Tag: chip shield

Safety Air Gun Accessories!

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

EXAIR Has a nice selection of Safety Air Guns. The VariBlast Precision and Compact, Soft Grip, Heavy Duty and Super Blast Safety Air Guns, and the newest addition, the TurboBlast are available with a variety of air nozzles, chip shields and pipe extensions. (Click on the product link above to see a blog about any of the eight types of Safety Air Guns) They are durable and comfortable and ergonomic to use.These Safety Air Guns are designed with durability and comfort in mind while also ergonomically safe to use. Safe operation is assured along with low air consumption and noise levels.EXAIR Engineered air nozzles are available in Type 316 stainless steel for superior corrosion resistance and mechanical wear, Type 303 stainless steel for corrosion resistance, PEEK thermoplastic for non-marring and chemical resistance or zinc/aluminum alloy for general purpose applications.

Flying Debris? – Chip Shields are durable polycarbonate shields that protect the operator from risk of flying debris often seen when blowing off chips from machined parts. They are also useful to prevent coolant from splashing back, creating a mess during drying processes.

The Chip Shields are available for EXAIR’s VariBlast, Soft Grip and Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns. The Chip Shield can be used on Safety Air Guns with or without an aluminum extension. They may be purchased as part of a new air gun system, or retrofitted as a Chip Shield Kit.  Consult an Application Engineer for selection assistance.

If you have a blow-off process where the air is to be directed at a distance away from the operator, or into a hard-to-reach location, an extension is the solution. Available in lengths from 6″ (152mm) to 72″ (1829mm), with sizes as to meet most requirement can be found. To add an extension to an air gun, simply add -xx to the current part number. EXAIR’s Stay Set Hoses are available from 6”-36” in lengths with ¼ NPT male threads on each end, or a ¼ NPT male on one end and 1/8 NPT female on the other.

Model 1310-12 Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun, With 12″ Extension & 1100 Super Air Nozzle

The Stay Set Hoses are rigid and allow you to maintain precise positioning of the blow off nozzle. The hoses have “memory” and will not creep or bend.

Options from 6″ to 36″

 If you need a 12′ coiled air hose, to use with your Safety Air Gun, we have them available and in stock. Available with 1/8 NPT, 1/4 NPT or 3/8 NPT male end swivel connections. Avoid tangled and messy air lines and keep things neat!

If you have an application and need help deciding which EXAIR Safety Air Gun and/Nozzle you need. Please contact us and ask for any Application Engineer. We are always happy and eager to help.

Jordan Shouse
Application EngineerSend me an email
Find us on the Web 
Like us on Facebook
Twitter: @EXAIR_JS

VariBlast Safety Air Guns For The Ultimate In Operator Control

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

EXAIR’s mission to be “easy to do business with” is downright invasive to our work culture here. Our Order Entry department answer the phone, so whether you’re calling to place an order or just check price and availability, a live person picks up on the call and can begin helping you right away. If you have questions about your application and/or product selection, they’ll transfer you to an Application Engineer like me, who has ALL the answers. OK, sometimes those answers reside in the spaces of our Engineering, Production, Shipping, or Quality departments, but I can reach ANY of those areas in 45 seconds or less (yes, I just timed myself on that). We ship stock product same day with orders received by 2pm Eastern Standard/Daylight Time, and our 30-Day Unconditional Guarantee makes trying something out risk-free to you.

One of the most underrated ways that EXAIR is easy to do business with is this: all of our products are as EXTREMELY user-friendly with regard to installation, operation, and maintenance. You don’t need to contract with millwrights, pipe fitters, engineering firms, or mechanical (or electrical) contractors to install ANY of our engineered compressed air products. In most cases, you just need basic hand tools.

The part about “ease of operation” is especially true about our VariBlast Precision, and Compact Safety Air Guns. They can be adequately supplied with a standard 1/4″ or 3/8″ ID (depending on the hose length, and the Nozzle installed) compressed air hose. Rebuild Kits are on the shelf, which can restore worn trigger assemblies to ‘as new’ operation in minutes. And, the variable flow trigger means the operator has full control of the flow & force, over the entirety of the range of operation.

The VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns are durable & lightweight. They can be fitted with any of our three smallest Super Air Nozzles: the Atto, the Pico, and the Nano, depending on the amount of flow & force, and the size of the airflow pattern you need:

Atto, Pico, and Nano Super Air Nozzles are available in corrosion resistant 316SS, or non-marring PEEK thermoplastic.

The gooseneck extension is available in 6″, 12″, and 20″ lengths. They can all be fitted with Chip Shields as well, for full compliance with OSHA Standard 1910.242(b).

VariBlast® Precision Safety Air Guns 2022 Professional Tool & Equipment News PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD WINNER

Like the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns, the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns feature a variable flow trigger, giving the operator precise control over the air flow & force. Also like the Precisions, the Compacts are available with the Atto, Pico, and Nano Super Air Nozzles, and any of our other 1/8 NPT engineered Air Nozzles:

All of these can be fitted with rigid extensions from 6″ to 72″ in length, and Chip Shields.

The VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns can also be fitted with EXAIR’s Model 1004SS Back Blow Air Nozzle, which is ideal for cleaning out small diameter tubes, pipes, channels and holes, from 1/4″ to 1″ inside diameter. These all come with Chip Shields and your choice of a 6″, 12″, 24″, or 36″ rigid extension.

Atto Back Blow Nozzles can blow out recesses or holes as small as 1/4″ in diameter.

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

Video Blog: Chip Shield Kits

Published on by johnball2014Leave a comment

I have seen over the years where OSHA inspectors has visited manufacturing plants for violations.  One of the more common areas that they review are compressed air guns because many of them are very dangerous for Dead-End pressure and noise levels.  All of EXAIR Safety Air Guns are OSHA compliant.  But there is an additional OSHA guideline 1910.242(b) that deals with Chip guarding and shields for cleaning purposes.  With these types of applications, EXAIR offers Chip Shields; either as an option with our Safety Air Guns; or as Chip Shields only, or as a Chip Shield kit.  In this video, I will go over the Chip Shield Kits that will add a chip shield to your existing EXAIR Safety Air Gun.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

EXAIR Corporation Puts The “Safety” In Safety Air Guns

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

One of the most dangerous things you can do is depressurize a line full of a pressurized gas. If the charge pressure is high enough, it’s going to come roaring out, with tremendous force and velocity. Anything in its path is subject to that force & velocity. Objects small enough to become entrained in its flow can become hazardous projectiles. The noise it creates can be literally deafening. If the point of discharge is accidentally jammed against your body, the pressure can get through your skin. As if that wasn’t scary enough, the gas then has a free path inside your body…they call that an embolism, and it can kill you.

Why on earth would anyone want to do that on purpose? Well, it happens every day, in factories, businesses, and homes all over the world, when people operate compressed air operated blow off devices. Of course, there are numerous factors that can drastically reduce the risk of injury associated with compressed air blow off devices.

One of these is mandated by the government. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates the outlet pressure of any compressed air device used in industry for cleaning purposes. Keeping the outlet pressure low mitigates the risk of puncturing the skin. There are various methods of compliance with this regulation:

  • Regulate the supply pressure to less than 30psig. This absolutely complies, but it severely hampers your ability to get much done, as the air flow will be too weak to blow off anything but lightweight debris, from a smooth, dry surface, with the device pretty much right up on top of it.
  • Use a device that provides a relief path for the air flow if it was to become blocked or obstructed. EXAIR engineered Air Nozzles are designed to do this…you can supply them with higher pressures but they provide a relief path for the air, meaning they can’t be blocked or dead-ended.
Regardless of the compressed air supply pressure, the design of EXAIR Super Air Nozzles prevents a dangerous pressure from developing at the outlet.

The same regulation – OSHA 1910.242(b) – also addresses the airborne projectile problem by mandating the use of appropriate chip guarding. There are a number of ways to do this as well…chief among these is personnel protective equipment (PPE). At a minimum, you absolutely, positively should be wearing safety glasses with side shields whenever you have a blow off device in your hand (and so should anyone working near you, for that matter). If an operator is blowing off small, sharp shards, an OSHA inspector is probably going to get grumpy if they’re not wearing a full face shield, long sleeves, and maybe even a durable apron. Alternately, the blow off device could also be fitted with guarding as well…something like the Chip Shields that are available for most EXAIR Safety Air Guns. These polycarbonate dish-shaped shields fit on a rigid extension between the Safety Air Gun and the Super Air Nozzle, and can be positioned at an optimal distance to keep solid debris and liquid being blown off away from the operator.

Chip Shields are available for most EXAIR Safety Air Guns (left to right): VariBlast Precision & Compact, Soft Grip, and Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns…
…and others. These are just a few examples of blow off devices that can be successfully fitted with an EXAIR Chip Shield.

Another OSHA Standard – 1910.95(a) is there to protect operators against that literally deafening roar associated with unregulated discharge of compressed air. While cross-drilled nozzles (most easily seen in the lower left hand image above) provide a relief path to keep the outlet pressure at a safe level if they’re dead-ended, they’re still for all intents & purposes, an open-ended blow off…and quite loud. EXAIR Super Air Nozzles reduce the sound level of their air flow by design…the entrained air (which makes them so efficient) also forms a lower velocity barrier layer in the flow, which makes them extraordinarily quiet. In fact, all EXAIR Super Air Nozzles except our largest High Force models comply with OSHA limits for 8 hour noise exposure limits. Most callers that we talk to about applications for those are in areas where hearing protection is mandated anyway…if you need more than 4 pounds of blowing force, you’re probably wearing ear plugs already.

If you use compressed air for cleaning, drying, blow off, etc., you really need to do it safely, and in compliance with published & established safety standards. OSHA WILL fine you otherwise, and, even worse, someone could get hurt. EXAIR Corporation is devoted to helping you get the most out of your compressed air usage, and safe use is key to that. If you have any questions about it, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

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