Month: June 2010

Cooking: Offroad in a minivan without instructions

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Do you like to cook?  I do.  As an engineer, it’s kind of a stress release for me and a welcome change to designing say, a custom air knife.  Sure, there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing that custom Super Air Knife built and perform to spec, but they don’t taste very good.  Or maybe I enjoy cooking because it appeals to my sense of structure.  Following a discrete number of steps to arrive at a prescribed solution.  Of course, sometimes the directions sound a lot easier than they are…

So while on one hand I do try to stick to the recipe when I cook (at least for the most part), I tend to be the kind of guy that will build his entire entertainment center, and in the course of cleaning up the various debris afterward, find a very well-preserved set of directions sealed in the little plastic bag they came in.  And stopping to ask for directions? HA!  I mean hey, I am after all, a guy and some things can’t be changed.  As I often tease my wife ‘I don’t read directions, I WRITE them.’  Of course, occasionally this can lead to problems, or as I like to call it ‘unplanned adventure.’  For example, one time on the way to Florida…

Okay, so that’s not actually me and my family, but we did have a similar experience in South Alabama one time.  And believe me, that’s a story my wife LOVES to remind me of every time I get lost, um, which is never. Right…

So regardless of your take on directions, we here at EXAIR understand you.  And you’ll understand us too.  We write all of our own Installation and Maintenance Instructions, so there’s no ‘mistranslations’ to deal with.  Unlike the set of directions we recently received with a promotional give-away R/C helicopoter…

The last sentence of paragraph b) is my favorite.

So, you’re the recipe following type?  Take a look at our Knowledge Base for a complete library of Installation and Maintenance Instructions (a one time registration gets you permanent access to instructions, 2D drawings and 3D models, a large application database, product Powerpoints and a video library!). Or maybe you like to try to do it on your own first, and only get help as a last possible resort.  Try our online chat or pick up the phone and call us a 1-800-903-9247.  Either way, it’s okay by us.  And we promise, if you do ask for help, we’ll keep it just between you and us…

Dan Preston
Design Engineer
DanPreston@exair.com

Who Are You?

Published on by Bryan PetersLeave a comment

Have you ever done business with a company a few times, and then at some point asked yourself “who are these people”?  Generally it happens after a bad experience.

Most transactions are easy.  Most orders are fulfilled without a hiccup.  But if something goes wrong, that’s when you find out what a company really is all about.

Problems expose character.

Of course, a company can’t have character, but the company’s culture is shaped by the character of its people.  As the old saying goes, it takes time, heat and pressure to make a diamond.

Many people don’t ask “Who Are You?” until something goes wrong.  And by then, it’s usually too late to change anything without pain.  You’ve already placed an order (or several) and if you’re pretty far down the rabbit hole by the time that you find you’ve chosen a bad partner, it’s difficult to change directions.  Most people simply resolve to work through the situation, and then vow to never buy from that company again.

How many times have you said that to yourself?  (BP, I’m looking at you here…)

Sometimes it is worth the time and effort to find out more about a company before committing to buying from them.  In fact, it’s becoming a more and more popular practice.  Storefronts don’t impress me – show me what’s really behind the curtain.

Here’s how EXAIR is helping you find out more about us.  We’re using our Facebook page to publish information that isn’t generally found anywhere else.  You can find out about our sustainability efforts, charity involvement and community service activities.  Not just for our corporation, but for our employees as well.

So please, feel free to check us out on Facebook.

We think you’ll see that we are a credible, trustworthy partner.

Bryan Peters
President
bryanpeters@exair.com

P.S. Last week, my blog talked about the importance of showing class in victory and in defeat. This past Tuesday, our baseball team played another game against a less experienced team, and won pretty handily. Early in the game, when it become apparent what the outcome would be, we stopped stealing bases, stopped cheering too much and basically tried to hold down the score.

Even though we did all of those things, the final score was 20-2 after five innings and the game was called by the umpire. Having learned their lesson last week, our team quietly shook hands with the other team, along with the coaches. As the manager (always last in line) shook our hands, he thanked us for showing such class.

That was priceless.

Line Vac Paired With a Chip Vac Container

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

The EXAIR Line Vac is used for a variety of applications across multiple industries and has proved to be very versatile.  One common application we have for these units is to remove chips, trimmings, or debris from an area of operation, like is shown below where chips from drive train differentials are removed using this setup with a 2” Line Vac. The Line Vac is positioned at the top of this custom assembly and the bottom shroud fits over the drive train casting. It has internal nozzles to positive air flow to direct the chips into the vacuum flow of the Line Vac.

For some of these applications the discharge port of the hose is just aimed into a bin or some form of a drum without a lid or filter anything to keep dust at bay. In other operations it may be going straight into something as small as a 5 gallon bucket.   Rather than blowing all of this debris, or sand, or dirt into air an open top container and risk it getting stirred up and released into the air, or missing the container and falling onto the floor you could channel it all into one container with one of our Chip Vac Containers.

 

            The Chip Vac systems are offered in 55 Gallon Drum, 30 Gallon Drums, and a 5 Gallon Container sizes.  Each of these is fitted with an EXAIR .1 micron filter bag that is both washable, and replaceable.  The advantage to using one of these Chip Vac Drum Lid Assemblies is that your debris can be contained into the correctly sized container for your operation and all of the exhaust air will be filtered by the .1 micron bag which means your trimmings, or chips, or sand will all remain in the container rather than blowing out onto the floor or going back into the atmosphere of your shop.

            The 30 Gallon Lid and the 55 Gallon Lid and 5 Gallon Lid all have a 2″ NPT Bung opening that you can adapt to fit your Line Vac hose size.  Pair the lid with a matching size drum dolly and when your drum is full simply remove the lid, wheel the full drum out of the way and a new empty drum in its place.

            We have seen this work in multiple applications as collecting sand from a drilling operation that was being performed on a sand casting, to material trim removal and metal chip removal from machining operations.   If you want more information on these or have a similar application feel free to contact me.

Brian Farno

Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com

Are You Really Getting What You Think You Are?

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When making a purchase, you make some self-determined assumptions of what you are getting. Sometimes what you get and what you assumed are significantly different. Label  laws help but for items not covered, you are on your own. Take for example buying a used car. With all the flooding around the country, water damaged vehicles are showing up  everywhere.  Here is a video from CarFax showing how easy it is to make a car look like something that it isn’t.

EXAIR is the leader in compressed air nozzle technology. There are copycat’s on the market that “shine” their product with price but under the hood it is not an equivalent to an EXAIR. To prove the point you can send your product to our efficiency lab [more] and we will do free test using our calibrated testing equipment. A full report [see sample report] will be provided.

If you would like to participate in our Efficiency Lab Testing complete this [form]

Just as Car Fax protects you with your auto purchase, EXAIR protects you with their 30 day unconditional guarantee on any of its cataloged items. We understand that what you think may work, may in some cases not work. We do not want you to be stuck with something that you cannot use. If within that time you are not satisfied for any reason you can return it for full credit.

Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com