Tag: extrusion

Super Air Wipe Cools, Cleans and Dries Extruded Shapes

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We have many customers that use the manufacturing process of extrusion to make their various type of products.  EXAIR has an Intelligent Compressed Air Product that works very well with these processes to provide a drying, blowoff and cooling function.

Many types of products are produced via the process of extrusion, which is to shape (as metal or plastic) by forcing through a die.  There are many advantages to the extrusion process, including it being a continuous operation, it runs at high speeds, is good for high volume and low production costs, as well as many other factors.

The extrusion process typically requires heating of the metal billet or melting of the plastic to a high enough temperature to allow it to flow and be shaped as it it forced through the die. After the product has passed through the die and has been shaped it must be cooled and this is usually achieved by passing the it through a water bath.  Once the material has been cooled, it needs to be dried to remove the moisture, before the extrusion enters the next stage of processing, like getting cut to length or printed upon.

The EXAIR Super Air Wipe is ideal for blowoff, drying, cleaning and cooling of continuous materials such as extrusions, pipe, cable and more.

saw_2-2

The Super Air Wipe has a split design which offers easy clamping around the surface of the material, eliminating the need for threading. All Super Air Wipe models include stainless steel screws and shims.  Stainless Steel wire braided hose which is plumbed to each half, is included on sizes up to 4″ to simplify installation and plumbing. Aluminum models are rated to 400°F and the stainless steel models for temperatures up to 800°F.  Models are available in size from 1/2″ to 11″ Throat Diameters.

The Super Air Wipe provides a uniform, 360° air stream that is ideal for drying and cooling of extruded materials.

To discuss your application and how an EXAIR Super Air Wipe can benefit you extrusion process, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.

Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer

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Super Air Knife Dries Plastic Fence Net

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I recently worked with an extruded fence manufacturer who was looking to dry the material after a rinse process. The polyethylene fencing is 48″ wide with cells ranging from .25″ up to 2″ and the web is traveling at 5 meters per minute. After leaving the rinse bath, the web spans a 12′ area before being sent to a winder where they apply a tape before producing the finished rolls. It was in this area the company was looking to add a blow off device to remove the moisture to assure the tape would adhere to the surface.

construction-netting
Example of the fence, which is commonly used at construction sites as safety netting.

After discussing the details with the customer of the area that needed to be covered, I recommended they use our 48″ Super Air Knife for the application. The Super Air Knife produces a high velocity, laminar sheet of airflow across the entire length of the knife. Operating at 80 PSIG, using a 40:1 amplification rate (entrained air to compressed air) the unit produces a velocity of 11,800 feet per minute while maintaining a low sound level of only 69 dBA. Air consumption is 2.9 SCFM per inch of knife when operated at 80 PSIG. Since the customer was looking to treat both sides of the fencing, they would need to mount a unit above and below the web for effective blowoff.

Super Air Knife
The Super Air Knife provides a high velocity curtain of air at minimal compressed air usage.

The Super Air Knife is the most efficient and quietest air knife offered on the market today. Available in lengths from 3″ up to 108″ in single-piece construction and offered in aluminum, 303ss or 316ss construction, they are the perfect choice for small scale or wide coverage blowoff applications. With help selecting the best EXAIR Air Knife for your process or to discuss your application, give me a call, I’d be happy to help.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

 

Plastic orange construction fence-net image courtesy of Jnzl’s Photos via Creative Commons license.

 

Ion Air Jet Improves Teflon Gasket Cutting

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If your familiar with our blog, you may have noticed that a common theme lately has been static.  Take for example our recent blog titled  Static Can Become A Big Issue With Winter Approaching , details how static was negatively affecting an automobile instrumentation assembler’s production or another one titled Static Electricity – What is it? , providing a better general understanding of the phenomena. Here in Cincinnati we’ve had some relatively mild temperatures lately but this weekend it was just downright cold. Now that our furnace is running, the humidity in the house is starting to be removed which not only wreaks havoc on our hardwood floors, but in winter’s past, it seemed like every time one of us touched each other or something metal , we got “zapped” due to static. As many homeowners do, I’ve purchased several humidifiers and strategically placed them throughout the house which has helped immensely. While this is a good approach for a residence, it’s not as easy an alternative when dealing in an industrial setting.

I recently worked with a customer in the northeastern U. S. who manufacturers Teflon gaskets. As the Teflon tube exits the extruder, a blade passes by and cuts a very thin cross section of material which drops into a collection bin underneath. During the spring and summer months, the process was running seamlessly but over the past couple weeks, temperatures in the area have dropped, causing the company to turn on the large, gas heaters on the production floor. Now that the air is starting to dry out, they are beginning to see the gaskets cling to the blade and surrounding tooling which is not only causing damage to the part itself but it’s also resulting in production delays.

Since the area they are needing to treat is relatively small, I recommended they use our Ion Air Jet. The Ion Air Jet  provide a focused stream of ionized air to eliminate the surface static of a material or object. By incorporating a pressure regulator to operate at low pressure, they would be able to reduce the outlet force and velocity, allowing them to gently blow the airflow across the area as to not disrupt the collection of the parts.

NEW Ion Air Jet
Static can cause a variety of nuisances in industrial settings ranging from damage to sensitive electronics, machine jams, parts or sheets sticking together, and personnel shock just to name a few. If you need any help selecting the best EXAIR product for your needs, don’t hesitate to ask one of our application engineers for assistance. I’d be shocked if we couldn’t help. (I know, not punny).

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN

Light Duty Line Vac Used To Move Weatherstrip Trim, Eliminates Production Delay

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Last week I was contacted by a custom machine builder who was looking to improve their design of a rubber weatherstrip notching machine for an automotive company. As the weatherstrip enters the machine, there are several cuts taken along the length, resulting in excess scrap trim which drops into a collection bin. The operation is then stopped, so the operator can manually empty the bin into a recycle hopper a few feet away. This was causing a few issues, most notably the delay in production, but also the operators were sometimes forgetting to empty the bin which caused jams in the machine and a messy work area. The machine builder was looking at our Line Vac Conveyors as a more reliable, automated option to convey the material instead of relying on the operator, so they reached out for assistance in selecting the best model.

The lightweight, rubber scrap trim varied in size, with the largest being a piece around 3/4″ wide x 13″ long, and they needed to convey it about 3′ – 4′ with the majority of the run begin gravity fed into the recycle bin. They were hoping to place the Line Vac right at the cutting head, so as the part is being processed, the scrap piece would be pulled in to the suction side, lengthwise, to avoid any blockage or build up. After reviewing all of the information and a sketch of the proposed setup, I recommend they use our Model # 130200 2″ Light Duty Line Vac. The Light Duty Line Vac uses less compressed air than our other air operated conveyors and is the ideal choice when looking to move lightweight or smaller volumes of material a short distance. With this particular application being mostly gravity fed, the Light Duty Line Vac would ensure the material was effectively picked up and delivered to the hopper, eliminating the current manual process.

Light Duty Line Vac
Light Duty Line Vacs are available to ship from stock in sizes ranging from 3/4″ up to 6″.

The Line Vac Air Operated Conveyors have no moving parts or motors to wear out, providing a maintenance free way to move dry material. For help selecting the best option to fit your needs or to discuss how another EXAIR product might be suitable for your application, give us a call.

Justin Nicholl
Application Engineer
justinnicholl@exair.com
@EXAIR_JN