Memorial Day for a lot of people is the start of summer, a day of barbecues, and outdoor recreation. Traditionally, Memorial Day is a day we take the time to pay tribute to the men and women of the armed forces who lost their lives serving our country.
Most of us will not attend any of the memorial services over the weekend. I just hope we do not get wrapped up in the gala of a four day holiday weekend and forget those who made the supreme sacrifice.
Many of our cities and towns will have some Memorial Day ceremony. Some of the activities EXAIR employees will participate in include walking in a parade, distributing flowers on veteran gravesites with their 4H club and enjoying family and friends. We encourage you to find out what your community (or one near by) is doing and participate. At the very least, take a minute to think about those who fought for your opportunity to choose whatever you will do over this weekend.
My hats off to all of our lost defenders - Thank You!
Earlier this week I was in a conversation with our Nicaraguan distributor, Optima Industrial. We were discussing the results of a recent exhibition, products gaining traction, and the direction in which the market is headed. During the recent exhibition in Nicaragua, one customer came to the Optima display booth exclaiming “Wow, you have real toys for engineers!”. I’ve heard that before, and it’s always a pleasure to hear it again.
Fast forward two days to a phone call from an injection mold company, and the theme came up again. The end user on the other end of the line had an application that needed to be cooled, and the choice was split between a Super Air Knife and a Super Air Amplifier. In this particular case, the Air Amplifier would have moved a great deal of air, but the complexities of the surface area to be treated meant that a wider, laminar airflow pattern was more beneficial. So, a series of Super Air Knives on the top and sides of the molded item were chosen.
But, as the conversation carried on, we got into the topic of the Cold Gun.
“How does it work?”
“The Cold Gun uses the same technology as a Vortex Tube. A compressed air supply travels through the Cold Gun and separates into two distinct air flows. One hot, and one cold. We offer the Cold Gun as a turn-key solution for an application needing point-of-use cold air.”
“Amazing. I’m sure we need one of those around here. Add one of those to the PO too.”
It’s a great feeling when someone shares excitement for the same things you do. Usually we share that with our end users. This week, it was the end users sharing it with us.
Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE
Fool’s Gold, or pyrite, is a mineral with a superficial resemblance to gold.
Here at EXAIR, we are always trying to get better at helping our customers. You can see that in our award winning products, and you can see it in our never-ending quest to improve our service levels. We are always testing, measuring and verifying our performance, whether it’s our products or our service. We always want to know how we are doing and that we are delivering what we promise to our customers.
And, of course, we always want to know how we stack up against our competition. We constantly benchmark ourselves against others. In that spirit, we test a LOT of products from other companies and compare them both with our own products and against the specifications promised by the manufacturer. One recent test was eye-opening, and should point out the perils of trusting in “Fool’s Gold”…
Well, it LOOKED pretty good coming out of the box. It was shiny. It had a decent finish, despite some questionable design choices. It had the appearance of a tool with some utility. The manufacturer had chosen to publish specifications for this product that were, not coincidentally, slightly better than our specs for that sort of product. This isn’t surprising – other companies are always trying to match EXAIR, although most fail in that regard. An unsuspecting buyer who chose to purchase this product based on those specifications would be terribly disappointed once they put this particular item into service, however. You see, as often happens, this product of inferior design and substandard workmanship couldn’t deliver what its manufacturer had promised. That is not to say that it delivered LESS than the manufacturer said it would. No, it delivered much, much MORE than advertised…
At an inlet pressure of 80 PSIG, this product consumed 49.6% more compressed air than its manufacturer claimed. And the noise level? It was 13.7 dBA louder than promised. To put that in perspective, the increase in noise level would make the product seem more than twice as loud as one that performs as promised.
Over promising and under delivering are a common problem in many industries. In this case, the broken promises are bad enough, but these unrealistic performance claims carry along with them very real costs. This product consumed about 67 SCFM more than advertised. That means it was wasting 67 cubic feet of compressed air every minute it was in operation. This equates to over 160,000 cubic feet of compressed air wasted each week by just one unit running during an eight hour shift, five days per week. That’s over 8 million cubic feet of compressed air wasted each year for every one of these units that are put into operation.
To put that into monetary terms, an unsuspecting buyer of this sort of inferior product would be wasting nearly $2100 per year per unit in unexpected operational costs simply because the manufacturer could not deliver what they promised.
Wasting $2100 per year in order to operate a tool that is supposed to save you money is an unwelcome and unwanted surprise. Imagine that waste multiplied across a plant-wide installation. Facility managers would be coming with pitchforks if they knew this was going on in their plants.
Don’t be fooled by Fool’s Gold that isn’t what it seems to be and doesn’t deliver what it claims.
Here are some tips from the History Channel to help identify Fool’s Gold.
On April 2, 2013, I wrote about my big Springtime Project. It is now a month and a half later and I have successfully completed my first “boot job” as they call it. I put the boat in the water last weekend and was so proud………….it didn’t sink! Admittedly, I did keep it on the trailer while in the water at the ramp for about 15 minutes though and checked all round in the engine compartment to make sure nothing was coming through. As many of you know, it is always a good feeling of achievement when you dig into something you know little about, research it and are able to make a successful repair. I did check with the repair department at a local marina and found out that it would have cost $1,400.00 to have them do it. Since I was able to do it for less than half of that in parts cost, that just reinforces benefit of doing it myself. I asked a lot of questions before and during the process and received a lot of good advice.
At EXAIR, I have recently fielded some questions about some of our newer products to help dispel any misnomers and bring to light some of the differences between the various models so customers can make an informed decision when they begin to look at our products and aren’t quite sure what to think…….much like me and the boat project.
One customer had asked me, “I have a lot of pneumatic actuators, a couple of Air Knives and some E-vacs on a compressed air line. I would like to mount a Digital Flow Meter to the line to know how much air we are consuming. Is it OK to permanently install the Digital Flow Meter or should I only use it on a temporary basis?”
The answer is that the Digital Flow Meters are intended to be installed permanently on a pipe for continued monitoring of compressed air flow for as long as the line is in service. In fact we have other accessory items such as the Summing Remote Display and the Data Logger which aid in monitoring flow over longer time frames.
Another customer asked, “You have quite a few different Industrial Vacuums for solid material pick-up, how do I know which one will work best for my material? Is there a specific particle size range that each should be used for?”
The answer is that all of our solid pick –up, Industrial Housekeeping products: Chip Vac, Heavy Duty Dry Vac and Heavy Duty HEPA Vac can pick up most any solid materials as long as they will fit into the hose without clogging it. Think of the Chip Vac as our standard duty unit, the Heavy Duty Dry vac as the Heavy Duty pick-up unit and the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac the one that gives the best all round performance and can also work to filter very fine dust particles down to 0.3 micron at 99.97% efficiency.
In effect, all of our Industrial Vacuums are well suited for shop and industrial type uses. However, if you are the type of person who wants a bit more power, then HD Dry Vac and HD HEPA Vac are for you. If you have a large quantity of a very fine dust you are working with and don’t want to be clogging your filter bag immediately, then the HD HEPA Vac is our newest and best offering.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. We make every effort to allow people to contact us in a variety of ways, so keep them coming. We can walk you through and help you get to a good point in your project.
In support of those who used slide rules, comptometers, and bumper jacks…
My son was helping me clean out the basement when we came across my old slide rule. He asked what it was so I demonstrated how it worked. He looked at me with a blank stare and said ” Dad are you serious! Why not just use a calculator!” I told him because calculators were not around until the early 70′s. Then all they could do is add, subtract, multiply, and divide.
To preserve the legacy of the trusty slide rule, I challenged him to a math problem. He would use the calculator and would I used the slide rule. I won because it took fewer motions than it does with tapping a multitude of buttons on the calculator.
As an engineer, I embrace all new technology. Admittedly though, old technology is not totally useless and should not be regarded as irrelevant. Most new technology is spawned from the old. Wind power is as old as Don Quixote. Today’s wind turbines are simply a more efficient design in harnessing wind to generate electricity. Amateur Radio was a popular way to talk around the world. With the advent of the internet and cellphones the novelty has waned. That’s not to say Ham Radio should be mothballed. In the case of a natural disaster, or if the internet would be hacked by enemy forces, a pool of people with radio transmission skills will be called upon.
So in summary, new may be better but it does not make old useless. Preserve the old and glean from it new and improved technologies.
This has been a busy week; here at EXAIR and at home. Between Mother’s Day on Sunday, EXAIR Softball Practice on Tuesday and Thursday, some new product releases and finally ending tonight with a night of me watching my daughters while my wife enjoys a night out with friends.
First, for Mother’s day I found a project to build a squirrel feeder out of a fence post and glass jar. So I built the feeder and the present from our daughters is that they get to decorate it with their mom. (The squirrels are lucky that we don’t own a bedazzler …yet).
Second, as my blog last week mentioned, the Softball team is coming together. A good number of us went to a local field and hit the ball around for a few hours Thursday. It was nice to leave all the titles behind and just be a group of friends playing ball. I do have to mention that so far we have had no injuries, other than lots of soreness from unused muscles.
Third on the list is that EXAIR is offering a full line of No Drip Atomizing Liquid Spray Nozzles now, if you have a precious liquid, or if you can’t have over spray or dripping of the liquid then our No Drip Nozzles are the solution to your problems. The new nozzles don’t require an extra valve or separate air line. Simply install it just like any other Atomizing Spray Nozzle from our line and then when the air pressure reaches 30 psig the internal valve will open allowing liquid flow. Simply turn off the compressed air to stop the flow and not a single drip of liquid will escape.
As for tonight, the plans will be determined by a three year old and I will simply be the chauffeur.
I currently drive a 12-year-old minivan. I’ve been pretty good about keeping up with the preventive maintenance on it, and aside from a little rust on the fenders and stains in the carpet, it’s not too much worse for the wear. In fact, it’s going to have to get a whole lot worse to make me consider a monthly car payment again.
The only real repair issue I’m facing with it right now is a seal leak on the power steering rack & pinion. Although it’s a very slow leak, I’m well aware that it’s probably not going to fix itself. In fact, I know for sure that it’s going to get worse, and the day is coming when I’ll have to do something about it. The last time I changed the oil, I surveyed the situation, and it looks to be a fairly involved repair. For me, anyway…on a scale of 1-10, changing the oil is about an 8 for me. I estimate the seal job as a 13.
Again, though, it’s still a small leak: I’m going through a $3 bottle of power steering fluid every month or so, pouring a few ounces in the reservoir every time I stop to fill the gas tank. It’s another example of something that’s going to have to get a whole lot worse to make me consider the alternative.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with an engineer at a large power tool manufacturing company over the course of the last two years…he’s been replacing open-end blow offs (mostly made by crushing the ends of copper tubing) with 3” Aluminum Super Air Knives throughout their plant…and realizing significant savings in compressed air consumption. In a couple of situations, he’s saving even more air by using an EFC Electronic Flow Control, when they can get away with intermittent blow offs.
There are a couple of production lines, though, where he hasn’t been able to justify the use of the Super Air Knives…these are locations where only one crimped tube is run, and the parts are so small & lightweight that they can only use very low compressed air supply pressure. In those cases, we’ve both done the math, not only on the Super Air Knives, but Air Amplifiers and Super Air Nozzles, and the numbers just don’t bear out much benefit from replacement. And that’s OK: it’s just as important to know where our products aren’t going to work out as it is to know where they will.
I guess the bottom line is this: we don’t need to finagle our products into situations where they’re not needed. We, and EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product users everywhere, are doing just fine (better than that, even) by putting them in applications where they’re making a HUGE difference. Give me a call if you want to find out how much we can improve your compressed air applications. I’d love to find out myself!
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