Las Vegas, Nevada — 3M’s Automotive Aftermarket division is all set up at the 2021 SEMA Show, touting the company’s brand new Net Abrasives and an overarching motto of “Dust is the Enemy,” 3M Application Engineer Specialist Nick Oberle told Collision Repair mag.
In a collision repair setting, most understand dust to be a mere nuisance. It clouds visibility, introduces the odd coughing fit and wreaks havoc on paint jobs if not extracted properly. The dust formed when sanding vehicle surfaces are barely visible to the naked eye; it can present a health issue for your technicians if not extracted properly.
“Most fail to understand that sanding creates both heavy dust and fine dust,” explained Oberle. “The heavy dust falls to the ground; the fine dust hangs in the air. Anyone that takes off their PPE immediately after sanding can be breathing in that fine dust.”
While there’s no concrete estimate on how many collision centres are taking the necessary precautions against dust, Oberle estimates it’s somewhere around 20 percent in the United States.
The company brought both the new 3M Cubitron II and the 3M Blue Net Abrasives to SEMA, a brand-new line of sanding discs it says offer prime dust extraction properties, thanks to 3M’s innovative mesh technology.
In addition two times the cut-rate and two times the life of other leading net abrasive families, 3M says the Cubitron II’s open net structure provides a virtually dust-free environment–up to 95 percent or higher in dust extraction performance, says the company.
Oberle said it was important for 3M to attend SEMA this year to showcase its new technologies and ensure the collision industry is armed for the waves of change likely to come.
“At 3M, we develop ahead-of-the-curve technologies that can handle the vehicles of today in addition to models of the future.”
For more information on 3M’s Cubitron Net Abrasives or the Festool Dust Extraction systems, click here.
3M Net Abrasives will launch in Canada in early 2022.
