Earlier this morning I had the opportunity to guide an end user through the use of our Super Air Knife.

We began the discussion surrounding a blow off need during machining of a 5/8″ blind hole.  The end user needed a strong, consistent air flow to remove debris over a variable surface area.  We considered using Super Air Nozzles, but the variable location of the blind hole at different times in the process proved to warrant this solution impractical.

We arrived back to the original idea of using a Super Air Knife to blow out the blind holes.  To be sure we had the same conceptual view of the application, the engineer with whom I spoke sent a component photo (above).  One of the notes we made about the setup above was to increase the distance between the armature and the Super Air Knife, just a bit.  We generally advise to provide at least 3-6” of space between the Super Air Knife and the surface/material to be blown off because this allows the Super Air Knife to entrain more surrounding air.  Referencing the actuator on the left side of the drawing, it was decided to raise the armature to allow for this spacing.

This setup will be repeated on the opposite side of the machine to ensure satisfactory quality of the parts being made.  We also went on to discuss the Electronic Flow Controller and the possibilities of controlling the Super Air Knives through already installed PLCs (we are fond of both, for efficiency purposes).

This application was an excellent example of the versatility of a Super Air Knife.  If you have an application question or related need, contact an EXAIR Application Engineer.

Lee Evans
Application Engineer
LeeEvans@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_LE