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!
In 1970, the United States Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act. This Act created both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The goal of both organizations is to ensure that workers, in any industry or field, have adequate protection from physical injury and health risks associated with the tools & equipment they operate, and environmental hazards in the spaces in which they operate. Workplace safety was a big deal to them.
Fifty plus years on, workplace safety is still a big deal, and not just to the federal government. At EXAIR, we have a program of continuing training on any and all safety concerns relevant to what we do here. This includes everything from pedestrian safety (not getting hit by a delivery truck in the parking lot, or a fork truck in the shop) to hazard communication (understanding the labels and safety data sheets for the cleaning compounds, adhesives, etc. used in the facility) to the procedures & personal protection equipment required for the use of compressed air products. Workplace safety is, and always has been, a big deal to us.
This culture of safety carries over to the design of our products as well. It’s arguably most important when we’re talking about products that operators hold in their hands…like our Safety Air Guns. To answer the question I posed in the title above, let’s consider the features of these products:
Engineered Air Nozzles: Regardless of any other features, the energy associated with the flow & force of the compressed air exiting the device is the first concern, and rightly so. Without a method of reducing the static pressure at the point of discharge to 30psi or less, there’ll be enough energy in the air flow to potentially break the skin if the device’s tip was dead-ended, with no place for that pressure to go. You can either reduce the supply pressure to 30psig or less (which means you’re not going to get a heck of a lot done unless it’s just lightweight debris you’re blowing off, AND you can get close enough to it), or you can use products like our Super Air Nozzles, which provide a relief path for that air flow, so the static pressure at the point of discharge never reaches 30psi, no matter what the supply pressure is. The design of all of our engineered Air Nozzles provides such a relief path, which complies with OSHA Standard 1910.242(b), which regulates the use of compressed air for cleaning…which is what almost all air guns are used for.
If you did this without that Super Air Nozzle on the end, and the air supply pressure was greater than 30psig, it could break the skin and cause a potentially fatal condition called an air embolism.
Ergonomic design: Across the board, a key feature in the design of EXAIR Safety Air Guns is to be easy on the hands, with comfortable grips and easy to pull triggers. From the molded thermoplastic construction of the VariBlast Precision models, to the cast aluminum construction of the VariBlast Compact, Soft Grip, Heavy Duty, and TurboBlast models, they’re all lightweight, and quite durable as well.
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.
Engineered Air Nozzles part 2: The same design features that prevent them from being dead-ended also result in remarkable attenuation of the sound level generated by the air flow. By entraining an enormous amount of air from the surrounding environment (which results in a much lower operating cost than open-end type air guns), a lower velocity boundary layer develops around the higher velocity center air flow, resulting in much quieter operation. All but our largest Super Air Nozzles are compliant with OSHA Standard 1910.95 limits for maximum allowable noise exposure.
EXAIR Super Air Nozzle entrainment
Chip Shields: OSHA Standard 1910.242(b), in addition to limiting dead-end pressure to prevent air embolisms from breaking the skin, also calls for “effective chip guarding” to prevent airborne debris being blown off by high velocity air flow from hitting the operator. This can be accomplished by the user via glove boxes (similar to a small parts sandblasting booth), a physical barrier like a piece of shatter resistant glass, plexiglass, Lexan, etc., or personal protective equipment like aprons, long gloves, or face shields. In case any of that is impractical, EXAIR has Chip Shields that fit our VariBlast Precision, VariBlast Compact, Soft Grip, and Heavy Duty Safety Air Guns. They’re clear polycarbonate discs that can be moved back & forth on a rigid aluminum extension pipe on the Safety Air Gun, so you can position them according to the needs of the application.
If workplace safety is as big a deal to you as it is to OSHA and EXAIR, I strongly recommend looking at what you’re using for handheld blow off applications right now, and how they stack up against EXAIR’s comprehensive line of Safety Air Guns. If you’d like to find out more, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
EXAIR’s mission to be “easy to do business with” is downright invasive to our work culture here. Our Order Entry department answer the phone, so whether you’re calling to place an order or just check price and availability, a live person picks up on the call and can begin helping you right away. If you have questions about your application and/or product selection, they’ll transfer you to an Application Engineer like me, who has ALL the answers. OK, sometimes those answers reside in the spaces of our Engineering, Production, Shipping, or Quality departments, but I can reach ANY of those areas in 45 seconds or less (yes, I just timed myself on that). We ship stock product same day with orders received by 2pm Eastern Standard/Daylight Time, and our 30-Day Unconditional Guarantee makes trying something out risk-free to you.
One of the most underrated ways that EXAIR is easy to do business with is this: all of our products are as EXTREMELY user-friendly with regard to installation, operation, and maintenance. You don’t need to contract with millwrights, pipe fitters, engineering firms, or mechanical (or electrical) contractors to install ANY of our engineered compressed air products. In most cases, you just need basic hand tools.
The part about “ease of operation” is especially true about our VariBlast Precision, and CompactSafety Air Guns. They can be adequately supplied with a standard 1/4″ or 3/8″ ID (depending on the hose length, and the Nozzle installed) compressed air hose. Rebuild Kits are on the shelf, which can restore worn trigger assemblies to ‘as new’ operation in minutes. And, the variable flow trigger means the operator has full control of the flow & force, over the entirety of the range of operation.
The VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns are durable & lightweight. They can be fitted with any of our three smallest Super Air Nozzles: the Atto, the Pico, and the Nano, depending on the amount of flow & force, and the size of the airflow pattern you need:
Atto, Pico, and Nano Super Air Nozzles are available in corrosion resistant 316SS, or non-marring PEEK thermoplastic.
The gooseneck extension is available in 6″, 12″, and 20″ lengths. They can all be fitted with Chip Shields as well, for full compliance with OSHA Standard 1910.242(b).
VariBlast® Precision Safety Air Guns
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Like the VariBlast Precision Safety Air Guns, the VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns feature a variable flow trigger, giving the operator precise control over the air flow & force. Also like the Precisions, the Compacts are available with the Atto, Pico, and Nano Super Air Nozzles, and any of our other 1/8 NPT engineered Air Nozzles:
All of these can be fitted with rigid extensions from 6″ to 72″ in length, and Chip Shields.
The VariBlast Compact Safety Air Guns can also be fitted with EXAIR’s Model 1004SS Back Blow Air Nozzle, which is ideal for cleaning out small diameter tubes, pipes, channels and holes, from 1/4″ to 1″ inside diameter. These all come with Chip Shields and your choice of a 6″, 12″, 24″, or 36″ rigid extension.
Atto Back Blow Nozzles can blow out recesses or holes as small as 1/4″ in diameter.
Compressed air isn’t cheap, and if you use cheap, non-engineered blow offs, you’re going to pay WAY more to operate them than you have to. If you want to find out how the VariBlast Precision or Compact Safety Air Guns – or any EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products – can help you get the most out of your compressed air system, give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
In case you are new to the EXAIR blog, we talk a lot about the intelligent and safe use of compressed air. Most manufacturing facilities in the world have point-of-use compressed air and that will also equal to any that do, probably have a handheld blowgun in their facility which may or may not be safe and efficient. This may very quickly be one of the most common tools used throughout some facilities and is often the most overlooked when safety and efficiency are a concern.
The Soft Grip Safety Air Gun is a versatile safety air gun from EXAIR that can easily replace most of the loud and inefficient blowguns in a facility. The option to choose from 14 different engineered air nozzles, most of which are also available in multiple materials to fit the application just right, will give the ability to fit any operator’s requirement for force and flow. Couple that with the ability to add one of 8 different extension lengths or 6 different stay set hose lengths, and it will give the operators exactly what they need for those hard-to-reach areas while staying out of harm’s way. Lastly, the chip shield adds yet another layer of protection for the users and can be adjusted up and down on the extension to fit each application’s needs.
EXAIR’s Free Efficiency Lab
If you aren’t sure whether the handheld blowguns in your facility would meet or exceed OSHA standards for dead-end pressure and allowable noise level exposure, contact an Application Engineer today and send one to us for a FREE Efficiency Lab and find out which EXAIR Safety Air Gun is going to meet or exceed OSHA standards and your expectations.
