Tag: npt

Using Accessories to Boost Your Tools

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I was once on a local theater’s website, ordering tickets to an upcoming show that my wife and I were excited to see. I had the option to pay online and have a digital code emailed to me in lieu of a real live paper ticket. Can you believe they wanted to charge me almost $2 A TICKET for that?!? I adamantly refused (by that I mean I clicked the mouse extra hard on the “Will Call” button before completing my payment)…and saved that $4 (almost) for something REALLY important.

The night of the show, there was a 20-minute line at the Will Call window. Folks who had opted for the digital code were doing a quick scan with their smartphones and walking straight into the theater. I used the $4 I saved to partially pay for a $10 glass of wine from a concession kiosk in the lobby, as a peace offering for my lovely bride. That was indeed “something REALLY important.”

Another time, I was ordering a sump pump backup system for our house. I had the option of paying extra for the deluxe system, which came with all the fittings and a special tool to make installation a bit easier. Even though the ‘deluxe’ system adder was probably a bit more than the cost of the fittings from my local hardware store, I paid the “convenience fee” and got the deluxe system anyway. For the record, during the installation, I realized I would have bought an incorrect fitting at the local store which would have forced an emergency trip while I had the water turned off in my whole house. THAT was an inconvenience I was glad to have avoided.

Similarly, you can buy any EXAIR product with, or without, accessories that’ll make for simpler installation, improved performance, and to ensure it does what you want it to do. Some of these are product-specific, but many are suitable (and recommended) for use with any of our products:

Filter Separators

Good engineering practice calls for point of use filtration for any compressed air operated device. Even if you have the best intake & discharge filters on your air compressor, trace amounts of contaminants can sneak through, pipes can rust, and water vapor that the dryer doesn’t catch can condense. Particulates can build up and eventually clog the tight clearances in many engineered compressed air products, and if you’re using air for cleaning, drying, etc., keep in mind that whatever’s in your air will get on your product. Moisture isn’t always as big of a deal, but it can freeze inside Vortex Tubes, Spot Cooling Products, Cold Guns, and Cabinet Cooler Systems. That’s why we include Filter Separators in our Air Knife, Air Wipe, Static Eliminator Products, Line Vac, Adjustable Spot Cooler, Cold Gun, and Cabinet Cooler System Kits.

Automatic Drain Filter Separators come in sizes from 1/4 NPT to 1-1/4 NPT, for compressed air flows up to 400 SCFM.

Oil Removal Filters

These aren’t always needed, but we have them if your application calls for it. Some of the “usual suspects” are food & Pharma (see above “whatever’s in your air will get on your product”), blowoff prior to painting (the smallest amount of oil on the surface causes a phenomenon known as “fish eye” and it looks exactly like that sounds), or when your compressor is known to have oil carryover.

When properly installed downstream of an Automatic Drain Filter Separator (left,) an Oil Removal Filter (center) will provide clean, oil free air to the Pressure Regulator (right) and all downstream components.

Pressure Regulators

One of our Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System is to control the air pressure at the point of use to minimize air consumption. In other words, find the supply pressure for your product that gets the job done, so you don’t use any more compressed air than you have to. Like the Filter Separators above, these come with many EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product Kits.

Pressure Regulators “dial in” performance to get the job done without using more air than necessary.

Mounting Brackets and Coupling Kits

Most of our Filter Separators, Oil Removal Filters, and Pressure Regulators can be attached to a wall, panel, etc., with a Mounting Bracket, and can actually be attached to each other with a modular Coupling Kit. These parts simplify the installation, ensure they are oriented correctly, and minimize the chance for air leaks.

Filters (left) and Pressure Regulators (center) can be mounted using Brackets, and they can be connected together with Modular Couplers (right).

Silencing Mufflers

Many EXAIR products are engineered to develop a boundary layer of low velocity air flow that greatly reduces the sound level during operation. Other products use a venturi mechanism to draw a vacuum (Reversible Drum Vacs and E-Vac Vacuum Generators) or a Vortex Tube to generate cold air flow. The air flow from these products cannot be subjected to back pressure, and, without anything to mitigate the sound pressure generated by the rapid pressure drop as the air exits, they can be quite loud. For these, we have Silencing Mufflers that, except for the largest & most powerful of these products, reduce the sound level to be compliant with OSHA Standard 1910.95 Maximum Noise Exposure Limits.

From left to right… Reclassifying Mufflers offer the highest noise level reduction, eliminate oil mist, and come in sizes from 1/8 NPT to 1 NPT.
Sintered Bronze Mufflers are low cost and compact, with threads from #10-32 to 1-1/2 NPT.
Straight Through Mufflers use an internal sleeve of sound reducing foam, with threads from ¼ NPT to ¾ NPT, with male threads on one end and female threads on the other.
Heavy Duty Mufflers have an aluminum shell and an internal stainless steel screen that keeps contaminants like rust from being ejected in a dangerous way.  We have them in ¼ NPT and ¾ NPT sizes.

Shutoff and Solenoid Valves

Another one of our Six Steps To Optimizing Your Compressed Air System is to turn off the compressed air when it’s not in use. For this, EXAIR offers manual ball valves, for operator control, and Solenoid Valves, to automate the process.

Solenoid Valves (left) are available for 120VAC, 240VAC, and 24VDC in sizes from 1/4 NPT to 1 NPT. We offer manual Ball Valves in sizes from 1/8 NPT to 1-1/4 NPT.

Swivel Fittings, Stay Set Hoses, and Magnetic Bases

EXAIR Super Air Nozzles are threaded for installation with common air pipe & hose fittings. If the pipe isn’t pointed in the exact right direction, a Swivel Fitting gives you 50°  of adjustability. If the pipe isn’t quite close enough to what you want to blow off, Stay Set Hoses come in lengths of 6″ to 36″, and when bent to aim the Air Nozzle, they ‘stay set’, as advertised, until they need to be moved. If a pipe doesn’t exist and you need to run an air hose from the nearest drop on the header, Magnetic Bases can support the Air Nozzle and a Stay Set Hose to get the air where you want it. They even have shutoff valves to turn them off when they’re not in use (that’s a good thing; see above).

Save installation time AND get your blowoff pointed in the right direction!

Hoses and Compressed Air Fittings

If you need one of the aforementioned air hoses to reach a Magnetic Base or to supply a Safety Air Gun, we have two diameters to choose from – 3/8″ ID (1/4 MNPT threads on the ends) and 1/2″ ID (1/2 MNPT threads on the end), and we can make them to any length you need. And, while our selection probably isn’t quite as comprehensive as your local piping supply shop, we stock a number of pipe nipples, Couplers, Reducers, Tees, and Elbows that are commonly used with our products. So – like my backup sump pump deluxe kit, we can put all the fittings you may require in the same box for you.

Contact an Application Engineer if you have ANY questions about how to properly supply compressed air to your EXAIR products.

At EXAIR, we’re here to make sure you get the most out of our products, and your compressed air system. If you need accessories to help with that, give me a call.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
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Industrial Air Gun Accessories For Safety And Convenience

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

The words “safety” and “convenience” are rarely synonymous. Many times, in fact, they are seemingly at odds with one other:

  • Decades of data absolutely prove the importance of wearing a seat belt in a motor vehicle. In the dead of winter, when I’m wearing a heavy coat and gloves, it can be cumbersome to pull that belt across me and fasten it without removing those gloves that are protecting my sensitive hands from the brutal cold. I do it anyway, and so should you.
  • I don’t own a boat, but I have friends that do, and I find it hard to pass up an invitation to spend a nice summer afternoon water skiing, tubing, or just cruising down the river. Life vests on a hot sunny day are perhaps just as cumbersome as seat belts. No matter how good you can swim, though, there’s a big difference between jumping in the water for a refreshing dip and being thrown into the water after a collision with an unseen object. If you’re unconscious, or even just disoriented, that vest will save your life.
  • If you work in an area where you’re supposed to wear safety glasses (even if they fog up) or ear plugs (actually, if they’re uncomfortable, you have the wrong ones…or you’re using them wrong), they’re a miniscule inconvenience compared to losing your sight or your hearing.

Notice I said “seemingly at odds” above, because safety doesn’t HAVE to be inconvenient. I could trade my old bulky insulated gloves for a newer pair made of thinner material that still have decent insulation. People who boat regularly will have properly sized life vests (instead of one-size-fits-most) with snap buckles (instead of pull straps). There are a number of different styles of safety glasses and anti-fogging treatments for the lenses, for long term use in most any environment. Likewise for hearing protection – whether you like the headset-style that covers the ears, or plugs that insert into your ear canals, there are comfortable designs, and some neat technology that cancels harmful sound frequencies so you can even carry on a conversation, even in a loud environment.

EXAIR Corporation has a long history of adding convenience to compressed air use, while remaining well within the confines of safety (that’s something we don’t cut corners on in our products, operations, or company culture) and efficiency. We’ve got accessories, add-ons, tools, etc., for most of our product lines. It’s quite prevalent in our Safety Air Guns product line, and for good reason – there are a number of areas where some flexibility regarding the use of handheld tools not only add convenience, but also contribute even further to their safe use. Consider:

  • Reach. When blowoff needs to happen inside, behind, under, or over an obstruction, extensions are available for any EXAIR Safety Air Gun, so operators can keep their hands free of the obstruction, especially if it’s hot, sharp (or otherwise potentially harmful) or just dirty or wet.
  • Cleanliness. While they’re usually specified to comply with OSHA regulations regarding proper chip guarding while using compressed air for cleaning, Chip Shields also prevent the nuisance of getting yourself dirty or wet from blown off debris. They’re available on all our compressed Air Blow Guns except for the Super Blast models.
  • Reach, part 2. A particularly nifty little option on the Soft Grip Safety Air Guns is the ability to use a Stay Set Hose (as opposed to a Rigid Extension) for extra reach. Let’s say you have to get back to, and behind, an obstruction for blowoff. Simply bend the end of the Stay Set Hose to the angle required, and you’re in business! They come in lengths from 6″ to 36″ long.
  • Stubborn debris. Among the new products that EXAIR has introduced over the past few years, this one is my personal favorite: the Soft Grip Super Air Scraper. We took our 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle and put a steel scraper blade on it, which assists the air flow by scraping (as the name implies) caulk, gaskets, sealants, tape, paint, etc., off the surface, as the air flow blows it away! It’s the perfect “one-two punch” for applications like these.
In addition to a variety of engineered Air Nozzles, you can customize your EXAIR Safety Air Gun with Chip Shields, Extensions, Stay Set Hoses, etc., to meet the particular needs of a specific application.

If you already have serviceable air guns that operators are used to and comfortable with (first law of human nature is “change is bad,” right?), all of our Super Air Nozzles have NPT threads…you may only be an adapter away from installing them on your existing devices. Speaking of adapters, we also stock a number of the “usual suspects” – an EXAIR Application Engineer can help you determine what your air guns’ existing threads are.

Thumb guns are convenient and inexpensive. Ones 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.

EXAIR Corporation offers a broad selection of quiet, safe, and efficient compressed air products, and one of the most comprehensive selections of handheld solutions in the industry. Whatever your need for a Safety Air Gun is, we most likely have you covered. Call me; let’s talk.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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Fasteners: SAE, Metric, Titanium, Stainless. Yes, We Can Accommodate.

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

In a previous life I worked in the metal cutting industry on machines that were all imported to the USA. Every machine we brought in had to have the air inlets changed out to match the NPT ports that most of our domestic customers had within their facilities. This simply made sense, why force someone to change an air fitting or something as simple as that to match the rest of their facility. The option we did not offer was to change all the hardware on the machine to match the rest of the SAE sized hardware and limit the number of tools their staff needed. That didn’t make sense. Well, here at EXAIR we like to do things differently.

There are several companies that I deal with here who always prefer their air inlets be different, whether it be a metric BSP thread or a larger NPT thread, maybe a global thread, or even a special fitting like a taper lock fitting. No matter the needs, as long as it will physically fit on the product, chances are we can offer the fitting that will simplify installation. Even past the installation we like to look forward to the complete ownership of our products. Once a machine is located in a facility, what other types of fasteners are used, what is the rest of the machine tooled with. When working on a machine as a maintenance person or adjusting the operation, not having to struggle with determining which Allen wrench or hex size a bolt is and risk damaging the bolt can be extremely helpful.

Most EXAIR products come from stock with standard fractional hardware. We do offer a number of products with a BSPT air inlet and they are often available with the same expediency as our other stock products, same day on orders received by 2 PM ET that are shipping within the U.S. As mentioned above, we can customize a product with the fasteners of your choice, as long as they pass our design criteria. Some of the most common fastener changes I have seen are converting a Super Air Knife to an M6-1.0 threaded bolt rather than the stock 1/4-20 fastener. There are a multitude of other requests that I recall throughout the years. Some of the most intricate are listed and explained below.


Specialty Hardware

From left to right: M6-1.0 stainless steel bolt, a titanium hex-head bolt, a Hastelloy hex-head bolt, brass hex-head bolt, Kolsterized hex-head bolt, special acorn head fastener, Allen key flat-head bolt. Each of these fasteners has been used within a custom configuration to meet a specific need, whether it be simply to match the metric or SAE hardware in the rest of the machine or to meet the demands of the environment they are going into. The bottom row are, integral star washer nut, serrated safety washer, and spring washer. Each of these has, again, been requested by a customer to meet the design and safety standards they have a requirement for. These are just a sampling of the custom hardware we have used over the years to support our customer base and fill their need with product that meets their standards.

If you would like to discuss custom hardware in a stock product or even a full on custom point of use compressed air product, the Application Engineer team here is ready to help. Contact us and we will do our best to understand what your need requires and offer a solution to fit.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

EXAIR's Threaded Line Vac Family

What’s So Great About Threaded Line Vac Pneumatic Conveyors?

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Conveyor systems come in many shapes, sizes, and configurations. They can be run at different speeds, and are made of various materials, depending what they’re carrying, and why they’re carrying it. And sometimes, they’re hilarious:

If you’re looking to move solids, in bulk, through pipe, there’s not a simpler way to do it than with an EXAIR Threaded Line Vac.  Like our ‘standard’ Line Vacs, they use compressed air to generate a powerful vacuum flow to get air behind the pieces and carry them along:

Instant conveyor – just add compressed air.

But, while the ‘standard’ Line Vacs are made for use with Conveyance Hose, the Threaded Line Vacs have male NPT threads so you can pipe them in line.  We have a range of options, depending on the nature of your applications:

  • Sizes: 3/8 NPT to 3 NPT.
  • Materials: aluminum, 303SS, 316SS, and hardened alloy.
  • Performance: aluminum, 303SS and 316SS Threaded Line Vacs are made for standard duty; the hardened alloy Heavy Duty Threaded Line Vacs offer higher vacuum performance as well as superior abrasion resistance.
  • Environment: the materials of construction listed above may be important because of the nature of the product being conveyed, but they also have different temperature ratings.  Our Stainless Steel Line Vacs also come in a High Temperature design, in case the material – or the environment – is particularly hot:
    • Aluminum: 275°F (135°C)
    • Heavy Duty Hardened Alloy: 400°F (204°C)
    • 303 or 316SS: 400°F (204°C)
    • High Temp 303 or 316SS: 900°F (482°C)

If you’ve got a conveyor application you’d like to discuss, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
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