Tag: cheap

Compressed Air In The Wild

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Over the past weekend, I had the honor of visiting a local MakerSpace. These types of places are what my dreams are made of. The one we toured had a full metal and woodworking shop as well as a separate area for 3D printing, sewing, standard printing, electronics, and even laser engraving/cutting. Every workstation has an electrical drop and a compressed air drop coming from the ceiling as the area can be used for any number of projects.

Handheld air guns are something that you can find in nearly any and all manufacturing facilities that have compressed air within them. Suppose they are not at every operator station because the machines don’t require compressed air. In that case, they are generally found at the very least within the maintenance department, where they continually keep the facility functioning and may be the only ones in the facility with compressed air.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is cry-for-help.jpg
Don’t let this happen to your air gun…use an EXAIR Precision Safety Air Gun with a quiet, efficient Super Air Nozzle instead.

Handheld blowguns like the one shown above are easily overlooked when it comes to operator safety and energy savings. Often, the cheapest gun possible is also the most costly regarding ownership and operation. These are just a few of the reasons EXAIR designed the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Gun.

The ergonomic design fits well in any sized hand and the long trigger makes for easy pull and variation in the amount of air being used. The integrated loop allows the tool to easily hang on a tether or hook near an operator station, while the optional Chip Shield adds additional protection for the operator and can be adjusted to any location along the extension. Effective chip guarding is a portion of the OSHA standard for dead-end pressure. Lastly, the extension pipe is offered in three different lengths: 6″, 12″, or 20″ overall length. Each one of these components is also field replaceable in the event one becomes damaged. That means it’s not disposable like the other guns on the market.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is vpsagP1052x2.jpg

Three different Super Air Nozzle models are available at the end of the extension in two separate materials. You can purchase the Atto, Pico, or Nano Super Air Nozzle in either stainless steel or PEEK thermoplastic for more sensitive applications. These nozzles coupled with our engineered valve design permit the user to vary the amount of air coming out of the gun by pulling the trigger to a higher flow or pulling it slightly and letting less volume of air through.

If you want to discuss whether your current air gun meets or exceeds OSHA standards and how much air it may use versus what an EXAIR VariBlast Precision can do for you, please contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS
National Business Development Manager

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

EXAIR’s Efficiency Lab can Help With your Energy Audit, Quantify Savings and Provide an ROI

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

I recently received an inquiry from a customer to test their current air guns through our Efficiency Lab service. According to the operators, the handheld blow gun they were purchasing from a commercial retailer was too loud and complaints were rolling in.  They were also hoping to save some compressed air in the process as they were performing an energy audit at the same time.

Commercial Air Gun w/ Cross Cut Hole
Commercial Air Gun w/ Cross Cut Hole

Cross Cut Hole Nozzle
Cross Cut Hole Nozzle

The gun they sent in looked fairly similar to our Precision Safety Air Gun but it did not have an engineered nozzle on the tip of it.   Instead, it was simply a cross cut hole in a piece of material.   The air inlet to the gun was a 1/4″ NPT just like our Precision Safety Air Gun, the extension on the gun was slightly longer, the only significant variance I saw was the tip.

EXAIR Model 1410SS-CS
EXAIR Model 1410SS-CS

The Model 1110SS Nao Super Air Nozzle and Chip Shield
The Model 1110SS Nao Super Air Nozzle and Chip Shield

To try and get as much information as possible I measured the O.D. and I.D. of the extension, the hole size was approximately .140″.  I measured the extension on our Precision Safety Air Gun just to see what is different, it came in at the same size.  So, I flow tested the competitive blow gun with their tip on it and came up with air consumption of 12.69 SCFM, noise level of 92 dBA at 3′ away, and a blowing force of 11.5 oz at 80 psig.   I then measured the same attributes of EXAIR’s model 1410SS-CS Precision Safety Air Gun at 80 psig inlet pressure.  The model 1410SS-CS measured 8.3 SCFM, gave 8.1 ozs of working force, and only produced a 75 dBA sound level from 3′ away.

The sound level reduction was a total of 17 dBA which is below the OSHA standard for allowable noise level exposure, as well as reduced their air consumption by 4.39 SCFM.  That is almost a 35% reduction in their compressed air usage per gun replaced.  After seeing these levels of reduction the customer had more than enough information to provide management with in order to replace the blow guns not just for noise level reduction but also because it will reduce air use and save money. A clear supportive role in their energy audit.

If you would like to discuss how EXAIR can provide some free force, flow, and noise level testing for your facility, please contact an Application Engineer or check out the Efficiency Lab page on our site.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer Manager
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF