Tag: air scrapers

VariBlast Safety Air Gun Overview

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

After mowing the lawn, I always blow the driveway & sidewalk off with a leaf blower. Then, before pulling the riding lawn mower back into the garage, I blow off the deck with the leaf blower too, and it always looks like it does a great job. The other day, though, I had to replace the drive belts, so I removed the deck and found an awful lot of grass trimmings had accumulated in the inner recesses. No matter how much air my leaf blower moves (and it moves a LOT), I would have needed a much more focused flow to get into some of those tight spaces.

Situations like this are EXACTLY what EXAIR Safety Air Guns – especially the VariBlast Precision and Compact models – are made for. Consider:

  • Tight, focused flow – the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns can be fitted with our three smallest, most focused Super Air Nozzles – Atto, Pico, and Nano:
Not only do they create the most focused airflow patterns, these Super Air Nozzles are also small enough to fit in pretty tight quarters themselves.
  • Hard-hitting force – VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns can also be fitted with the Atto, Pico, or Nano Super Air Nozzles for the tightest airflow patterns, as well as several others if higher flow & force are required.
For more aggressive applications, VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns with 1″ High Power Flat Super Air Nozzles can apply up to 1 pound of force.
  • Extended reach – the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns are available with 12″ and 20″ 316SS extensions, and the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns can come with straight rigid aluminum extensions up to 72″ long.
  • Chip Shields – regardless of whether you need extensions for extra reach, these can all be supplied with Chip Shields. These are especially useful (and are included as standard) on the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns with Back Blow Air Nozzles.
Atto Back Blow Air Nozzles can blow out recesses or holes as small as 1/4″ in diameter.
  • Operator control – this is the key feature of the VariBlast models. Most handheld airguns have spool valve-type triggers that are really just on/off operation. They can offer some crude amount of throttling, but the variable pull trigger of the VariBlast Safety Air Gun provides precise control, and they’re ergonomic to boot. Here’s a short video that shows just how precise the control is with a VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun.

Compressed air isn’t cheap, and if you use cheap, non-engineered blow-offs, you’re going to pay WAY more to operate them than you have to. If you want to find out how the VariBlast Precision or Compact Safety Air Guns – or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products – can help you get the most out of your compressed air system, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
Visit us on the Web
Follow me on Twitter
Like us on Facebook

Let’s Build A Blowoff System!

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

EXAIR makes a wide variety of Intelligent Compressed Air Products that can be used for blowoff applications. The first step is to consider what size, and shape, the airflow pattern needs to be. If it’s a smooth, flat surface, our Air Knives are ideal for that. If a more directed, focused stream of air is required, we have Air Nozzles, Air Jets, and Air Amplifiers. And if it’s for statically charged debris, we can put Ionizers on Air Knives (Super Ion Air Knives), Air Nozzles (Intellistat Ion Air Nozzles), Air Jets (Gen4 Ion Air Jets) and Air Amplifiers (Gen4 Ion Air Cannons.)

If you navigate the EXAIR website to our Blowoff Kits, you’ll see that we can provide a number of our quiet, safe, and efficient Air Nozzles with Magnetic Bases and/or Stay Set Hoses for a quick & easy Blowoff System. In addition to the half dozen or so systems that are specifically called out, you can also put together your own setup that best suits your application. Here’s how:

Example: Model 1100-9412 is two Super Air Nozzles on a Dual Outlet Magnetic Base with 12″ Stay Set Hoses.

If you’d like to discuss a blowoff application – regardless of size or shape – give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
Visit us on the Web
Follow me on Twitter
Like us on Facebook

Who Wants to Save on Compressed Air?

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

At EXAIR we pride ourselves on helping our customers optimize their compressed air usage. Our intelligent compressed air products are engineered to be quiet and efficient, saving you on compressed air consumption. This is just one of the six steps that we recommend in order to optimize your compressed air system.

The first step we would recommend is to measure your air consumption. If you are going to attempt to reduce air consumption in your facility, it is necessary to know what is using it. If you know the consumption of your compressed air-operated products, you can make note of this. A more comprehensive solution would be to install some of our Digital Flowmeters in branch lines in your facility. The flow data provided by this will help you narrow down the high consumption areas and processes.

The second step we would suggest is to find and fix leaks. Our Ultrasonic Leak Detector is perfect for this. According to the Compressed Air and Gas Institute, leaks should not exceed 5-10% of your system’s air supply (we would obviously want 0%, but realistically this is unachievable). However, it is not uncommon to see leaks account for over 30% of many facilities’ compressed air supply being lost through leakage. That’s a potential for a 25% gain in compressed air supply!

The third step would be to upgrade your blowoff, cooling and drying operations using engineered compressed air products. All of EXAIR’s products, like our Super Air Knives, or Super Air Nozzles, are designed with efficiency in mind. Upgrading to an efficient EXAIR product is going to reduce your consumption, sometimes dramatically so!

The fourth step is to turn off your compressed air when not in use. This may sound obvious, but it is not uncommon for compressed air products to be left running continuously. We offer many solutions here, from a simple ball valve (found in many of our Drum Vac Kits), to a solenoid valve (found in our Cabinet Cooler Systems), to our Electronic Flow Controllers – combining a solenoid valve and photoelectric sensor.

The fifth step would be to use intermediate storage near the point of use. If you are controlling your compressed air usage through the use of valves and controls, then your consumption won’t be constant. This fluctuation in demand can be evened out with the use of secondary storage, like our Model 9500-60 Receiver Tank. This will ensure you have the volume and pressure when and where you need it.

Finally, our sixth step is to control the operating pressure. More specifically, to reduce the pressure to the minimum required to get the job done. Simply installing a pressure regulator at the point of use will lead to big savings.

If you would like to start optimizing your compressed air system, then give me a call!

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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

Using EXAIR Products for “The Old One-Two Punch”

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

In boxing, there are five basic punches, and they’re commonly called out by numbers so that trainers can instruct boxers rapidly during the development of fundamentals. It’s also useful for them in real live bouts, where overly complicated plans can lead to defeat….former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson famously said, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Those five basic punches are:

  • #1: The jab. Just like it sounds, this is a punch thrown directly forward with the lead hand. In many combinations, it’s the first punch thrown (that’s why it’s #1).
  • #2: The cross. This is a more powerful punch thrown with the back, or dominant, hand, and gets its power from the torque & rotation of the boxer’s body, when thrown correctly.
  • #3: The lead hook. This is an even more powerful punch than the cross. Its power comes not only from rotating the torso (like the cross) but also by pivoting on the lead foot to get the hip & shoulder involved. Because of the unbalanced and relatively unguarded position it leaves the boxer in, it’s riskier than a jab or cross, and oftentimes reserved for situations where the boxer sees an opportunity to score a knockout blow. If that plan doesn’t work, Mike Tyson’s famous quote above may very well come to fruition.
  • #4: The right uppercut. This is another devastating punch, thrown by the boxer’s dominant hand (assuming they’re right-handed) in an upward motion to contact the opponent’s head or body. If it connects to the chin or solar plexus, there’s a good chance the opponent will end up on the mat. It has to be thrown while the boxer is in close with the opponent, which gives the opponent the option to deal a devastating blow as well.
  • #5: The left uppercut. Same as above, but thrown with the boxer’s lead, or less dominant hand (again, assuming they’re right-handed.)

Because it generally leaves the boxer in a better defense position, the “one-two” combination is by far one of the most used moves in the ring. The term has even found its way into the popular vernacular, meaning two things that happen in rapid succession that lead to the desired outcome.

For the purposes of today’s blog (as the title suggests), I’m going to use it to describe an application where a customer uses two EXAIR products: a Model 1006SS Back Blow Air Nozzle, and a Model 6082 1″ Aluminum Line Vac in conjunction with each other.

This particular customer uses the Back Blow Air Nozzle to blow out the injector bore of an engine cylinder head assembly.

EXAIR manufactures three sizes of Back Blow Nozzles: our Model 1008SS Atto Back Blow Air Nozzle (left) is 0.2″ in diameter and can be used in 1/4″ to 1″ inside diameter holes, channels, etc. Model 11006SS 1/4 NPT Back Blow Air Nozzle (center) is good for 7/8″ to 4″ inside diameters, and Model 1008SS 1 NPT Back Blow Air Nozzle (right) is used for 2″ to 16″ inside diameters.

Thing is, they don’t want the debris flying all over the place. We considered a Chip Shield on the 1/4″ pipe extension that the Back Blow Air Nozzle was threaded onto, but since they insert it vertically from above, that could allow for debris to fall back down onto the assembly, and possibly right back into the injector bore, or one of the other openings on top. Instead, they opted for a Line Vac to vacuum the debris away as the Back Blow Air Nozzle blew it out of the hole.

While Line Vacs are primarily used to convey bulk material from one place to another (left), or to remove scrap trim (center), they’re also well suited for this application. Compressed air (1) enters the annular plenum (2) and is ejected at a high velocity through a ring of jets (3). This draws a vacuum on the inlet (4), creating a conveyance flow of air to carry whatever’s entrained in that flow through the outlet (5).

Engineered compressed air products have a multitude of advantages in applications like this. They’re durable & reliable. They have no moving parts to wear, or electrical components to burn out. They can operate continuously if needed, or they can be cycled on & off rapidly with no ill effects. If you’d like to find out how EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products can help your operation, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
Visit us on the Web
Follow me on Twitter
Like us on Facebook