Month: August 2013

Free + Free = Free

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I saw school buses on the road this morning…a stark reminder that the summer season is coming to an end. My sons have mixed emotions about it. My youngest is excited about playing in the band (I’m picking up his trumpet tomorrow) and my eldest is biting at the bit for the start of his second season of football. Neither, however, is looking forward to setting their alarm clocks to a time that will allow them to catch that 6:30am bus!

In the office this week, we’ve been recapping our summer vacations. Some went low-key, with long weekends at lakes and/or campgrounds; others spent time at some of the more serious Tourist Destinations. Our family was in the “low-key” group this year, but I blame the kids: one took a school trip to Space Camp, the other enjoyed a week and a half at the Boy Scouts’ National Jamboree, and they both spent a week each at Boy Scout Summer Camp and church camp. They had a ball, though, and I wouldn’t have changed those plans for all the beaches and theme parks and cruise ships in the world.  Of course, Space Camp and National Jamboree were one-time events, so we ARE looking towards beaches, theme parks, or maybe even cruise ships, next year.

I’m not real big on taking a lot of pictures on vacation – since photography isn’t a bona fide hobby, I find it to be a distraction from enjoying the activity. Plus, a lot of the Tourist Destinations have a camera staff who are more than happy to provide you photos (for an additional fee), so you don’t have to worry about it. In fact, one of my co-workers encountered a theme park that “doubled down” on that: they charged you to take the photo, AND they charged you for the actual photo (or the “discount package” – the more you buy, the more you save…) as well!

Now, I AM real big on those photo cut-out boards: the ones where you stick your head through and take pictures of each other hang gliding, space walking, bodybuilding, surfing, etc. I subject my family to every single one that we encounter, no matter where we are. They appeal to both my frugal nature, and cheesy personality, I guess.

If you’re still reading this because of the title, it’s time to make good: this week only, EXAIR is offering a double freebie: request a copy of our Blow Off Guide (which is always free), and get a FREE Super Air Nozzle (we actually sell those most of the time…it’s a business thing; you understand.) If you’re a current user of our products, consider it an expression of gratitude for your business. If you don’t yet know how efficient and quiet our engineered compressed air products are, now’s your time to find out. You’ve only got until Friday to take advantage, though…this offer, like our summer, is drawing to an end soon.

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

Cabinet Coolers Keep Working at Full Capacity After Six Years of Near Constant Operation

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

I was digging through my old application files today and ran across an application that I worked on with our Indonesian distributor (PT Interwira Lancar Mandiri).  Our distributor had a customer who was in the business of manufacturing automotive radiators. The end customer contacted them with a problem relating to a failed motor drive which caused one of their two production lines to come to a stop.

The end customer had a Freon based air conditioner set on his panel, but the air conditioner began leaking water into the inside of the panel. The water got into the motor drive, shorted it out and caused the production line to go down. Not only was the production down for 1 month, but the motor drive cost them $20 k USD to replace by the time they purchased, had it shipped and got it installed.

The customer was extremely wary of what he was going to use for an air conditioner unit because there was no getting around keeping these motor drives cool. So, our distributor introduced the customer to EXAIR Cabinet Cooler and the customer purchased Model 4330 for his panel.  Our distributor was back in the customer’s plant on another issue some six years later when he saw the old EXAIR Cabinet Cooler system still on the motor drive panel, cranking out cold air. No maintenance had been performed on the Cabinet Cooler System in that time (as none was necessary) even though the environment was quite dirty. You can see from the photos below that the place had not been cleaned in a long time.

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When we talk to customers about the EXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems, one of their initial concerns is how long they last. Because there are no moving parts to wear out, the life span can easily be in the range of 20 years or more. You would have to purchase 4 Freon based units, pay to have them changed out and pay for them to be maintained 2 – 4 times per year, changing filters, replacing compressors, and re-filling coolant in that time.

Not only does the Cabinet Cooler last a long time, but when it is operating, it produces a positive pressure onto the panel which keeps dust and debris from getting inside your cabinet over time.

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Neal Raker, Application Engineer
nealraker@exair.com

Custom Products Are Never Out Of The Question

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

I recently had a customer contact me about an application they had in house where they utilized our Stainless Steel Adjustable Air Amplifier.  For the application, the customer was passing a product through the center of the Adjustable Air Amplifier and using it to dry / cool the part.   The issue was the part would sometimes rub the throat diameter of the Air Amplifier and this would cause it to stick and blemish the surface finish of the part.   This of course was unacceptable and caused down time for the customer.

That is when the customer contacted us here at EXAIR and asked if we could possibly do some form of non stick coating or make the throat of the Amplifier out of a non-stick material.  So we did.

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This is a Special Stainless Steel Adjustable Air Amplifier with Teflon constructed plug.   The entire plug has been machined from a solid piece of Teflon.   This will allow the customer to run at full production speed and not have to worry about the product “sticking” to the walls of the Adjustable Air Amplifier.

So if you think you have a weird application or need something special, don’t hesitate to contact us.   We might just be able to get you out of a sticky situation.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Learning Styles – We Have You Covered

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

In the engineering department at EXAIR, we feature a couple of different generations of engineers.  This generational difference leads to some great discussions about the times, politics, and pop culture.  I’m often defending people who do things a little differently than they did in the 70’s or the 90’s.  I hate defending this because I think we have lost some know-how and wisdom over the last couple generations, but I do think that there are more opportunities for folks, who learns things outside of reading a book.

In my experience people learn by three different ways.  People learn by seeing things, hearing things, or doing things. I learn best by seeing things and doing things.  If you try and teach me something over the phone without any visual representation I have a hard time understanding the subject.  If I can see a picture or a video on the topic, I will pick it up much better and will take away more than listening to a lecture or reading a book.  One of my favorite things is talking to a person who has been growing a garden, grilling a steak or fixing a leaky sink about what they know and their secrets to a successful project (often a plan and organization but that is another blog).

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Having said all that, today we have access to an enormous amount of information over the internet that we could never have accessed before.  This has the great benefit of opening new opportunities up to everyone. We don’t need to know everything that engineers had to know in the past, because we can look it up so much quicker.  It doesn’t pay much to have the dimensions of every thread memorized, because we can find it at our fingertips in seconds on a smart phone or laptop.

At EXAIR we are constantly mindful of a new generation of consumers that are using our products for the first time, and we want to provide as much material as possible to all of the different learning styles.  Because EXAIR is based in Cincinnati, Ohio, we cannot physically visit every customer that we have around the world, but we do try and expand our presence as far as possible.  Our best resource for dispersing our information is our website, EXAIR.com.

On the website we try to include as much new media as we can to explain how our products work and at which applications they excel.  In our Knowledge Base, we feature Case Studies, CAD Libraries, and Frequently Asked Questions to provide our customers as much information as possible about our products.  We do ask that you register to the website to receive this material.  To teach our visual learners, we create informal videos created by our application engineering department and post those on this blog, and we have Video Library.  For the audio learners, our application engineers are available to speak over the phone to answer any questions you may have.  For the tactile learners, we do offer all of our products inside the United  States and Canada on 30 day unconditional guarantee.  This allows customers to try our products and learn by doing.  These three methods allow any style of learner to understand our products, and use them to the best of their ability.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
davewoerner@exair.com