Years ago I was working with a pet food manufacturer who was having issues with their bag opening machine. The problem they had with their existing setup was the dust from manufacturing processes would get sucked into the venturi and start to decrease their performance. Hence, they needed a better solution that wouldn’t need to be replaced and could be cleaned.
Adjustable E-Vac
The bags were empty, and this vacuum generator was positioned to pull the bag open. The bags were made of a non-porous material as they had a coating on them and thus the actual action of opening the bag was not difficult. Enter dust through the throat of a small venturi, and it caused several downtimes that were not scheduled. When looking at the performance characteristics of their existing system I crossed that over to an EXAIR model 840008M – Adjustable E-Vac w/ Straight Through Muffler. This unit was able to open the bag and hold it open for their machine needs. The throat passage of the unit was also larger than their existing generator and the biggest benefit, the Adjustable E-Vac could easily be taken apart and cleaned. To see how easy they are adjusted, which is the same method used to take them apart, check out this previous video blog linked in the image below.
The process changed from changing an existing vacuum generator out, scrapping the old one, and putting in a new one to keeping two on hand. One (EXAIR Adjustable E-vac) that is in operation and functioning, then after a designated amount of time (predictive maintenance), they change it out for the spare (EXAIR Adjustable E-vac) vacuum generator. The second part of the process involves breaking the used one down (without the need for any specialized tools), to clean each of the three pieces on the unit. The refurbished unit is then reassembled, benchmarked for performance, and put on the shelf for the next maintenance cycle.
While this system uses the same volume of compressed air as their previous solution, we still save money in the amount of unusable replacements they were ordering with repairable units, allowing them to keep a working spare on hand. So it saves the customer money on the life of the product. A further benefit is the customer can also get the EXAIR Adjustable E-Vacs quickly as they are standard stock item for us at EXAIR and can ship the same day on orders received by 2 PM ET.
If you want to discuss how an Adjustable E Vac makes sense for you and your team, contact an Application Engineer today!
When I bought my first house (I was a happy condo dweller prior to the birth of my second son), I got a gift card for a home improvement store from some of the folks I worked with. Since my mother-in-law had already bought me a lawn mower, I used that gift card to purchase another staple of the Suburban Dad’s Garage: a heavy duty wet-dry shop vac. It quickly proved its usefulness as a dry vac in cleaning up after a couple of wood working and plumbing (mis)adventures, and as a wet vac following a sump pump failure & subsequent replacement. That last part was when I learned a valuable lesson about the filter cartridge that catches dirt, debris, sawdust, PVC shavings, copper shavings & solder slag: it gets ruined, and makes a HUGE mess inside the drum, if you don’t take it out before pumping the residual water from your basement sump.
I’d like to say that never happened again, but I had the old “there’s got to be a better design” thought every time I carefully positioned a large trash bag underneath so I could finagle a waterlogged & debris-laden filter out of my shop vac canister without making an even bigger mess on the floor. Now, I don’t believe this had anything to do with our R&D engineers’ development of the EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac, but it IS an amazing coincidence…
Not that it’s particularly difficult to change the filter in my shop vac, but this is indeed an “Easy Switch”.
If you’re looking for a powerful, reliable, and easy to use industrial vacuum, here it is. Made to fit a standard 55 gallon open top drum, the EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac Systems come in a variety of configurations to meet your specific Industrial Housekeeping needs:
For portability and convenience, the Deluxe system adds:
Drum dolly
Upgrade to anti-static vacuum hose and Heavy Duty Aluminum Tools
Spill Recovery Kit (for floor cleanup of liquids)
Magnetic Tool Holder
And if you need a drum, the Premium system adds that as well.
The standard filter is suitable for general purpose dry vacuuming, but for critical dust removal, our HEPA filter conforms to IEST-RP-CC-007 specifications for minimum 99.97% filtration at the 0.3 micron level. If your cleanup involves toxic materials, respiratory irritants…anything that people shouldn’t be breathing…you’ll definitely want the HEPA filter.
For critical dust containment, the award winning HEPA EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac System is your durable, reliable, compressed air operated solution!
And, of course, you can still remove the filter (don’t forget that part; that’s how this blog started) for high performance liquid vacuuming as well. If you’d like to find out more about the HEPA EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac – or any of our other Industrial Housekeeping Products – give me a call.
Russ Bowman, CCASS
Application Engineer EXAIR Corporation Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
The EXAIR Adjustable E-Vacs are available in 4 different sizes to fit whatever your pick and place, vacuum holding, degassing, or vacuum evacuation process may call for. These units have been used in a multitude of applications and the Adjustable factor makes them versatile enough to fit a production line with changing needs.
These are all examples of how an E-Vac pick-and-place system is just a solenoid valve away from automation.
The Adjustable E-Vacs have a few benefits that may go unnoticed if one is not keen to exactly how they are constructed and function. This sets them apart from many vacuum generators. When dealing with vacuum generator applications such as pick and place, having a part that is always the same is easiest. This is not always the case. Sometimes it is not just the dimensions of the part that changes, sometimes the material changes or even the surface finish of the part. This is where the ability to change from a porous to non-porous vacuum generator is extremely helpful. Generally this means the material of the parts getting picked up will allow air flow through them (paper, cardboard, wood) or not (plastic, glass). A porous vacuum generator will pull more flow through the part material to hold the vacuum, a non-porous vacuum generator will pull less flow and achieve higher vacuum levels.
To better understand the difference between porous and non-porous, we’ve written about that. Check out Tyler Daniel’s blog on the difference between the two here. The beauty of the Adjustable E-Vac is that it can easily convert from porous to non-porous with a simple adjustment. This is a great feature for a job shop that may change materials they are cutting or engraving on their machines and need to adapt in a moments notice for the job at hand. This could also reduce the number of vacuum generator variances a store room may need to keep on hand for a series of production lines and help to reduce the chance an incorrect model is installed on a machine due to fewer variants.
Adjustable E-Vac
Another benefit which can be helpful in a production environment that has an E-Vac picking up dirty or debris ridden material is that the Adjustable E-Vacs can be disassembled and cleaned. Picking steel sheets off a laser cutter in order to remove the scrap that has a volume of spatter / dust can cause an accumulation of debris on the internals of any vacuum generator. By unscrewing the plug from the body the Adjustable E-Vac can be easily cleaned and all passageways maintained at a level to offer continual performance.
No matter what, the adjustability coupled with minimum components and fastener free disassembly of the unit are two great features that can help minimize machine downtime, lower number of parts kept on hand for machines, and ensure optimal performance no matter what the requirement is for the vacuum generator. If you would like to discuss further, please contact us.
EXAIR has vacuums for wet dry and wet/dry combinations. Shop floors and manufacturing areas can be extremely dirty places with build up from machining, trash, those random spare bolts that are laying around that nobody knows where they belong or came from. An electric vac is a common choice for these kinds of issues, but they tend to burn out their motors as all electric motors will eventually do. Well, there is a solution to this issue and that is a compressed air powered vacuums system. Compressed air powered dry vacs bring the same power as your standard electric vac with one added bonus, they don’t wear out! As long as you supply clean dry air to the vacuum generator that powers the system the unit will run indefinitely. The main question is which system do I get? Well, here is a little overview of the different dry vacs that we have to offer here at EXAIR.
EXAIR’s family of Chip Vac Systems
Our Chip Vac system is the perfect choice for anyone trying to replace their basic industrial shop vac. The system can handle both dry and damp material and is perfect for cleaning out chips from your CNC machine and milling operation. The Chip Vac comes in the standard 55gal drum but also a 5gal, 30gal, and 110gal variant. The 30gal through the 110gal units come in the following kits that allow you to pick what exactly you need to get the job done:
Premium Chip Vac System: Drum (for desired drum size), 20’ of air hose, Drum Dolly, tool holder, Chip Vac, lever lock drum lid (for desired drum size), shutoff valve, filter bag, 10’ static resistant vacuum hose, chip wand, Heavy Duty Aluminum Tools, crevice brush, and skimmer/floor tool.
EXAIR’s Heavy Duty Dry Vacs turn ordinary drums into high powered, rugged industrial vacuum systems.
If you are working with a heavier or abrasive material or need a stronger vacuum pull in general then Heavy Duty Dry Vac is the way to go. This system is exactly the same as the Chip Vac except when trade out the Chip Vac vacuum generator for the Heavy Duty unit which provides more air flow and is made out of a hardened alloy providing superior performance and abrasion resistance. Due to this all kits come with 10’ of static resistant vacuum hose and the Aluminum tools. Also, the Heavy Duty Dry Vac does not come in the 5gal variant like the Chip Vac system. The Heavy Duty Dry Vac comes in the following kits:
Heavy Duty Vac System: Heavy Duty Dry Vac, lever lock drum lid (for desired drum size), shutoff valve, 10’ static resistant hose, hose hanger, 1/2” quick connect fittings, 20’ air hose with swivel fitting, pressure gauge, and aluminum chip wand.
Deluxe Heavy Duty Vac System: Drum Dolly, Heavy Duty Aluminum Tools, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, lever lock drum lid (for desired drum size), shutoff valve, 10’ static resistant hose, hose hanger, 1/2” quick connect fittings, 20’ air hose with swivel fitting, pressure gauge, and aluminum chip wand.
Premium Heavy Duty Vac System: Drum (for desired drum size), Drum Dolly, Heavy Duty Aluminum Tools, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, lever lock drum lid (for desired drum size), shutoff valve, 10’ static resistant hose, hose hanger, 1/2” quick connect fittings, 20’ air hose with swivel fitting, pressure gauge, and aluminum chip wand.
EXAIR’s Heavy Duty HEPA Vac in use
For your dustier applications or applications that require the air to be filtered we offer the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac system, which uses the same vacuum generator as the Heavy Duty Dry Vac but provides a higher level of filtration. The HEPA rated filter meets the requirements of 99.97% filtration at the 0.3-micron level. Although this system is designed for dustier applications, the unit itself does not carry any third-party rating for explosion proof. Like the Heavy Duty Dry Vac system the Heavy Duty HEPA Vac only comes in the 55gal base unit and the 30gal and 110gal variants. The Heavy Duty HEPA Vac comes in three different kits that are as follows:
Heavy Duty HEPA Vac System: Heavy Duty Dry Vac, lever lock drum lid (for desired drum size), shutoff valve, pre-filter, HEPA filter, 10’ static resistant hose, hose hanger, 1/2” quick connect fittings, 20’ air hose with swivel fitting, pressure gauge, and aluminum chip wand.
Deluxe Heavy Duty HEPA Vac System: Drum Dolly, Heavy Duty Aluminum Tools, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, lever lock drum lid (for desired drum size), shutoff valve, pre-filter, HEPA filter, 10’ static resistant hose, hose hanger, 1/2” quick connect fittings, 20’ air hose with swivel fitting, pressure gauge, and aluminum chip wand.
Premium Heavy Duty HEPA Vac System: Drum (for desired drum size), Drum Dolly, Heavy Duty Aluminum Tools, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, lever lock drum lid (for desired drum size), shutoff valve, pre-filter, HEPA filter, 10’ static resistant hose, hose hanger, 1/2” quick connect fittings, 20’ air hose with swivel fitting, pressure gauge, and aluminum chip wand.
If you order one of these system from now until May 31, 2021 then take full advantage of our promo which adds a free Vac-U-Gun to the purchase. Now who doesn’t like free stuff? See the link in the image below to see our promotion page.
Link to our promo
If you have any questions about compressed air systems or want more information on any of EXAIR’s products, give us a call, we have a team of Application Engineers ready to answer your questions and recommend a solution for your applications.
Cody Biehle Application Engineer EXAIR Corporation Visit us on the Web Follow me on Twitter Like us on Facebook
