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5 Awesome Things You Need To Know About Industrial Vibration
Katy Sabo

5 Awesome Things You Need To Know About Industrial Vibration

By Katy Sabo

Working for the Cleveland Vibrator Company, you can imagine how many times I get the question, “what exactly do you mean by vibrators?” It’s a question I answer with great pride and enthusiasm… and maybe add a little bit of humor for good measure. When I go on to explain just how important vibration is across so many industries, the shock factor withers away and people are engaged in the conversation, wanting to learn more about it. There’s a couple of things you should know about industrial vibration and why it may be one of the coolest fields to work in, here’s the short list to get you started:

It’s Diverse – It’s true. Industrial vibrators can be found on the side of bins, hoppers, silos, barges
and on screening, conveying and compaction equipment. Have you passed a large dump truck lately on the highway? I’d venture to bet there may be a DC vibrator hiding away underneath the body Read More…


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The Evolution of Industrial Vibrators: From Pneumatics to Electric Powered Vibrators in the 20th Century
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The Evolution of Industrial Vibrators: From Pneumatics to Electric Powered Vibrators in the 20th Century

By CVC Team

The Cleveland Vibrator Company started manufacturing air-operated vibrators in 1923 and for several years air vibrators are all we pretty much offered. This worked well in our primary foundry customer base through the first half of the 20th century. As we expanded our customer base, we found more and more customers wanting to use electrical power to operate the industrial vibrators. It became obvious that we needed to give our sales staff an alternate source besides air to offer our valued customers.

88-mc-2-electromagnetic-continuous-duty-vibrator-aid-large-chain-of-bakery-plantsWe started with fairly basic electromagnetic vibrators with the MC-1, MC-2, etc. and started to introduce these units into the marketplace. The MC series is considered the “grandfather” to our current CM-5, CM-10, and CM-30 and more recent Super 30 vibrators. You can see a success story of this product in the field in the case study on the right-hand side of this paragraph. In the early ’60s, we contracted with a company from Sweden called Dynapac to market and sell their rotary electric vibrators mostly here in North America. They were supplied in 1800 RPM and 3600 RPM (revolutions per minute) which opened the door to customers having hoppers, bins, chutes, bunkers as well as other applications which include vibratory tables, feeder, and screeners. Read More…


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What to Expect for Maintenance of Your Pneumatic Vibrator
Craig Macklin

What to Expect for Maintenance of Your Pneumatic Vibrator

By Craig Macklin

As my incredibly knowledgeable associate, Mike Stratis, wrote a blog about accessories to consider for installing an air-powered vibrator, I thought I would provide a follow-up piece to discuss what to expect AFTER the install. As with any equipment, pneumatic vibrators and their supporting accessories require love, attention, lubrication, and cleaning. Here is what to expect if you want to get the longest and most consistent life out of your pneumatic vibrator, whether a piston, turbine, or ball.

Air Piston Pneumatic Vibrator

Cleveland Vibrator Pneumatic Piston Vibrator Group Shot

Lubrication

Firstly, you must check your lubricator with some frequency. If you operate continuously, you might check and/or refill every 1-3 weeks. If your use is intermittent or infrequent, you might schedule on a 1-4 month basis. The use of internal coating in the vibrator can reduce or remove the need for lubrication. But, coatings without lubrication will typically wear out faster than a coated or uncoated piston vibrator that is properly lubricated. Depending on the size and duty cycle of your vibrator, you might use a pint of lubricant every 2 weeks – 2 years. We recommend our MXR-12 VibraLube, which is 10W-NR.

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What Are the Costs Associated with Installing Pneumatic Vibrators?
Mike Stratis

What Are the Costs Associated with Installing Pneumatic Vibrators?

By Mike Stratis

When it comes time to review solutions to the material flow problems inside the hopper, pipe, or chute, there are a few things to keep in mind when putting together a budget for the project. Besides the vibratory flow aid itself, there are additional components required before installing the unit. We will discuss these items and estimated costs of acquiring these components. Here is the shortlist:

  1. Industrial vibrator – pneumatic piston vibrator, single impact air knocker, pneumatic turbine vibrator, pneumatic ball vibrator
  2. Safety cable
  3. Mounting channel or plate
  4. Hose to connect the vibrator to the on/off valve
  5. On/off valve
  6. Hose to connect on/off valve to air prep component (filter/regulator or filter/regulator/lubricator)
  7. Lubricant (if necessary)

Depending on the size of the hopper or piece of equipment that the pneumatic vibrator is going to be installed on, the price of the vibrator itself can range from about $100 to as much as $10,000. But, within that range, the vast majority of the units are going to be between $100-$1000. Read More…


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Recommended Pneumatic Vibrator Manufacturers in the USA
Craig Macklin

Recommended Pneumatic Vibrator Manufacturers in the USA

By Craig Macklin

Every year, our team here talks to and visits hundreds of pneumatic vibrator users about their use, applications and installations.  Believe it or not, we aren’t always reviewing our own work!  Through this field experience and our vibrator repair services that will evaluate and repair ANY manufacturer’s vibrator, we have gained a lot of knowledge about other strong and reputable air vibrator manufacturers in the United States and Canada.  Cleveland Vibrator may not always be the right fit.  So, here is a list of other reputable manufacturers and our learned view of their strengths:

Houston Vibrator (Houston, TX): Houston Vibrator is a multigenerational family business that has been manufacturing and applying industrial vibrator, pneumatic and electric, for decades.  The offer multiple options of pneumatic piston vibrators, railcar vibrators, ball vibrators, turbine vibrators as well as Italvibras Rotary Electric vibrators and light duty vibratory table.  They are great people that know their trade.  If Houston Vibrator consults you on your application for vibrator selection and installation, have great confidence that it will be correct.

Global Manufacturing (Little Rock, AK): Global Manufacturing manufactures and applies pneumatic, hydraulic and electric vibrators, including ball vibrators, turbine vibrators, Read More…


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Sizing and Selecting Air Piston Vibrators for Conical Silos
Mike Stratis

Sizing and Selecting Air Piston Vibrators for Conical Silos

By Mike Stratis

When turning to a pneumatic air piston vibrator for bin cleanout or bulk material flow for your material storage vessel with a conical silo transition hopper, there are a few things we review to help determine the best unit for the job. Here are the various sets of criteria we review before making a recommendation:

  1. Number of vibrators needed
  2. Strength of vibrator needed
  3. Best air piston vibrator for application

Step One: Find the Number of Vibrators Needed

We look at the geometry of the vessel to find the number of vibrators recommended for the conical silo hopper. The vessel’s geometry, size, and shape tell us the number of vibrators needed for the most effective vibration transfer into the material. There are about 5 feet of effective radius for the vibration energy from where the vibrator is mounted. Here is a visual aid that allows you to see how many vibrators are needed based on the size of your hopper.

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Niche Business, It’s What We Do
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Niche Business, It’s What We Do

By CVC Team

All organizations that have stayed in business for many years have “go-to folks” they depend on when difficult situations or tough problems arise that need to be taken care of. For example, how many times have we watched a football game and experienced the quarterback take his team 90 yards in under two minutes to win a game or the linebacker or safety make that key tackle or interception for a last minute victory? If you root for every team but the Browns, we’re sure you’ve experienced this enough to know the importance the role these key players fulfill. These are go to folks and it is no different in the business world, especially here at The Cleveland Vibrator Co.

I think we are blessed with several go to folks on our team. When a customer calls Cleveland Vibrator, they are not just talking to a sales associate but to engineering, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing, shipping and yes, even our owners from time to time. I believe this collectively makes Cleveland Vibrator a “go to company” for many special applications. I call this our “NICHE” business and feel it has been one of Cleveland Vibrator’s strengths, even before I was given the opportunity to join the team in 1968. Read More…
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How to Operate Cleveland Vibrator’s Vacuum Mounted Series Units
Mike Stratis

How to Operate Cleveland Vibrator’s Vacuum Mounted Series Units

By Mike Stratis

The Cleveland Vibrator Company has been manufacturing pneumatic piston vibrators since 1923. During that time, there have been a wide range of new products developed and released as the industries change. A great recent example of this innovation is the Vacuum Mount Vibrator Series.

The first generation of the Vacuum Mount family was designed around the flagship product, air piston vibrators, to accommodate a wide range of applications and mounting locations. The air piston vibrators that are used are the VMSAC models, these are the non-impacting or air-cushioned piston vibrators. The reason for the non-impacting model is because the impacting model’s steel piston inside the ductile iron casted body provides a large amount of force that actually breaks the suction of the vacuum cup when installed on a bin, hopper trailer, dump bed truck, slip form or other application.

After the success of the first generation, with the VMSAC models, we expanded into the pneumatic turbine vibrators. This has allows us to provide many more options and sizes to help meet the demands of the user’s application. The original family within the product line contained four models (1125 VMSAC, Read More…


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Turbine Vibrators, Views from the Way Back Machine…
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Turbine Vibrators, Views from the Way Back Machine…

By CVC Team
February 27, 1958
Engineering Department
Fafnir Bearing Company
New Britain, Connecticut
Gentlemen:
Submitted herewith is a sketch of a proposed bearing application.  This device is an industrial vibrator for use in handling sand, dusts and powders. The use of an eccentrically loaded turbine to product vibrations is novel to my knowledge and it produces some novel bearing problems. The device is designed to produce vibration, an action which is usually very guarded. A model of this device has been made and tested.  It has the nominal dimensions shown and runs approximately………
Yours very truly,
The Cleveland Vibrator Co.
Frank K. B…….
Professional Engineering Consultant

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How to Protect Your Vibrator Investment
Mike Stratis

How to Protect Your Vibrator Investment

By Mike Stratis

The Cleveland Vibrator Company has been manufacturing pneumatic piston vibrator units since 1923. Over the past 90+ years, we have learned a few things about how to protect your investment in an air piston vibrator. There are a few main procedures and components we strongly suggest and will review:

  1. Air Supply
  2. Exhaust Ports
  3. Gaskets

PSI Reccomendation with Regulator - Cleveland Vibrator CompanyThe air supply should be dried and filtered, then regulated and once between 0-80 PSI, the air should be lubricated. We have Watts Filter-Regulator-Lubricators available ranging in size for 1/4″ to 1-1/”4 NPT. Glycerin filled regulator gauges help to read the PSI setting easily. Lightweight 10W/NR oil should be dropped into the airline prior to reaching the vibrator. We have pints of Vibra-Lube available to help save the search for this type of oil.

These TLC steps can double or triple the air piston vibrator’s life expectancy. Our dual-diameter piston design allows for start-up in any mounting position (e.g. at 30° on a vibratory feeder or 60° angle on a hopper or 90° on a vibratory table) and eliminates the need for a spring. The springless unit keeps replacement parts and internal components to a minimum. So, with a proper air supply plumbed to the vibrator and a low number of wearable parts, these units can last a long time and return the money on your investment. Read More…


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