Controlling Metal Swarfs with Air Knives

Spraying Systems successfully installed a new blower and air knife to ensure that metal swarf does not affect the quality of Stracto’s CoolDeck® composite panels, improving end-product quality whilst also saving the customer over $30k a year on compressed air.

“Installing this was the best thing we did to our panel line manufacturing unit.” – Subra Singaram, Stratco Production Manager

Stratco manufactures roof and wall sheets, among other products, at their factory in Ormeau QLD. They had problems with swarf (shavings) remaining after the sawing process damaging the panels. Their existing compressed air knife solution was not working efficiently.

Site manager Subra explained that previously, “residual swarf remained on the panels after the process of cutting the panels to length. The swarf was causing damage to the surface of the panels when the panels were stacked, creating a product quality concern.”

Our local Spray expert Evan came on-site for analysis and recommended a trial with a blower and air knife solution. The trial was successful, and the savings this year alone are estimated to be $39k for Stratco over their old, compressed air solution.

There was a crude air knife and some air nozzles fitted at the side of the process line, which was supposed to remove the swarf. These nozzles only effectively removed some of the swarf and used a large amount of costly compressed air.

We conducted a trial on-site and provided a payback analysis of the existing compressed air knife and nozzles with our more efficient and effective blower and air knife solution. “Yes, the trial was very helpful,” said Subra. “Not many suppliers let you trial their product before purchase, Evan was very helpful with this.”

The Spraying Systems payback calculator calculated this to compare the cost of compressed air to the cost of running a blower system. The estimated saving of compressed air per year was more than $39k.

“The calculation was very easy to read and understand. The payback period was well within our business requirements, and we were able to make a quick decision to move forward.”

“Evan, the sales engineer, has good knowledge about the product. He communicated really well and answered all the questions I had. It’s hard to come across a sales engineer with strong technical knowledge, and Evan was one of them. Evan kept us up to date from start to finish of the project and also made a few follow-up phone calls to see if the air knife was working as per our requirements.”

“The system is very efficient. It works all the time and doesn’t require special adjustments or controls. Easy to Install. We have eliminated swarf and dust issues on our panel.”

You can read more about Spraying Systems air nozzles, including our blowers and air knives here.