EXAIR’s smaller Swivel Fittings for the Atto, Pico, and Nano Super Air Nozzles
Are you tired of having to scrounge around the production floor for the right fittings to precisely position your air nozzle? Not only is it a pain to try and find the correct fittings, extensions, etc. but once you do the position of the nozzle is hard to adjust. To alleviate this problem, EXAIR has designed a variety of different sized swivel fittings that allow you to precisely position the nozzle, then easily tighten and lock into place.
Don’t waste time using various pipe fittings to position your nozzle, use an EXAIR Swivel Fitting
EXAIR’s Swivel Fittings are available in 9 different sizes, from as small as 1/8” NPT male x M4 x .5mm female and up to 1” NPT male x 1” NPT female. The smaller swivels (M4-M6) are constructed of 316 stainless steel and the swivels ranging from 1/8 NPT – 1” NPT are available in 303 stainless steel. The Swivel Fittings allow for movement of 25 degrees from the center axis for a total movement of 50 degrees. This permits correct placement of the blowing angle, helping to optimize the performance of your blowoff process. With no gaskets or seals to wear out, there’s no maintenance required to maintain optimum performance.
Swivels can be used on any of our Air Nozzles up to 1” and can also be used with the Adjustable and Super Air Amplifiers. By simply adding a “W” suffix to the part number, the correctly sized swivel fitting will be added to your order. For example, an 1122W would be one of our 2” Flat Super Air Nozzles with a ¼ NPT male x ¼ NPT female Swivel Fitting included. Stop wasting time trying to find the proper fittings and positioning for your blowoff nozzles! Contact an Application Engineer and get some of EXAIR’s Swivel Fittings on order today, available from stock.
Today I worked with a customer that manufactures a wide variety of material handling equipment including coil unwinders. The engineer was calling because there was a special project for a coil unwinder that could handle a waste piece of paper trim. As the metal coil is being unwound for delivery to a metal processing machine, the protective paper is pulled off and was to be collected into a waste receptacle for easy handling and disposal/recycling. The engineer was hoping to replicate an existing system that used a hybrid blower system, with an extra compressed air nozzle, but in a simpler form.
We proposed the use of the 4″ Light Duty Line Vac– shown below.The Light Duty Line Vacs offer an effective way to convey small and light materials a short distance. Like the standard Line Vac, the Light Duty Line Vac converts an ordinary hose or tube into a conveyor for scrap, trim, and bulk materials.
When the process involves moving low volumes of materials over short distances, the Light Duty Line Vac is a great choice. The simplified (2) piece design offers effective conveying at a lower cost. As an added plus, the compressed air consumption is lowered to levels commensurate with handling the lighter materials, at lower volumes and short distances. Using a pressure regulator to control the supply air allows for tuning of the transfer rate, and keeps air usage to the minimum amount needed.
The Light Duty Line Vacs are available with inlet/outlet diameters from 3/4″ up to 6″. With no moving parts, maintenance free operation is assured.
Light Duty Line Vacs – Available in 3/4″, 1″, 1.25″, 1.5″, 2″, 3″, 4″ and 6″ Diameters. All in Stock!
For other larger materials, higher transfer rates, corrosive environments, or abrasive materials, take a look at the other EXAIR Line Vac offerings including the aluminum, 303 and 316 stainless standard Line Vacs, the aluminum, 303 and 316 stainless steel Threaded Line Vacs, high temperature models, standard and threaded Heavy Duty Line Vacs, and lastly the new Sanitary Flanged 316 stainless steel type.
If you would like to talk about Light Duty Line Vacs or any of the EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air® Products, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.
I remember as a young lad watching a magician making a dollar bill disappear or a paper clip levitate. The power of illusions.
An injection molding company was having issues in removing their parts from a tool. This company made plastic spoons in a multi-cavity tool. During the start of the operation, they noticed that some of the spoons (reference photo below) were “sticking” to the mold surface. Some spoons looked like they spoon were “defying gravity” . It was not an illusion of levitation, but static.
Static charges can dramatically slow down production rates with plastic materials. In this instance, the operator had to remove the spoons manually prior to restarting another cycle on the machine. They measured roughly 30% of the time that they would have to stop their operation. To counteract the parts sticking, they attempted to mount a pipe with drill holes above the tool. They tried to use the force from the compressed air to remove any stragglers that remained in the tool. This is a simple and easy-to-do method; but with this type of blow-off, it is very loud, inefficient and not real effective.
They only saw a slight improvement in part removal as they still had to stop roughly 28% of the time. The bottom portion of the cavities still had spoons remaining in the tool. With the amount of money being lost from slow production rates and the possibility of tool damage, they decided to contact EXAIR.
Spoon not falling from tool
In today’s injection molding market, tool coatings are commonly used to extend tool life and increase lubricity. When a buffer is placed between plastic parts and the tool surface, static can be generated and become a real issue. With the company above, the spoons were sticking in different areas of the tool depending on the static buildup. If they can neutralize the static charges, then the spoons cannot defy gravity.
I recommended our model 112212 Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife Kit. The Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife is designed to efficiently blow air and to carry both positive and negative ions to remove any kind of static charge. For this model, it comes with a 12” (30.5 cm) long Super Air Knife with a Gen4 Ionizing Bar attached. With the compact and lightweight design, it could easily be positioned above the tool to operate. The kit also includes a power supply to power the ionizer, a filter to clean the compressed air, a regulator to control the force, and a shim set to modify force changes. This complete kit had everything required to begin operations to remove static.
The customer only had to attach the unit to a compressed air source. Once they started using the Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife, the removal rate of parts went to 100%. As an added benefit, when the drilled pipe was replaced, the noise level dropped as well as the compressed air usage reduced. By adding an EXAIR Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife to their process, the production rate was now maximized.
Model 112212 Gen4 Super Ion Air Knife
Static within injection molding processes can cause crushed parts, slower production rates, and even more costly; tool damage. If you believe that static is causing things to “defy gravity”, EXAIR has a great range of Gen4 Static Eliminator products to remove that “magic” force. And, for the company above, they didn’t have to continually watch their money “disappear”.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb
The generation of compressed air accounts for approximately 1/3 of all energy costs in an industrial facility and up to 30% of that compressed air is wasted through inefficient operation. Open pipes or homemade blowoffs waste a ton of compressed air, resulting in high operating costs. By replacing these devices with an energy efficient, engineered solution, you can reduce this waste and dramatically cut energy costs.
For example, let’s look at the average operating costs for a single 1/4″ open copper tube. (If you don’t know you current energy costs, a reasonable average to use is $ 0.25 per every 1,000 SCF used, based on $ 0.08/kWh.
1/4″ Copper tube
A single 1/4″ open copper tube consumes 33 SCFM @ 80 PSIG and costs roughly $ 0.50 per hour to operate. (33 SCF x 60 minutes x $ 0.25 / 1,000 = $ 0.50). For an 8 hour shift, the total cost would be $ 4.00 ($ 0.50 x 8 hours = $ 4.00).
If we were to replace the 1/4″ open copper tube with our Model # 1122 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle with 1/4″ FNPT inlet, the air consumption would be reduced to 21.8 SCFM @ 80 PSIG. This may not seem like much of an air usage reduction, but when you look at the monetary, total cost of ownership for purchasing and operating the nozzle, the savings can quickly add up.
2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle
The operating cost for a 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle with 1/4″ FNPT inlet is $ 0.33 per hour (21.8 SCF x 60 minutes x $ 0.25 / 1,000 = $ .033) or $ 2.64 per 8 hour shift ($ 0.33 x 8 hours = $ 2.64).
We can now compare the operational cost between the 2 devices:
1/4″ open copper tube operating costs: $ 0.50 per hour
$ 4.00 per day (8 hours)
2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle operating costs: $ 0.33 per hour
$ 2.64 per day (8 hours)
Cost Savings:
$ 4.00 / day (open copper tube) – $ 2.64 / day (2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle) = $ 1.36 savings per day
The Model # 1122 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle has a list price $ 67.00 USD.
ROI or Return On Investment calculation:
$ 67.00 (Cost) / $ 1.36 (savings per day) = 49.26 days.
The 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle would pay for itself in just over 49 days in operation. This is the savings for replacing just ONE 1/4″ open copper tube with an engineered solution! In most industrial plants, there could be several of these which presents even more opportunities to reduce the overall operational costs.
Our focus here at EXAIR is to improve the overall efficiency of industrial compressed air operating processes and point of use compressed air operated products. If you are looking to reduce compressed air usage in your facility, contact an application engineer and let us help you optimize your current system.
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