System Decreases Metal Dust For Abrasive Cutoff Saw Operations
The King Fifth Wheel Company is a Mountain Top, Pennsylvania based manufacturer of superalloy rings for the gas turbine industry. Abrasive cutoff saws, used in the production of these alloy rings, generate substantial amounts of metal dust that must be removed to maintain a safe, clean working environment.
The King Fifth Wheel Company is a Mountain Top, Pennsylvania based manufacturer of superalloy rings for the gas turbine industry. Abrasive cutoff saws, used in the production of these alloy rings, generate substantial amounts of metal dust that must be removed to maintain a safe, clean working environment. The company had been utilizing a very small dust collection unit on one of its cutoff saws, and was surprised when a cost analysis by plant engineer Steve Kopcho found the company was spending almost $15,000 annually in filter maintenance alone to service just one machine. Realizing that this was an unusually large amount to spend on maintenance, Mr. Kopcho began to investigate alternative systems for dust collection and removal.
Having had previous experience with DustKop dust collectors, manufactured by Aget Manufacturing Company (Adrian, Michigan), Mr. Kopcho contacted the company and Aget sales engineers visited the King Fifth Wheel plant to review and assess its dust collection problem. Aget engineers properly sized and engineered the right dust collection unit for this specific metal cutting operation, recommending Aget's Model 20SN51DI PullThru cyclone separator powered by a 5-hp exhauster and combined with an Aget FT40 afterfilter with 99.7 HEPA auxiliary filtration. This combination provided the proper airflow at the correct airtocloth ratio to obtain optimum collection efficiency at the least cost.
The replacement cost for the entire, new Aget dust collection system was less than the annual expense of maintenance and filter cartridge replacement for the older, inefficient collector. The company was so pleased with both the performance and low cost operation of the Aget system that shortly thereafter, it purchased another unit for a second cutoff saw operation. The system has been operational for approximately a year, and total maintenance costs decreased substantially for the period.
According to Aget engineers, the situation at King Fifth Wheel is typical of many dust-related collection problems in the metal cutting industries, where the proper application of dust collection technology and systems design can ensure a clean, healthy environment at economical operating and maintenance cost.
