Q: What are the pros and cons of using air on a feeder bowl?

Compressed air is a wonderful thing...in the hands of a designer with self-control. Air is expensive and shouldn’t be used willy-nilly when mechanical means and forethought can eliminate it altogether. Of course there is a time and place for the use of air.

When choosing your vibratory feed bowl tooler, ask what their opinion of air is. Expect to know when and where it will be used and for what purpose! Automation houses with experience in finding the best vibratory feed bowl houses often stipulate NO AIR JETS without prior authorization.

Those who recognize an application where it may be required will generally stipulate that it can be used to speed feed up, clean off misoriented parts but may not be used to achieve orientation of parts and must be securely welded in place.

The cons with air use are serious. Expense, fluctuation in pressure, difficulty in ‘tweaking’ (often the temptation to ‘tweak’ when not needed), weakly reinforced air jets (that are easily bent out of position) and increase in problems with dirt, moisture, etc.

If you deem the use of air as acceptable, insist on a single manifold, valves that can be locked into position, pressure guage, quick connect fittings (where applicable), numbered or color coded air lines and a clear directive stating overall pressure and individual settings for each valve or jet.

Just as a little sun warms the soul on a balmy fall day, proper use of air on part feeding equipment can assist its smooth and trouble-free operation. On the other hand, excessive use of air for the lazy tooler can be as difficult to live with as the Mojave Desert in July.