Month: February 2013

Pet Peeve: Lights On In An Empty Room

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

As the father of two sons, I spend a lot of time telling them to turn off the lights in their rooms when they leave them. I also spend a lot of time turning the lights off in their rooms after they’ve long left them. To their credit, though, they’re both pretty good about putting away their clean clothes, getting their dirty laundry to the hamper, clearing the dinner table, etc…they do give me a lot to be proud of, responsibility-wise, so flipping a light switch a couple times a day isn’t so bad, all things considered. As I wrote about a while back, the electric company gave me a bunch of CFL light bulbs, which I promptly installed throughout the house, so I’m really getting off light (pun intended.)
turnoff

Compressed air users don’t get so lucky, though…in fact, turning off compressed air flow when it’s not needed is among the most valuable of the “Best Practices for Compressed Air Systems,” as published by the fine folks at the Compressed Air Challenge. And this is where the compressed air users’ luck can change by using EXAIR’s EFC Electronic Flow Control.

The EFC is a system consisting of a programmable timer which opens and closes a solenoid valve, based on input from a photoelectric sensor. A typical installation might be on a conveyor belt, where gaps exist between parts that are being blown off by a compressed air device like an Air Knife, Air Nozzle, Air Amplifier, etc. The sensor would be mounted to “see” the parts when they’re in position for blow off…when one is there, it’ll open the solenoid valve. When the part has passed, it closes the valve.

If your application isn’t quite so “cut and dry,” the timer has eight modes of operation to choose from, and the time scale is adjustable down to a tenth of a second. For more details on this, Lee Evans made a fine video that explains it all.

If you have a blow off that doesn’t need to be continuous, then the EFC is just what you need. For selection assistance, contact an EXAIR Application Engineer – we’re eager to help!

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

Heavy Duty Line Vac Recycles Spent Abrasive Blast Media

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

I have run into another very good use of the Heavy Duty Line Vac and wanted to share this with you. A customer had contacted me from overseas. His interest was to apply Heavy Duty Line Vac to his abrasive media blast cabinets. The cabinets have a hopper filled with media that feeds a spray gun which accelerates the media toward a target work piece to remove anything from paint, to oxidation, oil and any other stubborn stains that might persist. That hopper is filled with Aluminum Oxide powder which is very abrasive and thus very good at the task of abrasive blasting.

150125

The problem was in determining how best to replenish the hopper without having to stop and shovel the media back up to the feed hopper. In comes the EXAIR Heavy Duty Line Vac model 150125. The Heavy Duty Line Vac was fitted to a pipe which is connected to the tapered bottom of the media blasting cabinet. As the media falls down into the bottom, the Line Vac creates a powerful suction which conveys the Aluminum Oxide powder back up to the hopper for re-use.

The key to success for this application is the construction of the Heavy Duty Line Vac. These models are constructed from a hardened alloy material. This material  makes for our most abrasion resistant model series available. Applications like this one where a stainless steel Line Vac might last 3 months, a Heavy Duty model can last 18 to 24 months or more of constant usage. Results will vary depending on application factors but there is no doubt that the Heavy Duty Line Vac is a highly reliable and effective tool to have for abrasive media conveying.

Neal Raker, Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Is Smaller or Bigger Better

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If anything, the commercials during the Superbowl, have fostered my curiosity for the entertainment value of everyday advertising. I’ve seemed to have gained a more critical eye and come to a conclusion; human consumption is like the tide, it waxes and wanes only to repeat itself.portable TV

There was a time that everyone was clamoring for pint sized TV’s. Today, sports fans would have a commercial movie screen if they could fit it into their home. In the 50’s and 60’s huge high finned cars  were in vogue. Today, sub compacts are in demand. Today’s manufacturer has to be diverse in their product offerings to fulfill the broad range of customer needs.

EXAIR is well known for its ability to modify standard product to fit their customer’s needs. Here is an example of how we modified our standard air amplifier to meet the customer’s needs to install into a flue pipe and assist the movement of flue gasses.

                           Standard DesignStandard Design                          Modified Designspecial air amplifier

If you have a special application, call one of our application engineers 1-800-903-9247

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

Winter Is No Longer Welcome In My Book

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

For those of you that read my blog posts it may be shocking that I haven’t blogged about a motorcycle since October 12, 2012.  That’s far too long! Over the winter months I have been working here and there on the motorcycle. Doing the normal maintenance like oil change, cleaning, sitting on it and making engine noises because weather isn’t permitting outside fun.

Of course, one of the things I have done is use my E-Vac Brake Bleeder.  After successfully bleeding my brakes I took my front suspension to a local motorcycle race shop to have it refreshed and new seals installed.  This is something I don’t have the correct tools for so I have to hand it over to an expert.  We then got to talking about bleeding brakes and getting all the bikes ready for this race season.  So I explained the E-Vac system to them and they didn’t believe it would work as easily as I stated.

After showing them a brief video of it I was able to see the wheels start spinning in their minds.  Suddenly they realized that they could use one in the shop and that there were applications that I didn’t think of.

The main application would be for bikes with a hydraulic clutch.  The clutch fluid needs to be changed out and the air needs to be bleed out of the system as a regular maintenance item just like the brake fluid.  The reason I hadn’t thought of it is because I have a cable driven clutch.

Hopefully with the weather today nearing 50 degrees I will be able to get an E Vac in their hands and let them see that the way they were bleeding fluids is obsolete and this is best, easiest, and fastest method to do so.

The old methods are shown in the video below.  (Please don’t try to siphon brake fluid by sucking on the brake line.  You don’t know where that line has been.)

If you have any applications you think we could help with please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF