Case Study: Manufacturer Switches to Vertical Cartridge Dust Collector

by Erin Long | Jul 23, 2019 | Plasma Cutting

As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of wood chipping and grinding equipment, this company constantly faces high demand. A switch to a vertical cartridge dust collector helped them to solve a serious problem.

Problem:

With logging and sawmill industries relying on them, the company employs over 350 welders working ten-hour days, five days a week. The company had purchased a dust collector with horizontal cartridges to handle their welding and plasma cutting fumes.

Unfortunately, the horizontal filter design created serious problems. The arrangement of the filters trapped sparks and embers, causing multiple fires inside the dust collector. Fires like this are dangerous and expensive, requiring replacement of damaged filters.

In addition, OSHA regulations continued to limit what types of dust could be blown outside. So the company needed a better dust and fume collector. The new system would have to handle plasma fumes, meet OSHA standards, and be easier to use than the current one.

Solution: A Vertical Cartridge Dust Collector Design

Dave, the maintenance manager, began researching dust collector manufacturers. He had three goals in mind: easier filter change-outs, decreasing the risk of fires and reducing company downtime. He found out about Imperial Systems through the company’s cutting table manufacturer.

The company decided to make the replace the collector with horizontal filters with a vertical cartridge dust collector. Their new system, a CMAXX CM010, met Dave’s requirements. It also promised to handle the company’s need for efficient filtration of their welding and plasma cutting fumes.

“When changing the filters on our old dust collector, there were twelve different holes I had to unbolt just to change one filter,” Dave said after working with the CMAXX. He added, “The simplicity of maintenance was huge and the CMAXX has delivered.”

In addition, the vertical filters do not allow embers or sparks to sit on them and start fires. Without dust collector fires, the company no longer had to waste work time replacing fire-damaged filters. To reduce the risk of fires even more, Imperial Systems recommended a Spark Trap. This prevented most of the burning embers from getting to the collector in the first place.

Feedback:

The company reported that they have not experienced any more issues with fires since switching to the vertical cartridge CMAXX and Spark Trap. Also, Dave reported that maintenance takes much less time and is much easier. In addition, the efficiency of the DeltaMAXX filters allows the company to be compliant with all their OSHA air quality regulations.

The company has since purchased another CMAXX, a CM006, for another cutting table. They are using DeltaMAXX fire-retardant filters in their dust collectors. They continue to work with Imperial Systems for their filters and dust collector service needs.

Contact us to learn more about this case study or how we can help solve your own problem with welding or plasma cutting fumes.

Plasma Cutting Application Needs Better Dust Collection Solution

by Erin Long | Jun 26, 2019 | Plasma Cutting

At Fabtech in Chicago, Lee Adams of Leeco Solutions met representatives from a metal fabrication company in Cincinnati, OH who were struggling with their dust collection system. The company operates two robotic plasma cutting booths, cutting holes in ½ inch pipe. The dust collector seemed to be removing the fumes well enough, but there was a problem.

Short Dust Collector Filter Life

Running 8 hours per day, the filters in the dust collector needed replacing after only 80 hours of operation. Many manufacturers get six months to a year out of their filters before changing them. This company was spending enough on replacement filters to pay for a new dust collector.

Lee visited the facility and measured the airflow at each of the plasma cutting booths. He discovered that the system could capture the fumes. However, it failed to keep the filters clean, causing them to stop functioning.

Filter Cleaning Efficiency Required for Plasma Cutting Fumes

Lee examined the existing dust collector, a CMAXX competitor, a 12-cartridge collector with vertical filters and reverse pulse cleaning. He suggested replacing this collector with a 12-cartridge CMAXX for the plasma cutting operation.

Lee’s contact at the company was skeptical. He needed a guarantee that the new dust collector would give him 2000 hours of filter life. Lee knew the CMAXX could do the job.

CMAXX Replaces Failing Competitive Unit

The competitor’s collector was replaced with a CM012. The new dust collector worked as planned, easily handling the fumes from both plasma cutting booths.

Now, the next step was to wait. Would filters that used to last a week be able to give the company the 2000 hours of operation that Lee had guaranteed them?

Success and Satisfaction for Plasma Cutting Booth Customer

The CMAXX system on the plasma cutting booths has currently been operating for an entire year. Lee’s contact at the company reports “It’s been running a year and is setting at 1.9″ WC. I’m going to get two years out of these filters!”

Instead of needing to be changed after a week, these filters are still going strong after a year. Differential pressure readings show that they’re not going to need changing any time soon.

This example proves that to solve a problem, you don’t always need a bigger dust collector. Sometimes you just need a better one. A superior product with a better cleaning system, the company’s new CMAXX left the competition in the dust.

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