Month: August 2012

Made Here, Available Everywhere

Published on by Lee EvansLeave a comment

So, it’s a widely known fact that the products we make here in Cincinnati are second to none.  A local engineer stopped by a few weeks ago and we collaborated on ideas for a new engine block being produced by one of the big three US auto makers.  This gentleman was doing consulting work for the automaker and needed advice on how to blow out coolant jackets surrounding the cylinders.  We bounced ideas around and came to a good solution to solve the problem and move the project forward.

As we discussed the application and the potential solutions, I was told that he chose EXAIR because our products work, they don’t break, and they get the job done right.  I’ve always had a fondness for products that last, especially when they’re born-and-raised/milled-and-machined in the USA.

A less widely known fact is that we take an active role in how our products are found around the world.  For our international clientele, we bridge the language gap by providing product information in various languages.  At the moment we have a fairly diverse language offering.  We have pages in English, Spanish (Spain/Europe), Spanish (Mexico/South America), German, Italian, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Thai, and Chinese.

If you have a constituent in another country, or have a native tongue other than English, check out our international language information!

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
leeevans@exair.com
@EXAIR_LE

As A Matter Of Fact, I DO Know It All…

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I just talked to a caller who had questions on our Reversible Drum Vac. Specifically, he wanted to know if it could be used to handle the slurry produced by a concrete saw. Now, I consider myself to be a little more handy than the average bear, and I’ve even used a concrete saw before. But, for the life of me, I couldn’t conjure up a recollection of the consistency of the slurry it produced…was it a thin, soupy silt, or was it a thick, heavy mud? Had I known it would be so important a couple of years down the road, I would have paid closer attention…but there I was, floundering for an answer.  I hate when that happens.

I take solace, though, in the number of times that I am indeed familiar with a particular situation, or at least one that’s similar enough to allow me to draw a good analogy. Chock up another point for the “jack of all trades, master on none,” I suppose. Well, maybe not ALL trades: I submit, for your viewing pleasure, one of my favorite Nike commercials of all time…this dates to about 1990, when a gifted athlete named Bo Jackson was making a name for himself on the baseball diamond as well as the football gridiron (but not, apparently, the hockey ice or the music stage):

I wish I could say that the caller went on to purchase a Reversible Drum Vac, but, based on our discussion, it sounded like we were talking about something closer to thick mud than a watery silt, so I pointed him towards a more suitable product that we, unfortunately, don’t offer.

Bearing in mind my commitment to a positive outlook, I’m pleased that I learned something today, even if it was only what the average consistency of concrete saw slurry is. And who knows, maybe in six months or so…

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
Web: www.exair.com
Blog: http://blog.exair.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/exair_rb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

Everyone Likes a Winner

Published on by Leave a comment

Cincinnati sports fans are said to be fickle. Are they or is it a question of product quality? It’s said that we should stick with our team through thick and thin. Really! Professional athletes are getting paid mega bucks to entertain us. It’s not very entertaining to watch a losing team and lackadaisical performance by its team members. We get excited by plays like this:

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=23555277&topic_id=8877986&c_id=cin

In business, customers want to be excited about their purchase. When challenged by a production problem, finding the right product that gets the job done is energizing and gratifying. Everyday we receive calls from customers seeking a solution. After reviewing their application with one of our engineers, they are directed to the product which will provide a solution. If EXAIR does not have an applicable product, we will do our best to direct them to another source. The customer feels gratified when ending the call.

EXAIR would like to serve you. Give one of our application engineers a call 1-800-903-9247.

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

A Cautionary Tale about Small Details

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

Have you ever had one of those moments when you were thinking on a particular topic, when you thought briefly about a small detail? After the brief thought, did you then do nothing to ensure that this one detail would not sabotage your future endeavors?  After all, it’s a small detail, right?

I had one of those moments recently while going through my checklist of things to deal with before taking our boat to a lake not so nearby our home. I thought diligently about having a spare tire, making sure all the tires were inflated to maximum PSI, and also about making sure the axle hubs were topped off with grease. Everything is good, right?  Well, not really.

As it turned out, I experienced a blow-out with one of the wheels on my boat trailer. I thought that if this were to ever happen, I would simply use my truck jack to lift the trailer to change the tire. I even had that fleeting thought to check that out to make sure it would work while I had the boat in my garage, but that was where I didn’t act to be 100% sure. So, on the side of the road, on a 110 degree day, 4 feet from the white line where 80,000 lb. trucks are blasting by at 80 mph, I find out that my truck jack is too tall to fit under the axle of the boat trailer and too short to jack up the trailer frame high enough to get the spare onto the hub. And I have nothing solid enough to sit the jack on to get in the right range of height. I had to call a family member still at the lake house to bring me a piece of material solid enough to bear the weight of the trailer and boat. He brought a length of 6 x 6, wood which worked wonderfully to allow me to finish the tire changing job and be back on the road in less than 15 minutes. Now, I don’t leave home without that piece of wood stowed in the back of the truck.

So, where am I going with this story and how does it relate to EXAIR? It is the small details like:

  1. Lots of little air leaks all round your shop that add up to as much as 30% of your compressor output. Fix them using an Ultrasonic Leak Detector.
  2. The nuisance overheating of that control panel in the really hot part of your facility. Get a Cabinet Cooler to keep it cool enough to run at 100% capacity again.
  3. The home made, smashed copper tubes you use for part ejection. They are not OSHA compliant, use a ton of air and are so noisy that hearing protection must be worn in the area. Invest in some Super Air Nozzles to bring the application into compliance, save on air use and lower the noise to a more reasonable level.
  4. The old mechanical vacuum pump that you are using to draw a vacuum in your process. The unit is loud when it operates and is very expensive to maintain. Don’t just keep doing the same old thing of fixing it every time it breaks down. Consider replacing it with an E-vac which has no moving parts to wear out.

They are small details that catch our attention briefly, but we do nothing about them until it is too late and we are in break-down mode. Think about the details and act on them so you are 100% sure you have your bases covered. Otherwise a very unpleasant and unsafe condition awaits you down the road.

Neal Raker, Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com