Compressed air, cleaning parts

Hi, I work at a large company, making fasteners for the aerospace industry. I mostly tap nuts, both small and large.
And we are required to check our parts, every 15 minutes, with go and no go gauges, and for squareness. As of now, we blow the chips and oil off the parts, using compressed air guns, before checking them. The company is wanting to stop this process, and remove all the compressed air guns. And the employees were asked, to brainstorm and find another method of cleaning the chips and oil from are parts, so we can check them for quality. How can we do this?

I understand, the reasons for eliminating the air guns, to eliminate the oil spray and vapor, that goes into the air, and are lungs. And also the possibility of sending metal chips into someones eye, even if we are careful, to blow the oil into are machines.
So how can we clean the individual parts, before checking them?
How do they do it in modern shops today?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You.

Solvent washing, wiping with brushes and rags or a vacuum cleaner.

Since Mark can still use solvent, maybe production could be moved to the UK?

Nope? Yes Stoddard solvent will be going away along with many other cleaners we've used over the years.

You could use an water based cleaners in ultrasonic bath or, keep the air nozzles (40 PSI) and use a downdraft table


JR

How about a small ultrasonic cleaner at each machine?

That's just... amazing. In a fucking F.O.D. -critical- (as I assume fasteners are) manufacturing section, they seek to take away the most common and effective FOD removal method.

I have never worked anywhere that didn't want air guns. I don't suppose you could convince them to put a paper cartridge filter near every air gun connection to prevent this terrible oil mist? Air lines shouldn't be that wet anyways...

I think it'd be better to mitigate the problem rather than cutting off the tool from use entirely.

_IF_ that decision is already made and irreversible, I'd say you could keep using shop towels for exterior oil and chips.

Are your fasteners being passivated? You could just let the passivation vendor do the deep-cleaning before processing...

JNieman said:

That's just... amazing. In a fucking F.O.D. -critical- (as I assume fasteners are) manufacturing section, they seek to take away the most common and effective FOD removal method.

I have never worked anywhere that didn't want air guns. I don't suppose you could convince them to put a paper cartridge filter near every air gun connection to prevent this terrible oil mist? Air lines shouldn't be that wet anyways...

I think it'd be better to mitigate the problem rather than cutting off the tool from use entirely.

_IF_ that decision is already made and irreversible, I'd say you could keep using shop towels for exterior oil and chips.

Are your fasteners being passivated? You could just let the passivation vendor do the deep-cleaning before processing...

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I don't think they are talking about oil froze the air lines. Duh.

sounds like jerkoff middle management is at it again. (Some c-sucker probably went to a workplace safety seminar)

I have a parts washer that uses aqueous cleaner and it works amazingly well, but only if the cleaner is HOT. For occasional use that make it very inconvenient.

I second that. Sounds like a safety guy needed his 1 major thing this month.

I agree with ultrasonic cleaning and a possible vacuum for ducking the rest of the water away.

Show them This product

Video here

Traps all the gunk you blow off the parts. Just found out about them earlier this week, had a rep showing them to me. Seems like a neat product that answers your problem.

Big B said:

I don't think they are talking about oil froze the air lines. Duh.

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Logic doesn't work on management. Sometimes a cheap false solution will prevent expensive solutions to non-problems and make them feel better.

TeachMePlease said:

Show them This product

Video here

Traps all the gunk you blow off the parts. Just found out about them earlier this week, had a rep showing them to me. Seems like a neat product that answers your problem.

Click to expand...

Problem solved.

The cost of compressed air may also be a factor in eliminating it. Compressed air is not cheap.

I am not managements or engineering departments biggest fan. BUT......I think what they are TRYING to do is a good thing. Look at the filters on your machines......that shit goes in your lungs too. For those of us who have/are spending a lifetime in the shop I am all for it. For those who immediately get all pissy about this effort.......no need to worry.....there will always be dirty little shit hole shops where no one gives a damn about your health for you to crawl into every day.

Ah, "Management", a word that is greatly overused these days.

Ban air hoses without finding an alternative - pure genius!

The suction capture solution sound great but I'll bet it's not cheap and management would balk at the cost. Most likely they'll suggest ONE unit for everyone to share. Leave the machine, blow off the part, walk back and check. Hell, labor is cheap, right?

A buddy worked for years at a lift truck (forklift) dealer. For whatever reason one of the "suits" decided wood cribbing was too dangerous to use and it was to be banned from the shop and all service vans. All the mechanics were upset about this, especially the mobile service guys who knew anything that replaced it and cost anything would always be in short supply. They were talking about substituting steel until several guys pointed out how slippery it would be around oil and hydraulic fluid along with the weight it would add to already loaded vans.

Finally, one of the shop guys found an OSHA document in his spare time describing requirements for wood cribbing used around construction vehicles. All wood was to be hardwood only and in solid condition with no cracks or defects. A directive was issued that all softwood blocks and cribbing, along with cracked or heavily oil soaked ones were to be discarded and replaced. One of the shop guys was set to work immediately chain sawing suitable pieces of oak timber from some heavy duty pallets. Additional timber was later obtained, everyone went back to work and life went on. Still, it was an unnecessary interruption that had other people doing Management's work for them.

I look forward to hearing how this one ends.

Big B said:

The cost of compressed air may also be a factor in eliminating it. Compressed air is not cheap.

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Yeah, but scrap 15 minutes production and let them know what you have saved??

IMHO used sensibly its not too bad, oily bits or wet with coolant are easy to blow off in the machine, problem comes with morons and too much pressure, 20-30 psi is plenty and with a wideish nozzle the air felocity won't vaporise any coolant just blow it off as drips, not a fine mist.

adama said:

IMHO used sensibly its not too bad, oily bits or wet with coolant are easy to blow off in the machine, problem comes with morons and too much pressure, 20-30 psi is plenty and with a wideish nozzle the air felocity won't vaporise any coolant just blow it off as drips, not a fine mist.

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Hi, My name is Dan and I spent a few years as the OSHA Compliance Officer (for the company, not the feds) Please don't hate me.

Note that OSHA doesn't eliminate the use of air for cleaning, it just makes two requirements:

1) less than 30 psi
2) effective chip guarding and PPE

So, if the OP really wants to keep his air cleaning, then I'd suggest that he (or the shop steward) go to the OSHA compliance officer and present a solution:

1) those hoses will be hard regulated to less than 30 psi
2) provide a solution for the chip guard... for fasteners that might just be a small cubical frame with 40 mesh screening on 5 sides

The fact that the solution is OSHA compliant should go a long way to gaining acceptance from the compliance officer. I know that when I was the compliance officer I'd approve whatever the guys wanted, as long as I could cover my butt by being OSHA compliant.

Here is a link to a relevant OSHA page

^ exactly, common sense whilst staying safe. Regrettably your the first safety officer i have ever encountered that considers things that way, most seam to have the view even a padded cell might be dangerous!

With my mode of thinking; if your cutting something wet, "pushing" chips and particles off with air, coolant, etc. tends to work best, if your cutting something dry, sucking it off tends to work best.

Do your machines have a coolant washdown hose? Rinsing them with coolant doesn't eliminate airborne vapor (monkey masks?) but it keeps the heavy stuff down and keeps the machine much cleaner than just using air. There's still the residual coolant but depending on how you process the parts, can be rinsed off in bulk after the ops are done.

TeachMePlease said:

Show them This product

Video here

Traps all the gunk you blow off the parts. Just found out about them earlier this week, had a rep showing them to me. Seems like a neat product that answers your problem.

Click to expand...

I've had a mijet for a few years. It was kinda expensive but it works. I'd eventually like one by each machine.

A good ultrasonic cleaner with agitation will get you most of the way there. The bath is aqueous (solvent free) and heated to allow parts to flash dry. Don't bother with the benchtop jewelry cleaning types. They have their place, but not here. Something with agitation will likely cost $20K+ each.

Larger chips may not get dislodged, so you'll still need the air guns, but they can be regulated down to a much lower pressure, e.g. 20 psi.

Regardless of the approach, sounds like whole shop air filtration is in order.