Category: Vacuum

Porous vs. Non-porous Material Selection

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

EXAIR’s E-Vacs offer an excellent solution for a variety of applications such as pick and place, chucking, surface mounting, lifting, and vacuum forming.
When it comes to choosing the right model for your needs, there are a few key factors to keep in mind. While picking the correct vacuum cup size is crucial, and understanding the size and weight of the part is essential, one of the most important aspects is assessing the type of material you’re dealing with. In particular, is the material porous or non-porous?

Porous materials, as the name implies, contain numerous (very small) holes. This enables air to pass through when attempting to create a vacuum. It can be tricky when using an E-Vac. To tackle this issue, a high vacuum flow is necessary. In contrast, non-porous materials do not permit air to flow through, allowing for a higher vacuum level to be reached with a lower vacuum flow. If you’re aware of which category your material belongs to, we can choose the right E-Vac.

If you’re dealing with porous materials like paper, cardboard, or certain fabrics, we suggest using one of our vacuum generators that creates a low vacuum level along with a high vacuum flow. With vacuum levels reaching up to 21″ Hg and flows up to 18.5 SCFM, this type of E-vac generates more vacuum flow to tackle porosity and leakage. Plus, they can also lift or hold fragile materials, helping to avoid any warping or distortion of the surface from too much vacuum.

Cardboard – Photo by OpenClipart Vectors and licensed by Pixabay
Glass – Photo by dflamini and licensed by Pixabay

On the other hand, if your material is non-porous, such as glass, steel sheet, or plastic, you’ll need a generator that can create a high vacuum level with a lower vacuum flow. EXAIR’s non-porous high vacuum units can reach vacuum levels of up to 27″ Hg and vacuum flows of up to 15.8 SCFM. These vacuum generators provide the best holding capacity for heavy materials. You can find sizes that require as little as 2.3 SCFM of compressed air at 80 PSIG, and up to 30.8 SCFM for the largest and heaviest materials.

Once you’ve determined which vacuum generator is most suitable for your material, you will then need to select between our E-Vac accessories to complete your system. We offer different sizes and styles of vacuum cups, as well as mufflers (both standard and straight-through style). We also have auto-drain filters to ensure the compressed air supply is clean and moisture free. This will make your E-Vac system virtually maintenance free.

If you would like to talk to an Application Engineer to help you determine the best option for your application, give me a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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Twitter: @EXAIR_AW

Video Blog: EXAIR Product Update!

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

In today’s video blog, I share a product update with you regarding our external filter bags and drum covers. The change has several significant benefits for performance. Take a minute to watch the video and find out more.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact us today.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

E-Vac Porous vs Non-Porous materials

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

EXAIR’s E-Vacs are a great solution for many applications including pick and place, chucking, surface mounting, lifting, and vacuum forming. When selecting which is the right model for you, there are several points you need to consider. Although selecting the right vacuum cup size is important, and knowing the size and weight of the part is necessary, one of the main considerations is evaluating the nature of the material you are working with. Specifically, is the material porous or non-porous?

Porous materials, as the name suggests, have many holes in them. This will allow air to flow through them when trying to pull a vacuum. This can be a challenge when trying to use an E-Vac. To overcome this, you need a high vacuum flow. Non-porous materials, on the other hand, will not allow air to flow through them, so a higher vacuum level can be achieved with a low vacuum flow. If you know which category your material falls into, we can select the correct E-Vac.

Cardboard – Photo by OpenClipart Vectors and licensed by Pixabay

 If you are working with porous materials such as paper, cardboard, or some fabrics, we would recommend one of our vacuum generators that produces a low vacuum level and high vacuum flow. With vacuum levels up to 21” Hg and vacuum flows up to 18.5 SCFM, this style generates more vacuum flow to overcome the porosity and leakage. An additional benefit is that they can also be used to lift or hold delicate materials and prevent any warping or disfiguring of the surface due to excessive vacuum.

Glass – Photo by dflamini and licensed by Pixabay

Alternatively, if your material is non-porous, like glass, steel sheet, or plastic, you will need a generator that produces a high vacuum level with lower vacuum flow. EXAIR’s non-porous high vacuum units can achieve vacuum levels of up to 27” Hg and vacuum flows up to 15.8 SCFM. These vacuum generators offer maximum holding capacity for heavy materials. Sizes are available with compressed air requirements as little as 2.3 SCFM at 80 PSIG and up to 30.8 SCFM for the largest and heaviest materials.

If you would like to talk to an Application Engineer to help you determine the best option for your application, give me a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

Send me an Email
Find us on the Web
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Twitter: @EXAIR_AW

Spring Cleaning: Cleaning your RDV and Chip Trapper

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Whenever spring rolls around, spring-cleaning comes to mind. It’s the time of year that we are reminded, or perhaps motivated, to start cleaning and de-cluttering. We experience this here at EXAIR with an increase in inquiries about our Industrial Housekeeping Products. We have a great line of drum vacs designed for use with dry materials (Chip Vac and Heavy Duty Dry Vacs) or liquids (Reversible Drum Vacs – RDVs, and Chip Trappers), or both (EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac). What we don’t often think about are cleaning or maintenance routines for our cleaning products.

As long as you supply our intelligent compressed air-operated products with clean, moisture-free compressed air, they can run near indefinitely with little to no maintenance. Due to the nature of the kinds of jobs drum vacs are being used in, even with the cleanest compressed air systems, there is some need for preventative maintenance to keep them working like new. In this blog I review some basic cleaning routines to keep your RDV or Chip Trapper working as new:

  • Ensure you are supplying enough compressed air. We recommend 80-100psig. This will consume at least 19scfm. If your supply line is too long, or too small in diameter, you will suffer line loss. This will lead to poor performance. It is also important to avoid any restrictive fittings like quick connects.
  • Ensure there are no vacuum leaks. A loose vacuum hose, leaky hose cuff or a loose fitting drum adapter will prevent the pump from being able to evacuate enough air from the drum. Even small hairline cracks in the drum can allow air in and cause vacuum performance to suffer. A visual inspection of these areas is a great first step. We stock all replacement parts if you need to replace a gasket, or quick connect fitting.
  • Ensure your compressed air supply is clean. The tight passages in the venturi chamber can become contaminated, limiting the RDVs’ ability to draw a vacuum. We recommend the use of a 5-micron automatic drain filter (EXAIR Model 9001) to prevent this. If the RDV has become dirty inside, it is relatively straight forward to clean it. This video takes you through the steps.
  • Ensure the safety shutoff valve float is moving freely. The plastic float provides overflow protection. It will rise when the drum is full, which will break the vacuum. If the float becomes stuck, it will impede vacuum performance. Cleaning out this chamber and the float, allowing it to move freely will ensure that RDV can function properly.
  • Finally, for Chip Trappers, ensuring that the directional valve is clean and clear of chips. With frequent use or when filtering out long stringy chips, the liquid flow passageways of the EXAIR Chip Trapper may become blocked with swarf. The following video walks you through cleaning this valve:

All of these steps will keep your RDV and Chip Trapper running like new. If you would like to learn more about our other Industrial Housekeeping Products, feel free to give us a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

Send me an Email
Find us on the Web
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Twitter: @EXAIR_AW

Comet Cleaner image courtesy of garlandcannon. Creative Commons License