Employee appreciation covers a wide range of things that employers do for their employees. From catered lunches to SWAG (stuff we all get) to recognition for milestone anniversaries with the company, I’m sure most of us are familiar with these, and other methods to thank workers for their efforts, time, talent, and loyalty.
I had the pleasure of speaking with the production manager of a company that specialized in parts for commercial vehicles. The assembly workers in a particular department had to periodically clean grease from inside a small opening. The only practical way to do it by hand was to reach their fingers in and wipe it out, a little at a time, until it was clean. They wore gloves to reduce skin exposure to the grease, but they’d tear, meaning they either had to stop and get a new glove, or continue to wipe the grease out with their bare fingers. The latter was less time-consuming, but the environmental, safety, and health manager wasn’t keen on that. They needed a ‘hands off‘ method of removing the grease.
This particular company had a number of EXAIR Safety Air Guns that had proven their worth in reducing compressed air consumption and noise levels, so the production manager called us for a solution. The initial thought, at the plant, was to use one of our Industrial Housekeeping Products, but it sure sounded to me like a textbook application for a Back Blow Safety Air Gun.
EXAIR Back Blow Air Nozzles come in three sizes, for bores from 1/4″ to 16″ in diameter!
And it was. After a brief discussion, the production manager ordered a Model 1306SS-12-CS Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Gun before we got off the phone. It comes with the Model 1006SS Back Blow Air Nozzle installed, which is specified for inside diameters from 7/8″ to 4″. They had it the next day, and reported back that not only did the operators not have to reach their fingers inside the opening anymore, the Back Blow Safety Air Gun did the job in just a couple of seconds. This made everyone happy: the production manager because of the process improvement, the environmental, safety, and health manager because of the elimination of the hazard associated with continuous grease exposure to people’s hands, and the operators because the ‘ick’ factor from one of the less favorite tasks was reduced to an occasional wipe-down of the Back Blow Safety Air Gun’s Chip Shield.
Heavy Duty Back Blow Safety Air Guns come with Chip Shields, and Rigid Extensions from 6″ to 72″ in length.
Employee appreciation can take a number of forms. Not that there’s anything wrong with pizza, anniversary & holiday parties, achievement recognition, etc., but tangible improvements to everyday operations have to be close to the top of that list. I tell people, all the time, that I’m here to help them get the most out of our products, and their compressed air systems. I felt really good about doing just that with this customer. If you’ve got a situation like this that needs improvement, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
EXAIR’s Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun is designed to provide powerful blasts of compressed air for use in rugged, industrial environments. With a larger 3/8 NPT air inlet compared to our other Safety Air Guns, it allows for higher force and flow values. It comes with a durable cast aluminum body and ergonomic composite rubber grip. The wide curved trigger allows for continuous use for hours without operators experiencing fatigue.
1350-6-CS – Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun with Model 1104 Air Nozzle, 6″ Alum. Ext Pipe & Chip Shield
All of EXAIR’s Safety Air Guns come with an engineered compressed air nozzle at the tip. This allows you to remain OSHA compliant while still getting the force you need to get the job done. EXAIR’s Super Air Nozzles utilize the coanda effect to entrain large amounts of ambient air from the environment. This ambient air mixes with the primary airstream and is projected towards the target with more force and flow than the supplied compressed air could deliver alone.
Compressed air goes in the back, as it exits the front ambient air is entrained in the total flow of air you are getting.
Each of the Safety Air Guns is available with extensions fully assembled ranging from 6”-72”. You can simply add a “-“ and the required length, in inches, to the end of any Safety Air Gun Model number.
Safety Air Gun Extensions
In addition, they’re also available with a Chip Shield to prevent any chips or debris from coming back toward your operators. Effective chip guarding is another component of OSHA 1910.242(b) in addition to the concerns of dead-end pressure. To add a Chip Shield onto the gun as well, a “-CS” to the standard Model number. For example, a Model 1310-12-CS would be a 1310 gun with 12” extension and a Chip Shield installed. If the application involves blowing off metal chips or shavings, your operators will certainly appreciate this Chip Shield preventing the debris from blowing back over them.
With EXAIR’s Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun, you can still achieve the high forces required for tough applications without the risk of injuries to personnel. Do yourselves and your operators a favor and get one on order today!
If you look at operating costs alone, compressed air can be just about the most inefficient method there is for cleaning parts. If you just look at the risks, it’s potentially very dangerous too. Don’t even get me started on the insufferable noise it can make.
For cleaning parts, most folks are familiar with the use of an air gun. You can find the simplest of these in many industrial settings: a valve (often in the form of a handheld trigger device) fitted with a nozzle of some sort (often in the form of an open ended tube, pipe, or fitting to focus or direct the air flow). These have all three of the “downsides” I opened this blog with. Of course, these concerns can be mitigated to a high degree by using the right tool for the job. That’s where engineered products like EXAIR Safety Air Guns come in. Let’s look at how we can address these three “downsides”:
Efficiency: This is all about compressed air consumption. In the simplest of air guns mentioned above, consumption is only limited by the passages in the valve (or trigger) and the discharge fitting…and those limits are usually negligible. Modifying the ends (see examples below) to focus the air flow usually has minimal effect, because you’re not appreciably changing the total cross sectional area of the discharge opening:
Here are a few modified thumb trigger air guns that were sent in for Efficiency Lab testing. Left to right, compressed air consumption at 80psig supply pressure was 34.2 SCFM, 30.9 SCFM, and 28.2 SCFM. For comparison (more on this later,) EXAIR Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Gun uses only 14 SCFM and generates a very similar flow pattern.
Safety: Remember learning about kinetic and potential energy in grade school? Well, when you compress air to 100psig, fitting all that air into a much smaller space creates a TREMENDOUS amount of potential energy:
The block on the left represents a cubic foot of air at atmospheric pressure. The one on the right represents how much space the first one takes up when compressed to 100psig. The energy imparted by this process HAS to be handled with care.
One problem with the thumb guns above is, if you were to jam into the palm of your hand and pull the trigger, a large component of that potential energy (pressure) turns into kinetic energy (force)…more than enough to break the skin and cause a potentially fatal condition known as an air embolism. In the United States, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulates compressed air devices used for cleaning purposes. All EXAIR Safety Air Guns comply with Standard 1910.242(b) by providing a relief path to ensure that it cannot be dead ended, and thus never create over 30psi measurable at the outlet)
EXAIR Super Air Nozzles cannot be dead ended, ensuring the outlet pressure won’t reach OSHA limits, regardless of supply pressure.
Noise: Another problem is, another component is turned into sound pressure…discharging air from a direct opening is quite loud. OSHA standards address these with limitations on outlet pressure and sound level. All EXAIR Safety Air Guns comply with Standard 1910.242(b), which limits the outlet pressure (by providing a relief path to ensure that it cannot be dead ended, and thus never create over 30psi measurable at the outlet) and all but our largest Super Blast Safety Air Guns comply with Standard 1910.95(a) limits for continuous 8 hour sound level exposure.
Which brings us to the topic of this blog: How exactly did THEY (our customer who used to use the thumb guns above) select the right Safety Air Gun, and how can we apply that to getting the right Safety Air Gun for YOU?
These steps aren’t all-inclusive, and they don’t necessarily need to be followed in order, but if you call an EXAIR Application Engineer about selecting a Safety Air Gun, here’s what we’re gonna talk about:
Ergonomics: We offer five distinctive styles of Safety Air Guns:
From small part cleaning by hand, to wide area blowoff, and all points in between, EXAIR has a Safety Air Gun for most any application.
Our thumb gun user (as I alluded to above) chose the Model 1210 Soft Grip Safety Air Guns (top right). They had a number of typical industrial applications where the operators had the parts or surfaces to be blown off right in front of them. They liked the integral storage hook and rubberized hand grip, but the VariBlast Compact (top middle) or Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns (bottom left) were also considered. The VariBlast Precision (top left) and Super Blast Safety Air Guns (bottom right) were too focused or more powerful, respectively, than needed.
Airflow pattern: Honestly, I could make a good case for this being the first consideration. Selection of any blowoff product – be it an Air Nozzle, Air Amplifier, Air Knife, Air Wipe, etc., will largely depend on the size and shape of the airflow.
variety of airflow patterns…and effective distances…are available from EXAIR’s comprehensive line of Super Air Nozzle products.
For the most precise, focused blowoff, our Atto Super Air Nozzle (top left) is a great choice. It’s available on:
Super Air Nozzle Clusters (bottom left) create higher force & flow, and still keep it in a more concentrated, tighter pattern. They can be installed on:
When stubborn, heavy, and/or LOTS of debris needs to be absolutely, positively blown off RIGHT NOW, our High Force Super Air Nozzles may be just what you need. Our largest; Model 1120 1-1/4 NPT Super Air Nozzle, is shown (above right). The High Force Super Air Nozzles are offered on:
Soft Grip or Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun (up to 3.3 pounds of force over a 6.3″ wide area @12″ away)
Application specific concerns: Everything we’ve discussed so far has involved aiming the blow off stream away from the operator, in the direction the device is aimed. In addition to wide variety of engineered Air Nozzles, EXAIR offers a number of options for these products:
If you’re looking for a portable, hand-held compressed air blow off product that’s quiet, safe, and efficient, look no further than EXAIR Corporation’s extensive line of Safety Air Guns. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer EXAIR Corporation Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
Safety is a key part of our culture at EXAIR Corporation. We have regularly scheduled, all-hands required, safety training on a number of topics. Our Order Entry team can likely tell you as much about our lockout/tagout procedures as our Machinists can. Nobody even thinks about entering The Shop without safety glasses, and it’s not just because of the signs.
We pay attention to these…
…so we don’t ever have to use this.
OSHA 1910.242(b) states that “Compressed air shall not be used for cleaning purposes except where reduced to less than 30 p.s.i. and then only with effective chip guardingand personal protective equipment.“ (emphasis mine) All EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products are engineered to meet the requirements of the first part (30psi outlet pressure to prevent dead ending…we’ve written about that numerous times, including here, here, and here) and we can also provide pre-installed devices to satisfy the second part: the EXAIR Chip Shield.
Any EXAIR VariBlast or Heavy Duty Safety Air Gun can come fitted with a Chip Shield, and any Soft Grip Safety Air Gun, except for those with Stay Set Hoses, can as well. Safety Air Guns with Back Blow Nozzles automatically come with a Chip Shield. The principle is simple: a clear polycarbonate (so you can still see what you’re doing) round disc slips over a short (or long if you want) pipe extension between the gun & the nozzle. It’s fitted with a rubber grommet so you can position it to where it’s most effective – sometimes that might be closer to the part being blown off; sometimes it may be back a little closer to the operator.
EXAIR Safety Air Guns are available, from stock, with Chip Shields.
If you already have an air gun that’s doing the job, you can easily add an EXAIR Chip Shield to it. They’re made to fit a wide range of extension diameters, and can even come with the extension if you need it. We also stock a number of adapter fittings; if you know what threads your air gun has (or if you can send us some photos) we can quickly & easily spec those out for you.
Convenient and inexpensive “thumb guns” with cross drilled nozzles (left) are compliant with the first part of OSHA 1910.242(b). Fitting one with an EXAIR Chip Shield (center) makes it compliant with the second part. A Model 1102 Mini Super Air Nozzle (right) makes it quiet & efficient.
We can provide a Chip Shield for most any device with a threaded fitting. I couldn’t find a way to re-use the non-OSHA-compliant nozzle that came with this gun (thank goodness.)
Another example of a larger air gun fitted with a more powerful cross drill nozzle (left) that can be made totally OSHA compliant with an EXAIR Chip Shield (center.) An EXAIR High Force Super Air Nozzle (right) keeps the power, while reducing noise level and compressed air consumption (right.)
Since 1983, EXAIR Corporation has been manufacturing quiet, safe, and efficient compressed air products for industry (emphasis mine.) If you have concerns or questions about safety in regard to your compressed air use, call me.
Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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