How does the MagTrack Blast Can enable closed vacuum waterjetting?

The MagTrack Blast Can enables closed vacuum waterjetting by housing a vacuum dome mounted directly in front of the robotic crawler’s four-wheel carrier. This dome seals against the work surface, so high-pressure water is applied and immediately recovered together with all loosened debris, preventing any effluent from escaping into the surrounding environment. The sections below unpack how the system works, what surfaces it suits, and when operators should choose it over conventional open jetting.

How does closed vacuum waterjetting differ from open waterjetting?

Closed vacuum waterjetting contains all water, debris, and contaminants within a sealed enclosure during the jetting process, while open waterjetting releases effluent freely onto the surrounding surface and into the environment. In closed systems, a vacuum unit runs simultaneously with the high-pressure pump, drawing spent water and dislodged material away from the blast zone the moment it is generated. The result is a dry, clean surface left behind rather than a wet, contaminated one.

In open waterjetting, operators direct a high-pressure lance or rotating nozzle at the target surface, and the resulting slurry runs off freely. This approach works well in many outdoor or well-drained environments, but it creates real challenges whenever contaminated runoff cannot be permitted, when working at height or in confined spaces, or when the project specification demands a completely dry surface immediately after cleaning.

Closed vacuum waterjetting addresses all of these scenarios at once. Because the system operates at pressures ranging from 500 to 3,000 bar “7,250 to 43,500 PSI”, it delivers the same aggressive surface preparation performance as open jetting while simultaneously collecting every drop of process water. The practical implication is that surface cleanliness grades equivalent to Sa 2.5 or higher can be achieved without the secondary task of managing runoff, which is a significant operational advantage in sensitive or regulated environments.

How does the MagTrack Blast Can contain and collect effluent?

The MagTrack Blast Can contains effluent through a vacuum dome fitted to the front of the crawler carrier. The dome forms a close seal against the steel surface being treated, creating an enclosed chamber around the active jetting zone. A connected vacuum unit continuously draws negative pressure inside that chamber, so water, rust, old coatings, and any other debris are pulled away through the recovery line the instant they are dislodged.

The dome design is the critical element. It must maintain consistent contact with the work surface even as the crawler moves, which is why the system is engineered specifically for steel substrates where the magnetic drive wheels hold the carrier firmly in place. The combination of magnetic adhesion and vacuum suction means the dome stays seated without manual pressure from an operator, and the jetting nozzles inside the dome can work at full operating pressure without risk of blowback or spray escaping the enclosure.

Once collected, the water and debris travel through the vacuum line to a separator unit where solids are separated from the process water. Depending on site requirements and the nature of the material being removed, the recovered water can be filtered and recirculated or directed to an appropriate waste treatment point. This closed-loop approach significantly reduces the volume of contaminated waste that needs to be managed, lowering both disposal costs and environmental liability.

What surfaces and geometries is the MagTrack Blast Can designed for?

The MagTrack Blast Can is designed primarily for flat and slightly curved steel surfaces. The magnetic crawler wheels generate the adhesion force needed to keep the system tracking reliably, which means the substrate must be ferromagnetic steel. Typical applications include ship hulls, storage tank walls and floors, structural steelwork, offshore platform decks, and large-diameter pipework where the curvature remains within the system’s operational tolerance.

For more demanding geometries, the Curved Blast Can variant extends the system’s reach to highly curved surfaces with a radius of up to 3 meters “approximately 9.8 feet”. This makes it well suited to smaller storage tanks and the pronounced curves found along ship hull sections, where a flat-dome tool would lose its seal. The modular nature of the MagTrack platform means the carrier remains the same universal unit, and operators swap the appropriate blast can attachment to match the geometry of the job.

It is worth noting that the system is not intended for non-ferrous substrates such as aluminum, concrete, or composite materials, because the magnetic drive mechanism requires steel to function. For those surfaces, alternative surface preparation methods remain the appropriate choice. Within its design envelope, however, the MagTrack system covers a wide range of industrial steel structures that represent the majority of heavy maintenance work in petrochemical, energy, and maritime sectors.

What safety advantages does vacuum containment provide in high-pressure jetting?

Vacuum containment in high-pressure jetting eliminates direct operator exposure to the active blast zone, which is the single greatest source of injury risk in manual waterjetting operations. By enclosing the jetting nozzles inside a sealed dome and moving the system robotically, no person needs to hold or direct a high-pressure lance while jetting is in progress. This fundamentally changes the risk profile of the operation.

Organizations including SIR in the Netherlands, EWJI across Europe, WJA in the United Kingdom, WJTA in the United States, and DIRV in Germany all publish guidelines that identify lance handling, overspray, and effluent exposure as primary hazard categories in waterjetting work. Closed vacuum systems directly mitigate all three of these categories simultaneously.

Beyond the direct injury risk, vacuum containment provides additional safety benefits that are easy to underestimate:

• Slip and fall prevention: Open jetting creates wet, slippery surfaces across wide areas. Vacuum recovery keeps the surrounding deck or scaffold dry, reducing slip hazards for everyone working nearby.
• Contaminant exposure control: When removing lead-based paint, marine fouling, or chemical residues, the sealed system prevents airborne or waterborne contamination from reaching workers or the surrounding environment.
• Noise and visibility: Enclosing the blast zone reduces noise propagation and eliminates the spray mist that can reduce visibility on a working platform.
• Fatigue reduction: Robotic operation removes the physical strain of sustained lance handling, which is a contributing factor in many waterjetting incidents caused by operator fatigue.

Together, these factors make closed vacuum waterjetting a substantially safer working method at any pressure within the 500 to 3,000 bar “7,250 to 43,500 PSI” range, compared with equivalent open jetting operations.

How does the MagTrack system integrate with existing waterjetting equipment?

The MagTrack system integrates with existing waterjetting equipment through standard high-pressure connections and a separate vacuum line, meaning most sites can operate MagTrack alongside their current pump infrastructure without replacing it. The crawler is electrically driven and controlled remotely, so the primary additions to an existing setup are the vacuum unit, the control console, and the MagTrack carrier with the appropriate blast can attachment.

On the water supply side, the system accepts input from high-pressure pumps operating across the full range of 500 to 3,000 bar “7,250 to 43,500 PSI”, and the equipment is engineered to meet both metric and SAE standards, which matters for teams working across different regions or regulatory environments. This dual-standard compatibility means the same MagTrack unit can be deployed on a European refinery project and then shipped to a North American shipyard without requiring different fittings or adapters.

The modular design of the carrier is a practical integration advantage. The same base unit that carries the Blast Can can also be fitted with other tool heads for different cleaning or surface preparation tasks, so the capital investment in the carrier is shared across multiple applications rather than being dedicated to a single use case. Our engineering team at DERC Salotech supports integration planning, including custom-made configurations for unusual equipment layouts or site-specific requirements.

When should operators choose the MagTrack Blast Can over manual jetting methods?

Operators should choose the MagTrack Blast Can over manual jetting when the work surface is a large, accessible steel structure, when effluent containment is a regulatory or environmental requirement, or when the risk level of manual lance operation is unacceptably high. It is also the right choice when project specifications demand a clean, dry surface immediately after jetting rather than a wet one that must be dried before coating can begin.

More specifically, the Blast Can becomes the clearly superior option in the following situations:

• Large surface areas: Manual jetting of extensive steel surfaces such as ship hulls or tank floors is slow, fatiguing, and inconsistent. Robotic operation delivers uniform coverage at a consistent standoff distance and travel speed, producing more repeatable surface preparation results.
• Hazardous coatings: Where the existing coating contains lead, asbestos-bonded compounds, or other regulated substances, vacuum containment is often a legal requirement rather than simply a best practice.
• Confined or elevated work areas: Locations where managing open effluent runoff is impractical, such as elevated structures, enclosed tanks, or areas adjacent to water, make closed vacuum jetting the only workable option.
• Immediate recoating schedules: When the project timeline requires coating to follow immediately after surface preparation, the dry surface left by vacuum waterjetting eliminates the wait time associated with drying a wet-blasted surface.
• Operator safety priority: Any situation where reducing direct human exposure to high-pressure jetting is a priority, whether driven by risk assessment, regulatory requirement, or company policy.

Manual jetting retains its place for smaller, complex, or irregular areas where a robotic crawler cannot maintain adequate contact or maneuver effectively. In those cases, the MagTrack can still be used for the large accessible sections while manual methods address the detail work, giving teams the best of both approaches.

How MagTrack helps with closed vacuum waterjetting

If your operations involve large steel surfaces, regulated contaminants, or strict surface cleanliness requirements, the MagTrack Blast Can brings together everything needed to work safely and efficiently in one integrated robotic system. Here is what it delivers in practice:

• Full effluent containment through a sealed vacuum dome, keeping the work area dry and compliant
• Operating pressures from 500 to 3,000 bar “7,250 to 43,500 PSI” to match the surface preparation demand of any steel substrate
• Modular tool compatibility, including the Curved Blast Can for surfaces with radii up to 3 meters “9.8 feet”
• Dual metric and SAE standard compatibility for seamless deployment across global projects
• Remote electric drive that removes operators from the active blast zone entirely
• Backed by over 40 years of Dutch engineering expertise and a global presence in more than 55 countries

Whether you are preparing ship hulls, storage tanks, or offshore structural steel, the MagTrack system is engineered to make closed vacuum waterjetting safer, faster, and more cost-effective than manual alternatives. Explore the MagTrack system in detail, or contact our team to discuss the right configuration for your specific application.