Amerex, a fire-extinguisher manufacturer located in Trussville, AL, needed a faster means of blast cleaning in order to meet the demands for increased production on its extinguisher cylinders. The company forms and fabricates the extinguisher cylinders from carbon and stainless steel in thicknesses from 0.30 to 0.250 in. In 2003, Amerex representatives traveled to the Wheelabrator Technical Center in LaGrange, GA, to observe a demonstration of proposed blasting options. A products testing and demonstration facility, the Wheelabrator Tech Center features a shot-blast simulator as well as other blast-cleaning equipment. A successful test was run on a Wheelabrator inline mesh-belt machine and later that year Amerex installed the new system. "The testing in LaGrange was an essential factor in determining the cycle time, cleaning coverage and process details necessary to justify an improved cleaning process," explains Charlie Burke, Amerex industrial engineering manager. "The mesh-belt machine proved to be very flexible, and in employing it we increased the variety of fire-extinguisher cylinders and hardware cleaned prior to powder coating." Previously, Amerex blasted cylinders that were hung inside of a batch-type spinner hanger. That arrangement, not inline with the coating system, failed to handle the increased cyclinder production.
展开▼
