Tag: heavy duty vacuum

Make CNC Coolant Maintenance a Breeze with EXAIR’s Chip Trapper

Published on by Tyler DanielLeave a comment

In any machine shop, one of the most dreaded tasks is always cleaning out the coolant sumps of the CNC machines. Over time, chips and shavings can make their way up into the coolant lines resulting in a clog. The coolant flow slows down or stops entirely, resulting in premature wear of expensive cutting tools, imperfections in the parts, or unacceptable product finish. When this occurs, if it is even noticed right away, the machine has to be stopped and valuable production time must be spent identifying the location of the clog and removing it. Another problem, one anyone working around CNC machines can attest to, is the rancid coolant smell that is a result of bacteria building up in the stagnant cutting fluid. Regularly cleaning this oil can reduce this smell, prevent premature tool wear or costly shutdowns, as well as extend the overall life of your coolant.

There are some machines out there capable of cleaning the oil and removing any chips or shavings, but these tend to be very expensive and not very effective. We tested a few different methods here at EXAIR in our machine shop. As a result of these tests we determined that the best foot forward would be to develop something ourselves. Enter the EXAIR Chip Trapper. Using either a standard or High Lift Reversible Drum Vac to provide the vacuum source, the Chip Trapper is capable of filling or emptying a 55 gallon drum in less than two minutes. It is able to pick up both the liquid coolant as well as any chips or shavings that are suspended in the coolant. The liquid is forced through a filter bag inside of the drum which contains any solid materials while allowing the coolant to filter out into the drum. Switching the knob on the Reversible Drum Vac and the directional flow valve to empty will allow the clean coolant to be pumped back out of the drum and reused.

After implementing the Chip Trapper in our own shop, we were able to increase the life of the coolant by 6x. In addition to the increased coolant life, a process that used to take up to 2 hours per machine now takes less than 10 minutes. The Chip Trapper quickly and easily pays for itself.

The Chip Trapper is available in either 30, 55, or 110 gallon systems. It’ll also come with (2) 5 micron filter bags, other filter bags are also available ranging from 1 micron up to 200 micron filtration. Using a simple detergent, the filter bags can be washed out, cleaned, and reused multiple times. With no motors or impellers to clog or wear out, as well as no electricity requirement or shock hazard, the Chip Trapper comes with our standard 5-year Built to Last Warranty. Do yourself (and your machine operators) a favor and get a Chip Trapper on order today. They’re in stock, ready to ship and start saving you time and money!

Tyler Daniel, CCASS

Application Engineer

E-mail: TylerDaniel@exair.com

Twitter: @EXAIR_TD

Industrial Housekeeping Products: Overview

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

EXAIR manufactures a range of industrial pneumatic drum vacuums geared towards cleaning up the messes you’ll find in just about any environment.  They are safe, quiet, and do not have any moving parts or electric motors to wear.  These are workhorses with a long history of durability and reliability. EXAIR offers systems suitable for use with dry materials and wet materials, as well as one capable of handling both.  In this blog, I will cover our Industrial Housekeeping product line. 

EXAIR’s Industrial Vacuums are designed to be used with steel drums that you may already have. If you don’t have a steel drum in good condition, we offer a Premium System that includes the drum. We have 30-, 55-, and 110-gallons for most systems, and we do have a portable 5-gallon size for our Mini Chip Vac and Mini Reversible Drum Vac Systems.

Let’s start with our Reversible Drum Vac System, which allows you to fill a 55-gallon drum in less than two minutes. With the simple turn of a knob, the stainless steel pneumatic pump quickly empties the drum as well.  For thicker, more viscous liquids (up to 1400 cP) or for applications that require lifting the liquid from below-grade sumps, our High Lift Reversible Drum Vac System is the better option. Operating in the same manner as the Reversible Drum Vac, the High Lift Reversible Drum Vac System provides extra power.  Both the Reversible Drum Vac and High Lift Reversible Drum Vac are offered on a variety of different systems, both with and without the drum included.

Chip Trapper Cut Away

Using either a standard or High Lift Reversible Drum Vac to provide the vacuum source, the Chip Trapper is able to pick up both the liquid coolant and chips or shavings that are suspended in the coolant. The liquid is forced through a filter bag inside the drum which contains solid materials and tramp oil while allowing the clean coolant to pass into the drum. Switching the knob on the Reversible Drum Vac and the directional flow valve to empty will allow the clean coolant to be pumped back out of the drum and reused in your machines.  The system will come with (2) 5-micron filter bags in the standard unit.  EXAIR does offer other micron ranges to fit your application, ranging from 1-micron up to 200-micron filtration. Using a simple detergent, the filter bags can be washed out, cleaned, and reused multiple times. Here are some points that show the advantages of using the Chip Trapper System from our perspective:

•  The complete coolant change-out went from every 4 months to once a year. 

•   Reduced the number of barrels of coolant concentrate from 10 barrels to 4 barrels per year.  Roughly $5,000 in annual savings

•  Bacterial growth is dramatically reduced as the Chip Trapper aerates the coolant.

•  Filter bags will remove the chip fines and tramp oils, keeping the coolant fresh. 

•  Speed to get the CNC machines back up operating and making parts went from 2 hours to ½ hour.

For dry materials, they are also a common issue generated in a variety of industrial processes.  Electrically powered vacuums or shop vacs are not designed to be operated in a rugged industrial environment. Filters clog, motors wear out, and you find yourself frequently replacing them.  EXAIR’s Heavy Duty Dry Vac and Chip Vac does not have any moving parts to wear out, doesn’t require maintenance, and needs nothing but a source of compressed air to operate. A static resistant hose also prevents painful shocks when working with dry, dusty materials (HD Dry Vac and Premium Chip Vac Only).  The Heavy Duty Dry Vac is constructed of hardened steel designed to provide superior abrasion resistance. It’s also a bit more powerful than the Chip Vac, with a vacuum level of -60” H2O (-15 Kpa) at 80 PSIG (5.5 bar). So, it can be used with sandblasting material and steel shot.  The Chip Vac is constructed of aluminum and is an ideal solution for general duty applications where there is no risk of abrasion.

For higher filtration levels in dusty environments, EXAIR offers the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac System.  These units use a HEPA filter inside which has an efficiency of 99.97% at 0.3 micron.  So, small material will remain in the drum and not migrate back into the ambient air.  The vacuum generator is made from a hardened steel construction like the Heavy Duty Dry Vac, which is very resistant to wear.  The EXAIR design can generate a high vacuum level to draw dust material at an extremely high rate, and it only has a noise level of 82 dBA.  With clean compressed air, this vacuum would last for years, not months. 

Starting in March, EXAIR will be giving a complimentary gift for qualified orders when purchasing any of EXAIR’s Industrial Housekeeping Systems.  You will receive a model 6492 Vac-U-Gun Kit for free.  The Vac-U-Gun can easily be converted from a blow-off gun into a vacuum gun by simply switching the generator inside.  For U.S. and Canadian customers, EXAIR offers a 30-day unconditional guarantee to try these out.  You will not be disappointed.  If you need more details, you can contact an Application Engineer at EXAIR.  We will be happy to hear from you. 

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

Not The First Switch Hitter in Cincinnati History

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

Okay, I’ll admit that I am not the biggest sports fan, however, I will support hometown teams when it comes down to it. I recently found out that at the end of 2023, the Cincinnati Reds signed Jeimer Candelario for a decent amount of money. Several article headlines here in town noted how he is a switch-hitting infielder. I always go back to the fact that Pete Rose, one of my childhood favorite baseball players, was a switch hitter and rather good at it.

1 – Pete Rose Statue

In Pete’s playing days, it wasn’t something that was focused on like today. Many of the articles nowadays will break down all the data to determine which way the player performs better. Still, no matter what the data says, I’m sure it throws even a professional pitcher for a loop when someone swaps sides of the plate during an at-bat. The good news is, while Pete may be one of the bigger names in history for baseball, EXAIR is working to become one of the biggest names in industrial point-of-use compressed air-powered vacuums, and we are doing so with our switch-hitter, the EasySwitch Wet/Dry Vac.

The EasySwitch is the first dual-purpose vacuum that EXAIR has designed and sold in the 40 years we have been around. The best part is that the EasySwitch can do both liquid and solids equally well and comes with some great options between the basic, deluxe, and premium kits. On top, the systems are offered with either a general-purpose cartridge filter or a HEPA-rated filter which can be taken out and placed in without the use of tools and within 10 seconds to allow mode change from liquid to dry quickly and easily. This means you can easily go from a hard-hitting dry vacuum to a forceful liquid vacuum that can easily pull up to 210″ of water column in suction mode and has a flow rate of 36 gallons per minute. Once the drum is full of liquid, the liquid shutoff will engage and the lid can easily be swapped for an empty container if needed. 

This versatility makes it a powerful tool in almost any production environment that may encounter liquid or dry material spills or even cleaning in general. If you want to see how we can help you sweep up your housekeeping challenges, contact an Application Engineer today, and we will do our best to knock it out of the park.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

1 – Pete Rose Statue, Tom Tuschiya, 2017 – retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pete_Rose_Statue_by_Tom_Tsuchiya.jpg

Utilizing EXAIR Accessories

Published on by Al WooffittLeave a comment

Here at EXAIR we are very proud of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products. We can spend a lot of time talking about our favorites (mine is the Vortex Tube). We have written many blogs about the advantages – no moving parts, little to no maintenance, meeting or exceeding OSHA safety standards for noise or dead end pressure. One thing we don’t talk as much about are the accessories that go along with and complement our products.

From left to right; a few value added accessories for your Vortex Tube: Hot Muffler, Cold Muffler, Automatic Drain Filter Separator, Oil Removal Filter, and Solenoid Valve/Thermostat Kit.

Some of the most commonly used accessories are our compressed air Filters and Regulators. We would recommend the use of these with all of our products (or even with products that aren’t even ours).
The Filter Separator will remove water, dirt and rust from your compressed air system. The 5-micron filter element will keep contaminants from plugging or damaging your compressed air product.
An Oil Removal Filter (always placed downstream of our Filter Separator) will provide even finer filtration by removing oil and solid particulate using a 0.03-micron element.
Our Pressure Regulators will enable you to select the operating pressure. At EXAIR we always recommend operating at the minimum pressure required to get the job done. Pressure Regulators allow you to do that, saving on unnecessary air consumption and allowing for dialing in the performance of EXAIR products within an application.

For some of our products, we have accessories made specifically for them. For use with our Line Vacs we have Line Vac Hose. We have Thermostats and Solenoid Valves to pair with our Cabinet Coolers, and for our Vortex Tubes we would recommend our Mufflers.
For our Air Knives we have several great offerings:
If you need an easy and reliable way to mount your Air Knife, then our Universal Air Knife Mounting System is what you are looking for.
If your application requires something longer than our stock Knives, or perhaps you need to control certain sections of the air flow independently, then our Coupling Bracket Kits are the perfect fit.
If you want to make plumbing your Air Knife easy, take a look at our Air Knife Plumbing Kits. They can be used for all Air Knives longer than 24″.

If you need to plumb many of our other Intelligent Compressed Air Products, then we have a selection of compressed air hoses and fittings that will make life easier.
Our Coiled Hoses pair well with our Safety Air Guns, allowing you to move more freely while operating.
Our Compressed Air Hoses are commonly used with our Industrial Housekeeping products to give the drum and dolly the reach needed.

If you need a way to mount or position your Air Nozzles, then we have our Magnetic Bases, Stay Set Hoses, and Swivel Fittings that can be added to make a complete set-up.

Whatever your application’s need is, or the product you’re looking for, we certainly have a range of complimentary accessory products that will make installation and adjustment easier. If you have any questions about these, or any other EXAIR product, feel free to contact us.

Al Wooffitt
Application Engineer

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