Category: Super Air Nozzle

Everybody Wants Options III: Options You Can’t Live Without

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

I wanted to call today’s blog “Everybody Wants Options III: Back to the Future Past.” But, I wanted to get your attention so I settled on Options You Can’t Live Without. In this case, I’ll choose to jump on the bandwagon and just like Hollywood, if we have a hit of a blog topic, we are going to make as many sequels as we can. After Justin wrote about ordering options in Everybody Wants Options, Russ followed it up with the blockbuster Everybody Wants Options II: Is Bigger Better?. I hopefully will conclude the series with “Everybody Wants Options III: Options You Can’t Live Without:, which is also the conclusion to my OSHA compliant Air Gun Primer, which I have already started here and here.

I don’t know though, maybe in twenty years they will want to make two more trilogies after “the mouse” buys us. Perhaps even JAR JAR Binks could write the blog.  …Mesir wants Yousir to buy BEST AIR NOZZLE EVER… 

Last week, I spoke about how important it is to get the right air gun for your shop, so that your employees are safer, more efficient and effective.  Today, I want to talk about the Safety Air Gun themselves and why you would select each one.

EXAIR Safety Air guns include the Precision Safety Air Gun, the Soft Grip Safety Air Gun, the Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun, and the Super Blast Safety Air Gun.

Left-right: Precision, Soft Grip w/Stay Set Hose, Heavy Duty w/Rigid Extension, & Super Blast Safety Air Guns

The first step in figuring out which gun will work for you is to figure out how much force and flow you need to get the job done. If you do not know the force and flow of your existing solution, the second step is to contact EXAIR and speak with one of our Application Engineers. They can assist you with the best choice air gun for your application or measure force, flow, and noise levels of any of your current air nozzles, open pipes, air guns etc. and provide a report through our efficiency lab service.

The Precision Safety Air Guns are the smallest, lightest and lowest flow safety air guns. This gun has the smallest diameter nozzle and extension which fits in to tight spaces. It will fit best in smaller hands, and is suitable for light duty applications and environments. They can generate between 2 ounces to 8.1 ounces of force. They can produce flows between 2.5 SCFM to 8.3 SCFM of compressed air.

Our most common Safety Air Guns are the Soft Grip Safety Air Gun. These guns are cast aluminum with a comfortable ergonomic grip to help relieve fatigue. Soft Grip guns resist rugged industrial environments and have a built in hanger hook for easy storage. They utilize the same small nozzles as the Precision Safety Air Guns, but can also use EXAIR’s whole series of air nozzles up to 1/2 NPT Safety Air Nozzle.  These flows range from 2.5 SCFM up to 60 SCFM. The force of these guns can range from 2.0 Ounces up to 3.3 pounds of force.

If the Soft Grip Safety Air isn’t enough power for your shop, the Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun will give you a powerful rugged gun for industrial environments.  This gun is also cast aluminum with a slightly larger handle and a soft rubber grip with a full length trigger. The Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun features a steel 3/8″ NPT air inlet for added durability against the harshest of environments.  This air inlet can generate force from 22 ounces of force up to 3.3 pounds of force.

Finally, if you need more than the Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun, we have to call the Super Blast Safety Air Gun, which can generate up to 23 pounds of force.  Batten down the hatches when you turn this thing on and it will conquer the heaviest duty blow off or cleaning applications such as removing scale from steel.  This gun features an Spring Loaded Manual Valve, which will automatically shut off, if dropped.

And don’t forget…on top of these choices of guns and nozzles, EXAIR’s air guns can be outfitted with light weight aluminum extensions up to 72″ long. They also can be outfitted with a chip shield for eye protection.  If you need to get into a tight spot we have Stay Set Hoses mounted on the Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun or Soft Grip Safety Air Guns.

That’s more options than you can get on your Chevy.  Give an Application Engineer a call, if you have any questions.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
Davewoerner@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_DW

Everybody Wants Options II

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Justin Nicholl, I hear you loud and clear about how Everybody Wants Options. I would go so far as to say a lot of people NEED options. This was evident in an application that I had the pleasure of assisting a caller with recently. They make plastic parts for the automotive industry, and manually remove them from a conveyor line, where the operators experience a nuisance static shock. This static charge also presents a problem when the parts are packaged for shipping, so there are two great reasons for getting rid of it right there.

On to the options: they weren’t sure if they wanted to mount something over the conveyor (like a Super Ion Air Knife or Ion Air Cannon,) or if they wanted to have manual, precise control (as with an Ion Air Gun.) I recommended that they try the Ion Air Gun…for ease of setup, it can’t be beat: you can literally go from opening the box to blowing ionized air in a matter of minutes, provided you’ve got a compressed air line and an electrical outlet within reach. If it is indeed successful in eliminating the static charge (and this is a VERY common & successful application,) then the only question is: Will the operator want to have another hand free? If so, they can return the Ion Air Gun for full credit per our 30 Day Unconditional Guarantee, and get either the Super Ion Air Knife or Ion Air Cannon; whichever they choose. In fact, it’s very likely that using the Ion Air Gun for a little while will better inform their decision.

EXAIR Static Eliminators: Mount in place, or hold in your hand.
EXAIR Static Eliminators: Mount in place, or hold in your hand.

EXAIR product lines, across the board, are rife with options. I wrote a while back about a purchasing agent who got a request for “the largest, most powerful air gun they’ve got” and ordered a 6′ Super Blast Safety Air Gun (with a 1-1/4” NPT connection, 6 foot extension, and a whopping 23lbs of force) when they just wanted to blow off some chips from their machine tools. Again, we used the 30 Day Unconditional Guarantee to get them a 6″ Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun (3/8” NPT connection, 6 inch extension, and a very usable 13oz of force.)

1218-6 1310-6 blog

Another user recently tried a Stainless Steel Line Vac – the product they needed to convey was too abrasive for an aluminum Line Vac – but they just weren’t getting the conveyance rate they wanted. No problem…the Model 150200 2” Heavy Duty Line Vac is made of an abrasion resistant hardened alloy, and boosts conveyance performance dramatically. The dimensions were the same, so the new one dropped right in, saving them from exploring the option of re-plumbing their lines.

all lv blog

Regardless of your compressed air product needs, EXAIR is the most likely solution:

*Super Air Knives are available in lengths from 3” to 108”. They come in aluminum, 303 or 316 grade Stainless Steel, and PVDF plastic (with Hastelloy-C fasteners and Teflon shims for the most aggressive installations.) This is, by far, the most options you’ll find in the industry. And they’re all in stock…waiting until next week doesn’t have to be an option.

*Cabinet Cooler Systems come in capacities from 550 BTU/hr to 5,600 BTU/hr. Whether your enclosure needs NEMA 12 (oil tight, dust tight, indoor duty), NEMA 4 (splash resistant) or NEMA 4X (corrosion resistant,) we’ve got it. And yes, they’re in stock.

*If you need to move a lot of air, or draw a vacuum, our Adjustable Air Amplifiers and Adjustable E-Vacs, respectively, offer you infinite options in range of performance with the simple twist of a locking ring.

You want options? We’ve got them. You want help narrowing them down? Call us.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
www.exair.com
twitter.com/exair_rb
facebook.com/exair

Selecting the Right Air Gun is a Key for Success

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

Last week I wrote about the OSHA requirements for using compressed air for cleaning in “How to Meet the OSHA Compressed Air Standard“. That was a title only an engineer could love. It was functional and with no flash. In my quest to write to my audience, I’m going back to the well today. I want to talk about using the right tool for the right job.

Every engineer worth his salt knows that using the wrong tool to do the job can make the task at hand ten times harder, than it needs to be…

And every weekend warrior of home, or automotive repair has used the wrong tool for the job. Most of the time these tools are going to work in a pinch. But when they don’t work, they can fail spectacularly. Yes, the flat head screw driver might be able to turn the Phillips head screw, but it can also strip the screw or slip out and dent the wall. Yes, the adjustable wrench works on quite a few different bolts, and will work as a weak hammer in a pinch, but when you have to go back in the house to get a rubber mallet, the socket set and discard the pieces of your broken wrench, you will wish you had the right tool in the first place.

I want to include the importance of using the right air gun for the job. Our priority for specifying air guns (and some would argue,  in life) should be safety first. Protecting the people using our products is the most important task. The best way to protect them is to specify the right Safety Air Gun to get the job done.

How can getting the right air gun increase safety? If we have the right tool for the job, we can avoid modifications to the safety features of our air gun. Below are two examples of what we see on a regular basis.

crushed air gun
Air escaping this gun will be LOUD, annoying and violates OSHA standard 1910.242(b).
Open Air Gun
Nothing says I’m costing the company money like a wide open air gun – and it’s DANGEROUS.

 

The air guns above belong to new customer, who had provided air guns with a cross drilled nozzle to the employees in their shop. The employees gave up their homemade air guns and managed to comply with OSHA standards for a few minutes, some may have even reached hours of safety…

I can almost envision the sequence of events… The OSHA inspector warns or fines the company for using  blow offs which violate the standards for pressure and/or noise exposure. Management makes certain the guns get replaced, Supervision or engineering finds a cheap quick solution, and no one checks to see, if the air gun can do the work. Workers find that the new air guns don’t have the same force, so they start altering the nozzles and guns to get the job done.

Several months pass. The OSHA inspector returns. The company is still fined for violating Directive Number STD01-13-001 standard 1910.242(b), because their blow offs can be dead ended and they are using a pressure higher than 30 PSIG. Also, a noise audit finds that the sound level in the plant is higher, than it has ever been, so all employees are now required to wear hearing protection.

Not quite the fix that everyone thought. Modifying air guns and/or air nozzles can create additional safety hazards for employees and increase compressed air expenses. Consider engineered Safety Air Guns and our line of Super Air Nozzles when looking for a safe and efficient solution to your processes and compressed air applications.

Left-right: Precision, Soft Grip w/Stay Set Hose, Heavy Duty w/Rigid Extension, & Super Blast Safety Air Guns
Here are some legitimate solutions for increasing safety and decreasing noise. Left to right: Precision Safety Air Gun, Soft Grip Safety air Gun w/Stay Set Hose, Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun w/Rigid Extension, & Super Blast Safety Air Gun.

At EXAIR, we strive to provide our customers the support and guidance, which they require to run a company safely and efficiently. We offer an efficiency lab to test any homemade blow offs, guns or nozzles.  Once we have tested these pieces for force, flow, and noise, we can specify a nozzle, safety air gun, air amplifier, or air knife that will meet the force requirement, while saving compressed air and lowering the noise level. Please contact an Application Engineer today to get your employees the right tool to do their job safely every time.

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
Davewoerner@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_DW

 

Three Ways Your Company is Wasting Money on Compressed Air

Published on by Dave WoernerLeave a comment

Compressed air is an expensive utility for most industrial applications.  The cost of generating a 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet is $0.25.  A typical 25 HP screw compressor will generate 52.5 million cubic feet per year. To generate 52.5 million cubic feet will cost $13,140 in electricity costs. Running this compressor more than necessary will lead to higher maintenance costs and higher electricity costs. Also, decreasing your compressor load will delay or avoid a capital expenditure, as your plant expands and production grows.  Anything you can do today to limit wasted compressed air will pay for years to come.  Here are 3 ways you are currently wasting compressed air.

ONE> Open Ended Blow Offs – The benefits of eliminating open ended blow offs in your plant are numerous and drastic. Saving air by outfitting open ended blow offs with an engineered solution (EXAIR air nozzle, air knife, air amplifier) is a significant portion of compressed air conservation. It is an easy install and can save a great deal of compressed air.  The situation always starts innocent enough: Five years ago Company X installed a new production line, but found that they needed a compressed air blow off to move, clean, dry or cool a part.  The blow off may not have been planned in the original specification, or the engineering company that specified the line did not take into account the compressed air cost of the line. The maintenance department is under pressure from the management to get the line running, and an open pipe works to get the line running. Since the compressed air already existed in the plant, it is free, cheap, or easy … for them. But what will it cost your company?

A Super Air Nozzle will use 14 standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) at 80 PSIG of inlet pressure. A 1/4″ inside diameter 18″ long tube will use 50.5 SCFM. Now the compressor system in your facility is working harder by 36.5 SCFM.  This means your next compressor will be 10 HP larger than it needs to be to keep up with excessive demand. In addition, 36.5 SCFM running 24 hours a day is 52,560 Standard Cubic Feet, which costs $13.14 to generate.  Over a year that is $3,285, because the knowledge and time to install an engineered compressed air nozzle does not always present itself. Just imagine the cost, if you have 5 open blow offs, or 50?

Open blow offs can also violate OSHA requirements for using compressed air for cleaning, when pressurized above 30 PSIG. Not to mention they generally are louder than 90 dBA, which is the maximum allowable noise exposure without hearing protection under OSHA standard 29 CFR – 1910.95 (a). A nozzle is a simple way to avoid a OSHA fine. If the money didn’t convince you to use an engineered nozzle, the cost to your employees health and hearing should.

TWO> Leaky Distribution System – Second, we come to the most simplistic way of wasting compressed air: Leaky pipes. It seems impossible that the small air leaks that occur in almost any compressed air system would amount to a large cost that would be significant in any way, but as we discuss here. It can happen to the best of us. It is estimated that over 30% of compressed air generated is lost to leaks in a compressed air system, before it is used at its intended point.  Do not let this happen in your facility.  Have an auditor come into your facility to check your system, or conduct your own air leak survey using our Ultrasonic Leak Detector.

THREE> Leaving Compressed Air on All the Time – Lets say that your part only crosses in front of the blow off every 15 seconds, and the part takes 5 seconds to cross in front of the that blow off.  That means that there are ten seconds in every cycle where compressed air is wasted. Let’s continue our example of the 1/4″ inner diameter copper tube that is 18″ long above.  How much are those 10 seconds costing you? 10 seconds times 4 cycles per minute is 40 seconds of wasted air every minute. In 40 seconds 24.3 SCFM air is wasted. 24.3 SCFM of wasted air will cost $2,187 per year with a 24 hour work day and 250 working days in a year.

Even after lowering your total consumption by installing an engineered air nozzle on your open blow off, there is more opportunity to reduce compressed air. If you have Super Air Nozzle already installed and have realized some very good air savings, you can still turn off your compressed air flow for 10 seconds every cycle in our example. In the case of the Super Air Nozzle that will be 9.33 SCFM, which will still cost $837 per year. If you are looking for an easy way to turn your air on and off only as needed during your process, the EXAIR Electronic Flow Control is a great system to further fine tune your compressed air use. To do your own calculation, EXAIR’s Air Savings calculator is a great tool for calculating the cost of compressed air.

Most of these items require some type of expenditure to complete, but paying for a nozzle, an air survey or a control system will lower your compressor load everyday you work. EXAIR’s Application Engineers are available everyday to access your compressed air systems. We would be happy to help you determine the ROI for any compressed air system upgrade. You can read about our success stories on our website at Case Studies (we do ask you to register before viewing our case study successes).

Dave Woerner
Application Engineer
Davewoerner@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_DW