Improve Your Productivity With Governed Air Grinders!
November 7, 2017
Did you know that manpower and abrasives account for about 90% of the total cost of grinding with handheld tools?
Put another way, with grinding, time is definitely money. In order to increase productivity and cost savings, it's important that steps are taken to reduce time to complete each grinding task.
For each job in material removal, such as chamfering a steel plate, deburring a casting, or smoothing a weld seam, there is a specific abrasive need. Based on the application, you could be using carbide burrs, bonded wheels and coated pads, wire brushes, polishing pads or many other abrasives. One of the key factors greatly impacting the time taken to complete the grinding job, on top of the load applied by the operator on the tool (the feed force), is the tool’s capacity to run the chosen abrasive at the right speed.
Why You Should Care About Getting The Right Speed For Your Abrasive:
- Productivity Gains: Running the abrasives at the proper speed results in a larger percentage of material removal in a given time.
Get Optimal Abrasive Speed With Governed Air Grinders:
It is possible to optimize the abrasive's speed by equipping the tool's air motor with a governor. The air governor acts like a “cruise control” for the grinder: It adjusts the air flow to the load applied on the tool, so the abrasive's speed is maintained, maximizing the material removal.
How Does an Air Governor Work?
The governor limits the air flow through the motor when no torque is applied. As soon as the operator increases the load, the air governor allows more air to flow through the air motor, maintaining the rotational speed of the abrasive. With this design, the abrasive is run at the correct speed and delivers maximum material removal.
GOVERNOR CLOSED
The tool is running at free speed, with little to no load applied by the operator.
GOVERNOR OPEN
The tool is running and load is applied by the operator. The air governor opens up, to increase the air flow.
When the tool is not equipped with an air governor and feed force is applied, the tool’s speed decreases and therefore the abrasive cannot be run at the right speed. The operator needs more time to get the same job done.
Always refer to the abrasive manufacturer specification (MOS), to make sure your grinder free speed matches it, and never exceeds it.
