Blow Off Systems for the “W”

Many times we have tendencies to overcomplicate things. I remember a time when I was visiting my sister in Phoenix, and she was making a fancy 3D Scooby-Doo cake for my nephew’s 4th or 5th, and she needed the brown icing. Now when decorating these cakes, the common practice is to make white icing and use food coloring to make all of the other colors you need. She left that morning around 10:00 to look for brown food coloring. Around noon she called to tell us that she could not find brown food coloring at any store on this side of town, and was driving to the far side of the city to look at those stores. I asked her why she couldn’t just use chocolate icing, and she was having no part of it. She was so laser focused on her solution that she couldn’t hear that that chocolate icing is also brown… Fast forward to 6:30 PM, and she comes walking through the door frustrated and exhausted from her day of going store to store all over the large city looking for the elusive brown food coloring. As you can probably guess, she had chocolate icing with her because it finally hit her that the chocolate icing is brown… . The cake turned out amazing, and the lesson was learned.

So, why this story? I feel that in life and in business we sometimes leave our blinders on and become laser focused on one certain way of doing something. We know that the way we se it will work, and think that we know best, and we are going to make it happen exactly how it is playing out in our head. No other way seems possible, and when someone offers up a simpler solution, our immediate thought is “it can’t be that simple”, or “if it’s that simple of a solution, there is no way it could work”. Have you ever said these things? As an application engineer, I take a lot of calls from people that are much smarter than me with grandiose plans. Many times the problem they need to solve, is much simpler than the solution they have in mind. I’ve seen elaborate plans, that probably took hours if not days to develop, come down to simply needing a simple out of the box Blow-Off System.

At EXAIR, we specialize in intelligent compressed air products with a primary focus on blow off, drying, and cooling. When it comes to these things, our product lines (pointedly for this blog, our Air Nozzles and Jets) are head and shoulders above our competition. The vast majority (with the exceptions of the High power or high force nozzles – for obvious reasons) all meet both OSHA standards concerning noise and dead end pressure. Here is a list of all of our Super Air Nozzles showing the SCFM, Force and Decibels:

Our Blow Off Systems (some sample pics below) are a fantastic and smart solution for so many applications. It really doesn’t get much easier than this, a Magnetic base, a Stay-Set Hose, and a Super Air Nozzle, all in one. I feel that these are heavily under utilized. Simply connect your air hose, bend the Stay-Set Hose to the direction of spray that you need, and boom, Bob’s your uncle…

Mag Bases come with one or two outlets. Stay Set Hoses come in lengths from 6″ to 36″.

Sometimes things can be as simple as using chocolate icing for brown icing, or using an EXAIR Blow-Off System in your application. Of course if you need more than that, we will help you find the right solution for you. Call today to speak with an experienced application engineer that is eager to help.

Thank you for stopping by,

Brian Wages

Application Engineer

EXAIR Corporation
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EXAIR Blowoff Systems For Easy Air Nozzle Installation and Aiming

EXAIR engineered Air Nozzles are quiet, efficient, and safe, which makes them ideal solutions for air blowing applications. Selection is largely determined by the size & shape of the desired air flow. Our Air Nozzles & Jets catalog section lists them all, from smallest to largest, along with performance data and airflow patterns, so determining the right one for your application is pretty easy.

The next question is, how do you install it? If it’s replacing another blowing device, odds are, you’re an adapter fitting away (if that) from a quick & easy install:

Compression fittings and Model 1100 Super Air Nozzles transformed the part ejection on this press from “loud and wasteful” to “quiet and efficient” in about a minute.
Swivel Fittings for Air Nozzles.

For new installations, your compressed air drop may be located some distance from the installation. Properly sized pipe or hose can get you from the drop to the point of installation, but what happens when you get there? If you use hard pipe, and you can run it right to the spot where you want the air to blow, your Air Nozzle will essentially be as well supported as the piping. A Swivel Fitting will then allow you to aim it precisely.

Compressed air hose is inexpensive and easy to work with, but it provides no support for a blow off device at the point of use. This is where EXAIR Blowoff Systems come in. Any EXAIR Air Nozzle, up to our 1/4 NPT models, can be fitted with a Stay Set Hose which, all by itself, could be used at the end of a properly supported piping run instead of a Swivel Fitting. It’ll give you more reach – they come in lengths from 6″ to 36″ – and more flexibility in adjustment than the Swivel Fittings.

Precise aiming and location is a breeze with EXAIR Stay Set Hoses.

If you don’t have a pipe manifold like the one shown above, but you have an iron or steel surface in close proximity, a Magnetic Base can be used. EXAIR offers three styles:

Model 9042 Single Outlet Mag Base (left), 9043 Dual Outlet Mag Base (center) and 9029 Swivel Mag Base (right), and some typical uses.

If you’re looking for an efficient, quiet, and safe method of blowing compressed air, EXAIR has you covered with a wide variety of Intelligent Compressed Air Products to choose from. If you have questions about them, or how to mount them for optimal performance, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Bench Testing with Blowoff Kits

Last week, a customer connected with us online via the chat option.  He explained that he was working on a project to remove dust from parts on a table conveyor, situated in a 3 x 5 array. He had purchased the EXAIR Blowoff Kits model 1909SS and model 1910 and had been able to bench test and develop a blowoff system that was successful.  He was ready to scale the up design and procure a set of nozzles and swivels that would work in the automated process.

1909SS Blowoff Kit
Model 1909SS – Stainless Steel Blowoff Kit

blostation
Model 1910 – Instant Blowoff Station

 

The Blowoff Kits such as the Model 1909SS offer an easy way to explore the various nozzle types that EXAIR offers and to test the performance of each for Force, Flow and Sound Levels in your process or test environment.  Each nozzle will have particular traits, and identifying the one that most perfectly matches all your criteria can be done.

The Model 1909SS Blowoff Kit contains (7) different nozzles, all with stainless steel construction.  Included are (4) sizes of the Super Air Nozzle (10, 14, 35 and 60 SCFM capacities), the Micro Air Nozzle, the Adjustable Air Nozzle, and lastly, the 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle.  A similar Blowoff Kit, model 1909, is available with materials of construction of zinc aluminum alloy, aluminum, and brass.

We have put together a detailed review of blowoff applications, available in the Third Edition of the Air Nozzles Blowoff Guide.  Inside, you can find the technical specifications of all of the Nozzles, Blowoff Kits, Flexible Stay Set Hoses, and Safety Air Guns, that might be of interest to you and your application.

blowoff guide

To Request a copy of the EXAIR Blowoff Guide click here

To discuss your application and how the EXAIR Nozzle and Jets can benefit your process, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our other Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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