Tag: deep hole vac u gun

Deep Hole Vac-u-Gun Cleans Printed Circuit Board (PCB).

Published on by exaircorpLeave a comment

An electronics component manufacturer produces high quality, flexible and rigid printed circuit boards (PCB’s) for a wide range of applications.. They were looking for a more reliable solution to clean dust particles from their DIMM or Dual In-Line Memory Module sockets on PCB’s. This particular process is very critical as any dust or debris that remains in the socket, will cause them to fail inspection and the need to be reworked or ultimately considered lost product and remanufactured.

circuit board
Example of a circuit board

They were currently using compressed air blowing through a small open tube to blow out the sockets. While this was successful in some cases, in others they were seeing the blown particulate settle in another location on the board which would lead to the conditions mentioned above. Their thinking was to have a system where they could blow out the small areas on the circuits, while also having a way to vacuum or carry the particulate away from the area. They were looking into a traditional vacuum hood system but these units tend to be for larger industrial type applications where their process was a much smaller scale ranging from 50mm up to 200mm. Another concern was with the boards being so small and lightweight , the vacuum system may try to vacuum the PCB’s themselves.

After discussing the details of the application, I recommended they use our Deep Hole Vac-u-Gun in the application. The Deep Hole Vac-u-Gun features a small blow tube that upon squeezing the trigger, provides a burst of air to lift or loosen dust or particulate trapped in small holes or cavities. The unit simultaneously provides vacuum that is able to collect the released fines and carry them away from the area, removing the potential for further contamination.

DH Vac-u-Gun
Deep Hole Vac-u-Gun ideal for cleaning grooves or holes up to 1-1/4″ diameter and 18″ deep.

To discuss your unique application/process or for assistance selecting the right EXAIR product for your needs, please give us a call.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Circuit Board image courtesy of Rob Swystun via Creative Commons License

Chip Vac Clears Cast Iron Chips from Fixtures

Published on by Neal RakerLeave a comment

On a recent trip to India, I had the opportunity to visit a few of our end user clients in the field to see how they were using our products. On one occasion, we visited a tractor assembly plant. One department in the plant was responsible for machining the finished surfaces of the cast iron parts that made up the sub-frame of the tractor. The surfaces that mated together needed to have a finish cut made on them so that the gaskets used could seal properly on a flat surface.

The original problem was that once a part was completed with the machining cycle, the cast iron chips remained in the fixture that holds the part. This material interfered with proper mounting of the next raw part into the machining fixture. The customer then tried the EXAIR Chip Vac System to remove the chips from their fixture between each cycle. The Chip Vac System performed excellently for this task. And so the customer decided to up-fit all of their machining centers with Chip Vac Systems.

TAFE_BGL-2

The advantages of the Chip Vac System in this case were:

  1. They could turn their existing 55 gallon, open top drum in to a collection tank by applying the Chip Vac lid and filter assembly. The drums were not being used prior to applying Chip Vac, so it was viewed as a good re-purposing of the drums.
  2. There are no moving parts to wear out with the Chip Vac. Motors, brushes and impellers used on traditional electric vacs simply do not stand up to industrial use as in these cases.
  3. The sound level produced by a Chip Vac is far lower than an electric vacuum. There are presently no such ministry of health rule in India which govern this issue, but the operators were definitely happy about less noise and so was the shop foreman.
  4. The 10 ft. hose easily reached inside the machine center to allow for quick and easy access to the fixture for vacuuming task.

EXAIR is a company who developed our Industrial Housekeeping Products out of need in our machine shop to have reliable products which were convenient to use. It is always good to see when others who have similar needs, use our product for the same kinds of problems we encounter when working in our own production areas.

Our Industrial Housekeeping Products consist of a wide range of products which include: Chip Vac, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, Reversible Drum Vac, Chip Trapper, Heavy Duty HEPA Vac and last but not least, Vac-U-Gun and Deep Hole Vac-U-Gun systems.

We are here to assist you in selecting the right product for your application. Please call us today to discuss your specific application needs.

Neal Raker, Application Engineer / International Sales
nealraker@exair.com