Tag: blowgun

Utilizing EXAIR Accessories

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Here at EXAIR we are very proud of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products. We can spend a lot of time talking about our favorites (mine is the Vortex Tube). We have written many blogs about the advantages – no moving parts, little to no maintenance, meeting or exceeding OSHA safety standards for noise or dead end pressure. One thing we don’t talk as much about are the accessories that go along with and complement our products.

From left to right; a few value added accessories for your Vortex Tube: Hot Muffler, Cold Muffler, Automatic Drain Filter Separator, Oil Removal Filter, and Solenoid Valve/Thermostat Kit.

Some of the most commonly used accessories are our compressed air Filters and Regulators. We would recommend the use of these with all of our products (or even with products that aren’t even ours).
The Filter Separator will remove water, dirt and rust from your compressed air system. The 5-micron filter element will keep contaminants from plugging or damaging your compressed air product.
An Oil Removal Filter (always placed downstream of our Filter Separator) will provide even finer filtration by removing oil and solid particulate using a 0.03-micron element.
Our Pressure Regulators will enable you to select the operating pressure. At EXAIR we always recommend operating at the minimum pressure required to get the job done. Pressure Regulators allow you to do that, saving on unnecessary air consumption and allowing for dialing in the performance of EXAIR products within an application.

For some of our products, we have accessories made specifically for them. For use with our Line Vacs we have Line Vac Hose. We have Thermostats and Solenoid Valves to pair with our Cabinet Coolers, and for our Vortex Tubes we would recommend our Mufflers.
For our Air Knives we have several great offerings:
If you need an easy and reliable way to mount your Air Knife, then our Universal Air Knife Mounting System is what you are looking for.
If your application requires something longer than our stock Knives, or perhaps you need to control certain sections of the air flow independently, then our Coupling Bracket Kits are the perfect fit.
If you want to make plumbing your Air Knife easy, take a look at our Air Knife Plumbing Kits. They can be used for all Air Knives longer than 24″.

If you need to plumb many of our other Intelligent Compressed Air Products, then we have a selection of compressed air hoses and fittings that will make life easier.
Our Coiled Hoses pair well with our Safety Air Guns, allowing you to move more freely while operating.
Our Compressed Air Hoses are commonly used with our Industrial Housekeeping products to give the drum and dolly the reach needed.

If you need a way to mount or position your Air Nozzles, then we have our Magnetic Bases, Stay Set Hoses, and Swivel Fittings that can be added to make a complete set-up.

Whatever your application’s need is, or the product you’re looking for, we certainly have a range of complimentary accessory products that will make installation and adjustment easier. If you have any questions about these, or any other EXAIR product, feel free to contact us.

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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


How To Calculate Your Return On Investment From Using Engineered Compressed Air Products

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

There’s an old saying that goes “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” Best case, this means it may not be necessary to repair, refurbish, or replace something just because there’s a newer offering on the market. Worst case, it’s used to justify continued use of something when the aforementioned repair, refurbishment, or replacement will result in quantifiable benefits. THAT makes THIS quote all the more applicable:

“The most dangerous phrase in the English language is: We’ve always done it this way. It raises the question, ‘Are we doing this because we always have, or because it’s the right thing to do?’”
-Grace Hopper, Rear Admiral USN & computer pioneer

If you consider “not spending any more than you have to on compressed air” to be “the right thing to do”, then this blog’s for you. Read on, and we’ll calculate not only how much you might save by using engineered compressed air products in place of what you’re using now, but how soon that amount you save will equal how much you spent on those products…that’s called Return On Investment, or ROI. Let’s work through an example:

A popular air gun fitted with a cross-drilled nozzle for OSHA compliance uses 34 SCFM @80psig. These are commonly replaced by our Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Guns fitted with our Super Air Nozzles, which consume only 14 SCFM @80psig. It’s not likely that the trigger on an Air Gun used for blowing, cleaning, drying, etc., will be pulled continuously, but we can assume that two hours of “trigger time” per day (for an eight-hour shift) is reasonable. Here’s how to calculate annual savings:

(34-14 SCFM) X 60 min/hr X 2 hrs/day X 5 days/wk X 50 wks/yr=600,000 Standard Cubic Feet saved

Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air is fitted with an EXAIR Super Air Nozzle. We can also supply it with a Rigid Extension and Chip Shield (right).

Now, we need to determine the cost of your compressed air. The calculation for that, per the U.S. Department of Energy, is as follows:

Cost ($) = {bhp X 0.746 X # of operating hours X $/kWh X % time X % full load bhp}/motor efficiency

Where:
bhp = motor full load horsepower
0.746 = conversion from hp to kW
% time = percentage of run time at this operating level
% full load bhp = brake horsepower as percentage of full load bhp at this operating level
Motor efficiency = motor efficiency at this operating level

For simplicity, you could also get a fairly accurate answer by applying an “industry standard” thumb rule which states that a typical industrial air compressor generates ~4 SCFM per HP. If you know your electricity cost ($/kWh), you can calculate the cost of compressed air generation as follows. To keep most of the digits to the left of the decimal point, it’s commonly calculated as $ per 1,000 Standard Cubic Feet:

$/kWh X 0.746 hp/kW ÷ 4 hp/SCFM ÷ 60 min/hr X 1,000 = $ per 1,000 SCF

For EXTRA simplicity, you can use ANOTHER thumb rule, also endorsed by the Department of Energy, which states that compressed air costs about $0.25 per 1,000 SCF. It uses the above formula, and a typical estimate for electricity cost of $0.08 per kWh which my buddy Brian Farno did the math and provided a detailed explanation on that one here. So:

600,000 SCF X $0.25/1,000 SCF = $150.00 saved by switching to the EXAIR Safety Air Gun

Given the cost (current 2023 List Price) of $115.00 for the Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun, we can calculate Return On Investment as a function of time…how long it takes before you end up saving the amount you spent:

$115.00 saved ÷ $150.00 spent X 12 months in a year = 9.2 months

At EXAIR (if you hadn’t figured it out already), we LOVE to do the math, but if you don’t (no judgment), we’ve got calculators on our website for that. Just fill in a few blanks, and get your answer. If there’s anything I can help with, though, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

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

TurboBlast Safety Air Guns – Up To 23 Pounds Of Force At The Push Of A Button

Published on by Russ Bowman1 Comment

I had the pleasure, recently, of talking with a customer at a paper good manufacturing facility who needed an air gun with a LOT of force for some applications, a little less for others, and was hoping to find one device that gave the operator control over it. They were using a piece of 1/2″ pipe on the end of a ball valve. The operators were trying (and mostly failing) to get precise control by throttling that valve. When they needed a LOT of force, it was no problem – just open the valve all the way. Unfortunately, though, ball valves aren’t known for being precision throttling devices, so most of the “little less” force jobs were getting too much force (and making a bigger mess) or not enough (leaving the existing mess) around the machinery.

After reviewing our Safety Air Guns catalog, they decided to try the Model 1927 TurboBlast Safety Air Gun. They liked:

  • Hard hitting power – the Model 1118 High Force Super Air Nozzle‘s flow (when supplied @80psig) generates 15 pounds of force at a distance of 12″ from the target.
  • Nozzle Guard – there was a great potential for the tip to get banged up from incidental contact with the machinery. The rugged Nozzle Guard protects not only the Air Nozzle, but the equipment as well, as the Zinc Aluminum Super Air Nozzle could have left scratches in some of the parts that were painted.
  • Adjustable Gate Valve – this provides the precise control their operators need to clean up the aforementioned mess, without creating a bigger one.
  • Pushbutton control – the low profile button trigger actuates with just a slight squeeze. Much more ergonomic than having to grasp the ball valve’s handle tight, especially when they needed it in a partially open position.
Features & benefits of the new TurboBlast Safety Air Gun

No matter what the scope of a blow off application is, EXAIR has a wide selection of Safety Air Guns to meet your needs. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

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

EXAIR Safety Air Guns Reduce Air Consumption & Sound Levels Without Sacrificing Performance

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I recently had the pleasure of discussing Safety Air Gun performance with the Safety Director of a manufacturing facility who needed to address the high noise levels in their machine shop. They were using inexpensive thumb trigger blow offs:

The sound level generated by this air gun was 87dBA, when supplied with compressed air at 80psig. That’s just under the 90dBA maximum allowable noise exposure per OSHA Standard 1910.95(a) for 8 hour exposure.

It’s important to note that handheld blow off devices are RARELY operated continuously, but even in short bursts, excessively high noise levels like that (even if they’re technically within OSHA limits) aren’t a lot of fun to be around, and Safety Directors aren’t the kind of folks who are typically OK with operating right at a published limit. I know EXAIR’s Safety Director isn’t, and neither is this company’s.

After discussing the specifics of what they use these for, we determined that two specific EXAIR Safety Air Guns would meet their machinists’ needs at different machines: Model 1699-CS VariBlast Compact Safety Air Gun with our Mini Super Air Nozzle & Chip Shield, and Model 1809-PEEK-CS VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun with our Pico Super Air Nozzle (PEEK thermoplastic for non-marring performance in case of incidental contact with the parts they’re blowing off) & Chip Shield.

The VariBlast Compact Safety Air Gun (left) has two ports to choose from – this one uses the one on the back of the handle. The VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns (right) have a molded plastic grip for ergonomics. Both feature a variable flow trigger to give the operator total control of the flow & force generated from the efficient & quiet Super Air Nozzle.

The sound level of the Mini Super Air Nozzle on the Model 1699-CS is only 71dBA, and Pico Super Air Nozzle on the Model 1809-PEEK-CS is only 68dBA. Those sound levels are barely discernible in a typical machine shop during normal operation…and FAR less than OSHA’s limits, in any case.

In addition to the sound level reduction, the compressed air consumption was greatly reduced as well. Their device was tested in our Efficiency Lab, and uses 22.3 SCFM @80psig. The air consumption of the Model 1699-CS is only 10 SCFM @80psig, and Model 1809-PEEK-CS uses only 4.9 SCFM @80psig.

The additional benefit of the operators being able to control the flow & force by the variable flow trigger will almost certainly reduce ALL of those values as muscle memory ‘fine tunes’ the amount of pull they apply to the trigger. I think that qualifies for a win-win-win, any day.

If you use air guns in your facility, and they’re not EXAIR Safety Air Guns, you owe it to yourself – and your electric bill & your co-workers’ hearing – to check us out.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

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