Ever use a weed eater or weed whacker?  Ever notice that the thing that actually cuts the weeds and grass is not an actual blade, but a piece or two of plastic string, attached to a central spinner?  Well, I got a call last week from a company that extrudes the plastic that is used to make this string, called monofilament. 

They needed a way to dry the 5mm diameter strands of plastic after going through a washing process, before going into an oven to be heated and stretched.  For those of you that are familiar with our products, you are probably already thinking, this is a perfect fit for our 1/2″ Super Air Wipe.  Normally, yes, that would be the best solution.  But, the specifics of this application call for something different.

There are actually 4 strands of plastic on each extrusion machine, spanning a width of only 3″.  Thus, 2pc of a 3″ Super Air Knife, one above and one below the array, is actually a better choice.  There is not sufficient spacing between the strands to use four Super Air Wipes.  But, the spacing is plenty wide enough to allow the air from the air knives to get between the strands and dry them on all sides before going into the oven. 

Even though the most obvious choice was not the best choice in this case, we were still able to provide a solution for the customer.  Not to mention the fact that (4) 1/2″ Super Air Wipes would have been a larger air consumption requirement than (2) 3″ Super Air Knives.  So, sometimes it pays to “think outside the box.”

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com