New Products, New Q & A, and New Projects

LSR 1900

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.

Neal Raker, Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Heavy Duty HEPA Vac Used For Walnut Shell Blasting Media Recovery

walnut media

I was working recently with a customer who performs a variety of media blasting services. Their services involve cleaning delicate molds, armatures and electric motors prior to being re-wound. They also get into a variety of other applications that involve the need to clean coatings or other foreign matter from delicate surfaces such as jewelry, watches and similar items. They use walnut shell material as it works well without etching or otherwise damaging these surfaces.

The customer contacted EXAIR as they were looking for a reasonable way to clean up this very dusty material after they have used it. In fact, they re-use the material multiple times and needed a good way to collect it back into a central tank without creating huge dust clouds that would present a breathing hazard to their operators.

HD HEPA

Our customer contacted us after they saw we had the new Heavy Duty HEPA Vac as part of our Industrial Housekeeping Products offering now. They had a few initial questions regarding how well it actually traps the very fine materials that it vacuums. I had explained to them that we had conducted several tests on a variety of materials including everything from metal chips down to powder the consistency of baking flour. When tested with the very fine materials, we found there were no visible emissions through the filtering system and back into the atmosphere above the drum lid where the exhaust flow is located. That discussion was enough to convince this customer that the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac was the right product for them. Previously, they had been trying to use the typical electric shop vacuums that you get from the local hardware stores. While these work OK for a while, they get clogged up with the fine dust very quickly. Also, the fine dust makes its way into the electric motor causing over heating conditions and eventually failure. The Heavy Duty HEPA Vac has no moving parts to wear out. That was another advantage the customer saw as positive for their purposes.

Since buying model 6199 Heavy Duty HEPA Vac a month ago, our customer has reported back to me their success at using the unit for cleanup and recycling. Having the capability of a large, 55 gallon drum reservoir was another feature that made their job a lot easier.

If you have a rather dusty material that you need to vacuum up and make sure is contained in your operation, give some serious consideration to the EXAIR Heavy Duty HEPA Vac System. You will be glad you did.

Neal Raker, Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Vacuum Chips from Blind Holes

An engine manufacturing plant had an issue with removing shavings from a blind hole to be threaded. The machining of the engine block is done on a transfer machine and is unmanned from station to station. Shavings in the drilled holes would interfere with the bottoming forming taps, causing them to break. When a tap breaks, sensors shut the entire line down.

Capture

The initial concept was to use an EXAIR Deep Hole Vac U Gun where compressed air is blown down into the hole with a small compressed air tube. The savings are captured by a soft vinyl tube under vacuum generated by the gun. This worked quite well but would require an operator positioned at that station. The customer wanted to keep the operation unmanned.

GM Romulus BO-Vacuum System HP Chip-VacThey added another station in the transfer line and installed an EXAIR 5 gallon Chip Vac with the end of its hose modified to replicate the Deep Hole Vac U Gun. They moved the modified hose end with a robot from hole to hole. This eliminated tap breakage, line shutdown, and increased uptime by 10%. 

There are a lot of innovative  ways that EXAIR products can be used.

Give our application engineers a call. 1-800-903-9247.  They would be happy to assist you.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: http://www.exair.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/exair_jp
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

http://www.exair.com/28/dhvg.htm

Service Level Improvements at EXAIR

Value

At EXAIR Corporation, we are always striving to improve our lead times and service levels for our customers. Good customer service, backed up with excellent technical service from our Application Engineering Department is just one of the ways in which we continue to be the industry leader.

Another important difference that sets us apart from our imitators is that we listen to our customers and we respond to their needs by developing products that are relevant to solving the types of industrial problems that our customers encounter. No company can be all things to all people, but within our area of expertise, we are always first to market with newly developed products. Our imitators copy the idea and follow our lead with about a 3 – 6 month delay and release their version as if it were some new revolution in technology.

Besides numerous, new product introductions, we have stepped up the game with our offering for some of the items in our product groups. Stocked items ship same day on orders we receive by 3:00 pm Eastern. Following is a list of some of the service improvements we’ve made:

-          Our long Ion Bars (standard lengths from 60” to 96” long) are now in STOCK.

-          We have added new sizes of Digital Flow Meter to our offering as stocked items (included new sizes: ½”, ¾”, 1-1/2”, 2-1/2”, 3” and 4” in both SCFM and M3/hr displays).

-          All Cabinet Cooler systems are in STOCK, including 316 SS Cabinet Cooler Systems and non-hazardous purge NHP Cabinet Cooler Systems and can ship same day.

-          All our Electronic Flow Controllers (EFC) and associated systems which include them are now stocked items.

-          All of our Deluxe Kits are now stocked items.

-          All Electronic Temperature Controllers (ETC) and associated Cabinet Cooler Systems are stocked items.

-          Lead time for Long Super Ion Air Knives has been reduced from 3 business days to 1.

-          We can manufacture and ship a custom length air knife in 3 business days (you tell us the length, we’ll make it). That is reduced from 5 days.

-          If you are a direct overseas customer of EXAIR products, we can ship your order in 1 day.

Some might say, “big deal, so you’ve added some items to stock that you didn’t previously have”. One could view it that way if they wanted to. But, to the customer who has a machine down and needs help right away, these are the ways in which we set ourselves apart and create value for our customers. Manufacturing our own products affords us this control over the processes to make adjustments so our deliveries are better.

EXAIR, as a company, works on the premise to be easy to do business with. Above is only a small portion of the many things we do every day to bring our solutions to life for our customers in a prudent, familiar and friendly way. Give us a chance to impress you. I guarantee we will not let you down.

Neal Raker, Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

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