A few weeks ago I got a call from a large North American manufacturer of Strut Columns. They recently got a large recall on products they were shipping because metal chips and debris were causing the oil seals to wear and leak prematurely. They found that the manufacturing process could leave chips clinging to the inside diameter (ID) of the outer tube and would make it past there visual inspection. They wanted an option to design into a robotic “cleaning station” where the ID would get cleaned while the outside features were getting cleaned as well. Well for me it was pretty easy to select the EXAIRBack Blow Nozzles!
EXAIR Back Blow Nozzle
We offer three different sizes to fit inside a wide variety of diameters from ¼” (6.3mm) to 16” (406mm) ID. They are designed to clean tubing, pipes, hoses, channels, and extruded “odd” shapes. The 360o rear airflow pattern can “wipe” without touching the internal surface to remove coolant and chips. For the application above, I recommended the model 1006SS Back Blow Air Nozzle to fit inside the 2″ (51mm) opening. The range for this Back Blow Air Nozzle is from 7/8” (22mm) to 4” (102mm) inside diameters. This 316SS robust nozzle would last a long time without having to change or replace.
Airflow Patterns for EXAIR Back Blow Nozzles
At first they purchased a hand held system on one of our Heavy Duty Safety air guns, This gave them the ability to test the concept out and they found it worked great wiping the ID clean of all unwanted debris. They used the 1306SS-12-CS, this gun with the 12″ extension and chip guard gave them a great platform to test!
Model 1306SS-24-CS Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Gun with Model 1006SS Back Blow Air Nozzle, 24″ Alum. Ext Pipe & Chip Shield
Once they wrapped their testing up, they replaced this manual operation with just the nozzle on a 1.5″ schedule 40 pipe. The nozzle was mounted on the end and a robot would slide the part ID over the nozzle!
This $117.00 nozzle was able to fix an issue that caused hundreds if thousands of dollars in recalls! That’s why we take time and intelligently design our nozzles, the 1006SS was designed for these type of applications and it excels in them!
Using Engineered nozzles can make a big difference in the function of your processes – not only to your financial bottom line, but to everyone’s safety, health, and livelihood. If you’d like to find out more about how EXAIR can help, give me a call.
EXAIR Back Blow Air Nozzles come in three sizes, for bores from 1/4″ to 16″ in diameter!
EXAIR manufactures three different sizes of Back Blow Air Nozzles to clean inside tubing, pipes, hoses, blind holes, and channels. The 360o rear airflow pattern can “wipe” the entire internal surface clean from coolant, chips, and debris. They are constructed of 316SS, making these nozzles robust, durable and more resistant to corrosives.
Back Blow Air Nozzle Family
Our smallest Back Blow Nozzle is the Model 1004SS. It has a M4 X 0.5 male thread and can clean diameters ranging from ¼” (6.3mm) to 1” (25.4mm). Model 1006SS has a ¼” NPT air connection for cleaning inner diameters ranging from 7/8” (22mm) up to 4” (102mm). Our largest Back Blow Air Nozzle is the model 1008SS. It has a 1” NPT connection, and it can be used inside diameters ranging from 2” (51mm) to 16” (406mm).
Now, what can make these unique types of air nozzles even more useful? Attaching them to an EXAIR Safety Air Gun. In this blog, I will go through each of our Back Blow Safety Air Guns that EXAIR can offer from stock.
The unique feature that sets the VariBlast apart from other small air guns is the force variability. The valve is designed to control the opening to allow for a variable force with the same nozzle. The VariBlast is made from a durable cast aluminum construction for tough industrial use. It has a rugged ergonomic grip with a user-friendly trigger. The compressed air inlets are located in two different positions to select the best fit for your application.
With the model 1004SS Back Blow nozzle, the VariBlast Compact Back Blow Safety Air Gun is a small but powerful tool that can clean inside smaller pipes, tubes, and hoses. The extension tubes range from 6” (152mm) to 36” (914mm) to extend deep inside cavities and openings. The Chip Shield is made from a durable polycarbonate material that will protect your operators during use.
The next size air gun in this series is the Soft Grip Safety Air Gun. With an ergonomic soft handle and full-grip trigger, the Soft Grip Safety Air Gun can be used for hours without fatigue. EXAIR offers two types of Back Blow Nozzles with the Soft Grip; model 1004SS and model 1006SS.
Like the VariBlast above, the Soft Grip Back Blow Safety Air Gun with the model 1004SS has the same extensions ranging from 6” (152mm) to 36” (914mm) as well as a Chip Shield. With the larger 1006SS Back Blow Nozzle, the Soft Grip has extensions that range from 6” (152mm) to 72” (1,829mm) in length with a Chip Shield. Both of these types of Soft Grip Back Blow Safety Air Guns are great products in allowing you to clean inside a greater variety of diameters and lengths.
For rough industrial environments, EXAIR offers the Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns. They come with a composite rubber grip and a wide curved trigger. It has a 3/8” NPT inlet for increased compressed air flow for those “tough” cleanings.
The Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Gun comes standard with the model 1006SS Back Blow Nozzle, an extension pipe, and a Chip Shield. The extensions lengths can range from 6” (152mm) to 72” (1,829mm). If you need a tough air gun for rugged areas to clean inside pipes and tubes, the Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Gun could be the best candidate for your application.
As our largest model, the Super Blast Back Blow Safety Air Gun has the strongest blowing force. They can clean large areas inside pipes, channels, and tubes ranging from 2” (51mm) to 16” (406mm) in diameter. It has a soft foam grip for easy handling and a spring-loaded manual valve that will turn off if dropped. The model 1008SS Back Blow Nozzle is mounted to an extension that is either 1 foot (0.3m), 3 feet (0.9m), or 6 feet (1.8m) in length. With a 1” NPT inlet, the Super Blast Back Blow Safety Air Gun will generate a strong blast of air for cleaning and removing troublesome material.
If you need to clean the entire surface inside of tubes, hoses, channels, pipes, etc., EXAIR has the perfect product for you, the Back Blow Air Nozzles. They can remove the dirty coolant, chips, and debris in a non-contact way. EXAIR offers these nozzles with our VariBlast, Soft Grip, Heavy Duty, and Super Blast Safety Air Guns for manual cleaning operations. EXAIR stocks these Safety Air Guns for fast delivery. And if you are located in the U.S.A or Canada, we offer a 30-day unconditional guarantee. You can try them out and see how effective, safe, and powerful they are in improving your internal cleaning processes. If you need more details, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR. We will be happy to help you.
If you look at operating costs alone, compressed air can be just about the most inefficient method there is for cleaning parts. If you just look at the risks, it’s potentially very dangerous too. Don’t even get me started on the insufferable noise it can make.
For cleaning parts, most folks are familiar with the use of an air gun. You can find the simplest of these in many industrial settings: a valve (often in the form of a handheld trigger device) fitted with a nozzle of some sort (often in the form of an open ended tube, pipe, or fitting to focus or direct the air flow). These have all three of the “downsides” I opened this blog with. Of course, these concerns can be mitigated to a high degree by using the right tool for the job. That’s where engineered products like EXAIR Safety Air Guns come in. Let’s look at how we can address these three “downsides”:
Efficiency: This is all about compressed air consumption. In the simplest of air guns mentioned above, consumption is only limited by the passages in the valve (or trigger) and the discharge fitting…and those limits are usually negligible. Modifying the ends (see examples below) to focus the air flow usually has minimal effect, because you’re not appreciably changing the total cross sectional area of the discharge opening:
Here are a few modified thumb trigger air guns that were sent in for Efficiency Lab testing. Left to right, compressed air consumption at 80psig supply pressure was 34.2 SCFM, 30.9 SCFM, and 28.2 SCFM. For comparison (more on this later,) EXAIR Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun uses only 14 SCFM and generates a very similar flow pattern.
Safety: Remember learning about kinetic and potential energy in grade school? Well, when you compress air to 100psig, fitting all that air into a much smaller space creates a TREMENDOUS amount of potential energy:
The block on the left represents a cubic foot of air at atmospheric pressure. The one on the right represents how much space the first one takes up when compressed to 100psig. The energy imparted by this process HAS to be handled with care.
One problem with the thumb guns above is, if you were to jam into the palm of your hand and pull the trigger, a large component of that potential energy (pressure) turns into kinetic energy (force)…more than enough to break the skin and cause a potentially fatal condition known as an air embolism. In the United States, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulates compressed air devices used for cleaning purposes. All EXAIR Safety Air Guns comply with Standard 1910.242(b) by providing a relief path to ensure that it cannot be dead ended, and thus never create over 30psi measurable at the outlet)
EXAIR Super Air Nozzles cannot be dead ended, ensuring the outlet pressure won’t reach OSHA limits, regardless of supply pressure.
Noise: Another problem is, another component is turned into sound pressure…discharging air from a direct opening is quite loud. OSHA standards address these with limitations on outlet pressure and sound level. All EXAIR Safety Air Guns comply with Standard 1910.242(b), which limits the outlet pressure (by providing a relief path to ensure that it cannot be dead ended, and thus never create over 30psi measurable at the outlet) and all but our largest Super Blast Safety Air Guns comply with Standard 1910.95(a) limits for continuous 8 hour sound level exposure.
Which brings us to the topic of this blog: How exactly did THEY (our customer who used to use the thumb guns above) select the right Safety Air Gun, and how can we apply that to getting the right Safety Air Gun for YOU?
These steps aren’t all-inclusive, and they don’t necessarily need to be followed in order, but if you call an EXAIR Application Engineer about selecting a Safety Air Gun, here’s what we’re gonna talk about:
Ergonomics: We offer five distinctive styles of Safety Air Guns:
From small part cleaning by hand, to wide area blowoff, and all points in between, EXAIR has a Safety Air Gun for most any application.
Our thumb gun user (as I alluded to above) chose the Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Guns (top right). They had a number of typical industrial applications where the operators had the parts or surfaces to be blown off right in front of them. They liked the integral storage hook and rubberized hand grip, but the VariBlast Compact (top middle) or Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns (bottom left) were also considered. The VariBlast Precision (top left) and Super Blast Safety Air Guns (bottom right) were too focused or more powerful, respectively, than needed.
Airflow pattern: Honestly, I could make a good case for this being the first consideration. Selection of any blowoff product – be it an Air Nozzle, Air Amplifier, Air Knife, Air Wipe, etc., will largely depend on the size and shape of the airflow.
variety of airflow patterns…and effective distances…are available from EXAIR’s comprehensive line of Super Air Nozzle products.
For the most precise, focused blowoff, our Atto Super Air Nozzle (top left) is a great choice. It’s available on:
Super Air Nozzle Clusters (bottom left) create higher force & flow, and still keep it in a more concentrated, tighter pattern. They can be installed on:
When stubborn, heavy, and/or LOTS of debris needs to be absolutely, positively blown off RIGHT NOW, our High Force Super Air Nozzles may be just what you need. Our largest; Model 1120 1-1/4 NPT Super Air Nozzle, is shown (above right). The High Force Super Air Nozzles are offered on:
Soft Grip or Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun (up to 3.3 pounds of force over a 6.3″ wide area @12″ away)
Application specific concerns: Everything we’ve discussed so far has involved aiming the blow off stream away from the operator, in the direction the device is aimed. In addition to wide variety of engineered Air Nozzles, EXAIR offers a number of options for these products:
If you’re looking for a portable, hand-held compressed air blow off product that’s quiet, safe, and efficient, look no further than EXAIR Corporation’s extensive line of Safety Air Guns. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer EXAIR Corporation Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
A manufacturing plant was using extruded aluminum structural framing for making benches. After the aluminum parts were cut, they had coolant and chips inside the tube. They tried to run a rag through the center to remove the material, but it wasn’t able to get into all the crevices and before long the rag was saturated. Also, they noticed that the chips would scratch the internal surfaces. For this company, quality was very important to represent their brand. So, they were needing a non-contact way to clean the inside of these parts after sawing. They contacted EXAIR as we share the same business facets of first-class customer service and great quality.
Back Blow Air Nozzle Family
At EXAIR, we design and manufacture nozzles for just this type of operation; the Back Blow Air Nozzles. We offer three different sizes to fit inside a wide variety of diameters from ¼” (6.3mm) to 16” (406mm). They are designed to clean tubing, pipes, hoses, channels, and extruded “odd” shapes. The 360o rear airflow pattern can “wipe” without touching the internal surface to remove coolant and chips. For the application above, I recommended the model 1006SS Back Blow Air Nozzle to fit inside the 1 ½” (38mm) opening. The range for this Back Blow Air Nozzle is from 7/8” (22mm) to 4” (102mm) diameters. This 316SS robust nozzle would last a long time without having to change or replace cloth rags.
After installing the model 1006SS onto an extension pipe, the cleaning operation became very easy and efficient. After each cut, they would run the Back Blow Nozzle through the center with only one pass to clean. The non-contact wiping removed the coolant and chips without marring the internal surface. In addition, they were able to speed up their operation by 20%. Cleaner tubes, less time, cost savings; they were happy that they contacted EXAIR for our expertise.
Model 1204SS-6-CS and 1206SS-6-CS
If you need to clean the inside of tubes, hoses, pipes, etc., EXAIR has the perfect nozzle for you, the Back Blow Air Nozzles. EXAIR can also offer these nozzles on our VariBlast, Soft Grip, and Heavy Duty Air Guns for manual operations. They come with Chip Shields and extensions that can reach as far as 72” (1829mm). Or like the customer above, automate the system to get a great non-contact cleaning. If you require any more details, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR. We will be happy to help you.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb
