Vivek Engineers for EXAIR -Intelligent Compressed Air Products: Cold Gun Replaces Inefficient and Ineffective Open Pipe

In any machining operation, tool wear is an inevitability. Cutting tools heat up due to friction and this heat contributes to premature tool wear. As tooling wears, poor tolerances and dimensional inaccuracy are common. Additionally, as the cutting edge dulls increased cutting force is required which further increases the amount of heat generated and exacerbates the problem.

A metalworking company on replacing several open-pipe blowoffs on their CNC machines with EXAIR Cold Guns. The open pipes were not effective at keeping the tooling cool, but did a decent job of blowing away chips. Premature tool wear was leading to increased downtime and slowing production as they were frequently having to replace the tooling. Not to mention, these blowoffs were extremely loud and forced anyone on the shop floor to be wearing in-ear and over-the-ear hearing protection.

Each of their CNC machines had one open-line coolant hose or similarly sized open tube blowing compressed air onto the tool. Temperatures in the facility get fairly warm in the summer and this was having little to no impact. They didn’t want to deal with the mess that comes along with coolant, so they looked to EXAIR for a solution. They ended up installing (1) 5215 Single Point Cold Gun System for trial on one of their machines.

Immediately they noticed the reduction in sound as the Cold Gun operates at just 70 dBA, but they also noticed a 20% reduction in tool wear compared to the open-air lines after a short time in operation. It didn’t entirely eliminate the need for hearing protection as there are other processes occurring, but it did lower it to a point that they weren’t forced to use both in-ear and over-the-ear protection.

EXAIR’s Cold Gun was a Product of the Year finalist in 2007. Using only a source of compressed air, the Cold Gun and High Power Cold Gun produces a stream of clean, cold air 50° (28°C) below your compressed air supply temperature. The Cold Gun is very quiet at only 70dBA and has no moving parts to wear out. Just supply it with clean, dry compressed air and its maintenance free!

The Cold Gun has been preset to achieve maximum refrigeration. This prevents the Cold Gun from freezing up during use and optimizes the gun’s cooling capacity. The Cold Gun is an ideal alternative to messy and expensive coolant mist systems. It eliminates the cost of purchase and disposal of cutting fluids as well as worker related health problems from breathing airborne coolant or slipping on wet floors. Replacing a coolant-based system also eliminates the need for secondary cleaning operations after milling or drilling.

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