Month: August 2009

Cooling Welded Shaft

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Keeping a competitive edge means always reinventing manufacturing processes for more productive throughput. A customer who machines spindles implemented a major material savings by changing the way they turned their spindles. Instead of hogging it out of a single billet, sending most of the material out as chips and extended machining cycles, they purchased bars at near net diameters then simply cut them to length and spin welded them together.

Although it was a great success they were not complacent with their achievements and looked for further improvements. Since the next process was a center-less grind, the part needed to cool to normalize tolerances. This created in-process inventory and double handling. If they could cool the part as it came off the spin welder, it could be sent directly to the grinder.

EXAIR suggested its Vortex Tube model 3240.  As the part comes off the welding process, it is inserted into a cooling tube fed with refrigerated air from the vortex tube.

VT cool

Within the welding cycle time the part cooled sufficiently. It then was moved to the grinding operation and replaced by the next part to be cooled.

The total of all the modifications enabled them to reduce lot sizes and move to Just-In-Time manufacturing.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com

What Is All This Business With Air Amplification Anyway?

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

When we receive calls about Air Amplifiers, it would seem that some people are a bit confused about what these things actually do. They usually end up assuming that Air Amplifiers increase pressure.  This is not actually so.

Instead of amplifying pressure, Air Amplifiers multiply the amount of air volume (CFM) that is moved toward a target for a blowoff, cooling or ventilation application. For these kinds of applications, having more air volume makes for better performance to carry away more debris, heat, or fumes.

One quick example is that of a pipe manufacturer. When they cut the pipe to length and machine a chamfer on one end, they need to blow out the chips that land inside the pipe. They had been using a simple 3/8″ ID hose mounted into position to do it. While the airflow was reasonably strong, it was not of sufficient volume to create a large enough airflow in a 6″ diameter pipe. So, the customer switched to using a model 120021 (1-1/4″ Super Air Amplifier) on the end of their 3/8″ hose.

Now, they not only have the original volume of air coming from the hose, but an additional 18 parts of room air that is drawn in through the Air Amplifier and accelerated onto the target to create a much larger volume of airflow going through the pipe. The effect in this application is that the air velocity in the pipe was increased enough to blow out all the remaining chips much better than the air hose alone.

This is just one example of how you can simply add one of our products to the end of an existing compressed air pipe and increase your performance in any application. If you can think of any such similar applications you have, perhaps you should consider adding an Air Amplifier to improve things significantly.

Neal Raker
Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Super Air Nozzle, Stay Set Hose Assist Plastic Cup Separator

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Whether due to static or not, plastic cups always seem to have a tendency to stick together.  You can never pull just one cup off of a stack without using both hands.  This is true not only for the consumer at a picnic, but also for the machines trying to separate the cups during the manufacturing process.

I spoke to one such manufacturer last week.  He has a machine that takes a stack of plastic cups, sends them through a corkscrew style conveyor and separator, which then directs each cup individually onto a rotating indexer for continuing on to the rest of the processing.

The corkscrew conveyor and indexer move at a very high rate of speed.  Sometimes the cups do not properly separate, and the conveyor misses one, thus leaving an empty spot on the indexer and a hole in the rest of the process.  This can create short quantities in the final packaging, among other immediate problems created by the jam-up at the corkscrew itself.

The customer was looking for a series of 4 nozzles equally spaced around the perimeter of the cup stack to provide a quick air blast to boost each cup off the stack and into the conveyor.  Because the corkscrew and indexer is in a rather tight area, a nozzle on the end of a straight, rigid compressed air pipe would not suffice.  Thus, I recommended that he use our Stay Set Hose along with the nozzles selected for the application.  That way, he could bend the hose whichever way was needed, and it would stay in place.

The nozzles I recommended were our model 1103 Mini Super Air Nozzles, as they would provide more than enough airflow and force, and would also be small enough to access the tight space.  Because mounting could end up needing to be adjusted until it was just right, permanent mounting was not desired.  Thus, I also recommended use of our magnetic bases in addition to the nozzles and Stay Set Hoses.  That way, the entire setup would be adjustable, yet would remain in place once set up. 

To make his ordering just that much easier, I was able to provide him with one model number to get all the component parts in the assembly we agreed on.  Model 1103-9456 consists of 2pc of the 1103 nozzle, 2pc of a 6″  Stay Set Hose, and one dual outlet magnetic base, with a manual control valve on each hose.  Model 1103-9462 consists of 2pc of the 1103 nozzle, 2pc of a 12″  Stay Set Hose, and one dual outlet magnetic base, with a manual control valve on each hose.  These two part numbers got him everything he needed for a simple installation that would provide an instant fix to his application problem.

Emily Mortimer
Application Engineer
emilymortimer@exair.com

Efficiency in More Ways Than One

Published on by Kirk EdwardsLeave a comment

As EXAIR continues to provide customers with the most efficient compressed air products and reduce air consumption, it is important to remember that we are efficient in other ways.

We provide efficient delivery. Last week Friday, a customer with overheating hydraulic controls needed product shipped Next Day Air Saturday AM delivery. We were able to fulfill his request.

We provide a broad line of products and accessories which leads to efficient purchasing for the customers. Not only did this same customer need one of our core products, we also provided them with multiple accessories needed upon installation. Rather than sourcing the product somewhere else and cutting multiple purchase orders, only one was needed.

Here are the details:  This customer had hydraulic controls on an overhead crane which lifted precast concrete product across the plant. The controls were overheating and shutting down the crane. The customer asked for a temporary solution until they were able to find time to properly fix the problem.

The controls were not in a traditional enclosure but merely shielded with sheet metal. This left enough room to provide a small amount of air flow across the circuits and remove some additional heat.

EXAIR provided an 18″ Super Air Knife which covered the overheating area. We also provided 200′ of compressed air hose and fittings necessary to hook directly from the main supply to the air knife.

We have the experience necessary to recommend the proper product for applications on the first try. We are staffed to provide quick information and quotations. And we also manufacture special length air knives in one week.

At EXAIR, efficiency goes well beyond the performance of our products. The next time you are in a jam and need a compressed air solution, let us know.

Kirk Edwards
Application Engineer
kirkedwards@exair.com