
A metal fabricator made stainless steel tubes with a ½” (13mm) inner diameter. Their process started by cutting the tubes into 8” (203mm) lengths. The tubes would go through a wash system, then to a honing machine. Once the inner diameter was honed to the specific diameter and concentricity, the tubes would be washed again for packaging. The honing machine used oil to accurately grind the inner diameter. Since oil and water does not mix, they had to dry the I.D. before honing. They contacted EXAIR to see if we could find a solution.

For cleaning the I.D. of parts, EXAIR manufactures three different sizes of Back Blow Air Nozzles that are designed to clean inside tubing, pipes, hoses, and channels. They can range from internal diameters from ¼” (6.3mm) up to 16” (406mm). The 360o rear airflow pattern can “wipe” the entire internal surface without contacting the surface to remove water, coolant, chips, and debris. In reviewing the inner diameter above, I was able to recommend a model 1004SS Back Blow Air Nozzle. This 316SS robust designed nozzle can fit inside and clean tubes with internal dimensions ranging from ¼” (6.3mm) to 1” (25mm); perfect for the ½” (13mm) diameter tube.

The customer indicated to me that there was a rush to start this project. EXAIR stocks thousands of cataloged items for same day shipping. He asked if EXAIR had any other components to help them to expedite their drying process. Well, of course we do! Since the tube was 8” (203mm) long, EXAIR has extension tubes that are used with our VariBlast Compact Back Blow Safety Air Gun. We have them ranging from 6” (152mm) to 72” (1829mm) in incremental lengths. For this customer, I recommended the 12” (305mm) extension to reach through the tube. And, since it was a manual operation, I also recommended the model 9040 Foot Valve.

Their operator could place the tube over the model 1004SS Back Blow Nozzle and with the Foot Valve, turn on the compressed air to dry the tubes. With the powerful air stream, the entire internal surface was dry for the honing process to follow.
If you need to clean the inside of tubes, hoses, pipes, etc., EXAIR has the perfect nozzles for you, the Back Blow Air Nozzles. EXAIR can attach these nozzles to our VariBlast Compact, Soft Grip and Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns for easy-to-use operations. For this customer above, they were able to use components to get the operation running the next day. If you need more information, you can share your application with an Application Engineer at EXAIR. We will be happy to help.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb