch, hopeless on a machine, and the blade leaves its own evidence.
- Dry ice
Cold breaks the bond and the media vanishes. The substrate is untouched and there is no second mess to clean up.
What comes off
What this takes off
The method does not care much what the contaminant is, only that it sits on top of something. Here is the usual list.
- Paint and coatings
Selective removal, layer by layer, on parts where media blasting would cut into the substrate.
- Salt and corrosion product
Salt deposit and the oxidation it starts. Anything abrasive removes the protection along with the salt.
- Ink and printing residue
Dried ink on precision roller faces, cleaned without altering the cell structure that does the work.
- Food residue
Carbonized product, fat, starch and sugar build-up on processing equipment, cleaned without chemicals touching a food contact surface.
- Grease and oil
Oil film is the layer everything else sticks to. Remove it and half the job is already done.
- Carbon and soot
The hard black crust on a housing, an oven or a weld cell. Bonded by heat, and the first thing to release under thermal shock.
- Adhesive and sealant
Sound deadening, tape residue, gasket material and sealant that has cured onto a face it was never meant to stay on.
How a job runs
The sequence, start to finish
There is no mystery to how these jobs run, and no part of it we would rather you did not ask about.
- We blast, then clean up
The media disappears on contact; the contaminant does not. Gathering what came off is included, not a line added afterward.
- You look before we pack up
Walk it with us before the hose goes away. A second pass while the compressor is still running costs nothing; a return visit costs us both.
- You describe the job
This first conversation is mostly us asking questions. Where does the equipment sit, and is there a window when it can stop running? Send pictures if you have them. When dry ice is not the answer, we tell you before anything is booked.
- We look at access and containment
Where anything sensitive sits nearby, containment comes first. It is shielded and the area is kept dry, which is one reason this method suits that kind of work.
- We test a small area
Aluminum, chrome and painted steel each have their own limits. We find each one’s limit on a corner out of sight, then work the visible areas inside it.
Before we turn the rig on
Everything the rig needs arrives with it. No tap, no drain, no outlet.
We cover what should not be hit before anything gets blasted. It takes minutes and saves arguments.
No toxic fumes and no film are left on your equipment. What we do manage is oxygen, because CO2 gas fills an enclosed space as the ice sublimates. Ventilation is set before anyone starts blasting.
The process is loud. Hearing protection is standard for anyone in the working area, which is why you will see ear defenders in most of our photographs.
Tell us what needs cleaning.
Keep it short. Describe the job, add a photo if you have one, and expect a call from an owner.