Tag: depreston

What’s in a Name?

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Do you ever wonder where certain names come from?  Here’s a for instance: Peaches en Regalia.  Well, I know what peaches are.  I’m pretty sure en=in.  But what is regalia?  I have to admit I had to look that one up.  From www.thefreedictionary.com …

re·ga·lia

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

1. The emblems and symbols of royalty, such as the crown and scepter.

2. The rights and privileges of royalty.

3. The distinguishing symbols of a rank, office, order, or society.

4. Magnificent attire; finery.

… and now we know!  Don’t we feel so much smarter now?!?  Strangely, no, because I still couldn’t identify a Peach en Regalia if I saw it on the street.  The only thing I do know for sure is that it’s a catchy little jazz number by Frank Zappa that our @ProfPenurious and @EXAIR_KE can occasionally be found rocking out to.

How about your world?  Are there names, titles or units that you have questions about?  One that we often get at EXAIR is ‘What’s a SCFM?’ The short answer is: Standard Cubic Feet per Minute.  Like Peaches en Regalia, let’s break it down word by word:

Standard – Believe it or not, this is the most complicated word of the whole bunch.  The short answer is that this unit (SCFM) has been standardized or normalized to be able to make a fair comparison of air flow rates of various products at various pressures.  For a more thorough explanation, check out this blog that @EXAIR_JP wrote awhile back.

Cubic – Not flat, not round, but….you guessed it! Cube shaped!  That is to say, a measurement of volume.

Feet –  More than an inch, less than a kilometer.  You know, a foot?  The units we’re using to measure volume.

Minute – Those things that drag on and turn into hours waiting for 5 o’clock.  This tells us that the measurement we are taking occurs over time, or is a rate.  In our case, the volume of feet in one minute’s time.

So there you have it!  SCFM isn’t so scary after all.  Just a unit to make an apples to apples comparison of how much compressed air a product uses. Coincidentally enough…

…if you’d like to learn about reducing the amount of compressed air you use, we just happen to have a LOT of stuff that can help you do that!  Please feel free to give me or any of the Application Engineers here at EXAIR a call, e-mail or tweet!

In the mean time, please enjoy some Peaches en Regalia, whatever it/he/she/they might be…

Dan Preston
Engineer
EXAIR Corporation

BACK!!!…to the woodpile?

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I have been called many things in my life.  I’ll spare you the playground names I had as a kid, but let’s just say in my adult life, it’s mostly been centered around my ‘thrifty’ nature.  Okay, so I’m cheap.  At least when it comes to things around the house.  For example, if my boys were to say “Hey dad, we’re cold!” my most likely response would be “Oh yeah? I’ll bet carrying in some more firewood will warm you up” (a wood burning stove is just one of my miserly habits).

But it’s funny what the mind can justify.  For a guy who’s unwilling to turn up his thermostat 2 degrees, I’ll all too quickly reason why it is I need to spend $2400 on a new laptop with the latest processor, 8 GB of DDR Ram and a 750 GB hard drive (mmm….Gigabytes…).  How can I do so?  Easy – I’m an engineer and that’s a tool I could use to do my job more efficiently.  Okay, so I don’t really need all that processing power in laptop form, but hey, it’s like Doc Brown said, if you’re going to build a time machine (or whatever tools you need in your trade), might as well do it with some style…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLRk4xG-JCI&list=PL96478722DF7FF45E&index=1&feature=plpp_video

You’ll be glad to know that’s how we feel when we design our products as well.  Okay, maybe they’re not exactly what you call works of art (although I personally feel our new atomizing nozzles are quite beautiful), but certainly in terms of sparing no expense to make sure our products help you do your job more efficiently.  And we back up our compressed air saving products, by providing the tools you need to measure your process.

And it doesn’t stop at efficiency.  If you find yourself in need of an air knife, but find out your current supplier will need 3 weeks to get it to you, that’s not a very efficient process, is it?  That’s why we carry our Super Air Knife in 4 different materials in lengths from 3 to 54” ON THE SHELF.  Now, I’m not one to brag, but I certainly take pride in knowing that 99.9% of all our shipments go out the door on time.  And it doesn’t take an engineer to tell you that’s pretty hard to beat.  Oh, and by the way, we take our product quality very seriously too.  That’s why every single one of those knives has gone through inspection and testing before it’s placed in stock.

So, if you’ll pardon me, I’m going to get back work on some beautiful new designs (if I do say so myself) and dreaming of my new laptop.  Until then, keep those home fires burning.

Dan Preston
Engineer
DanPreston@exair.com

A Nice Hot Cup of Innovation

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Perhaps I am just easily amazed.  But I spent a quite a few minutes marveling over a coffee cup this morning.  It wasn’t one of those novelty ‘1/2 a cup of coffee cups’ or a brushed stainless steel travel mug we all seem to have too many of.  Or even my really awesome Boba Fett mug.  In fact, it was a disposable one from a popular sandwich shop.

The first thing that really made it stand out to me was the fact that it didn’t stand out.  In fact, the woman behind the counter had to point it out to me as a coffee cup because at first glance I thought it was just a regular paper soft drink cup.  But as I picked it up, its slight heft told me there was something different.  On closer inspection, I found that it actually had a second layer of heavy bond paper wrapped around the cup, separated from the base cup by about a 1/32” air gap (with the help of some corrugate in between).  Perfect for insulating my hand from that hot, caffeinated goodness!

After I filled the cup, I noticed that the black plastic ‘sippy cup’ lid was a bit different too.  It wasn’t that annoying kind where you have to break loose the little cover over the sipping slot and then try to snap it in place on a different part of the lid (usually dislodging the whole lid or worse, poking your finger through it and into hot coffee).  It had a fully functional sliding valve, just like a travel mug!  Needless to say, I have been thoroughly impressed with this little throw away cup.

So, perhaps I am just easily amazed.  Or maybe I am just blessed to have a career in the wonder field of manufacturing, where you tend to notice every little detail that can add up to an improved customer experience.  Whether that be in a disposable coffee cup or in a Plant Engineering nominated Product of the Year.

Innovation.  Very simply stated, that is what impressed me about this humble little cup.  And that’s what drives EXAIR’s to continuously bring you more energy efficient, noise reducing, compressed air products.

Dan Preston
Engineer
DanPreston@exair.com

Avoid getting hammered: Pay for quality!

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I should have known better.  I really, REALLY should have known better.  But the temptation of a low price at the discount tool store for a hammer I needed was too much to resist.  It got me most of the way through the job before the ears of the claw broke off.  So I finished the job using a nail puller.  Which of course proved to be the better tool for pulling nails out of my brother’s roof anyway.  (Note: further experience has taught me one of those special flat shovels with the grooves cut in the end actually work better.  And I have been assured by @EXAIR_JP that my future experiences will actually prove the checkbook and a reputable roofer are the best tools for the job).

So for a few years after that job, it sat on the pegboard of the garage, getting occasional use, but mostly being overlooked in favor of its superior quality replacement.  As it so happened, I picked it up to drive an axle into a bearing hub on a motorcycle the other night with this result:

That’s when it struck me: (not literally, thankfully) Why did I waste my money on this piece of junk and why didn’t I throw it away when it broke the first time?  Answer to the latter is that I detest the throwaway society we have become and thought I could eek a few more years out of the business end of the hammer.  Which I did, but to what good I’m not sure.

As to the why I wasted my money in the first place, it’s simple:  I succumbed to the temptation of a low price.  Fortunately, it only meant the loss of a few dollars, but as you can see from the picture, it could’ve been much worse if the broken piece had decided to fly towards my head and not the ground.

You’ve heard it from countless places, including here :  you get what you pay for.  It’s true of hammers and for air nozzles. Investing in our engineered nozzles can provide immediate air savings and prevent future break outs of cold sweat when your friendly, neighborhood OSHA inspector pops in for a visit.

Got an application? Give us a call.  We’ll find you a solution and promise you there’ll be no broken hammers.

Dan Preston

Engineer
DanPreston@exair.com