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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Vibrator Coating Testing Results: Only Time Will Tell
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Vibrator Coating Testing Results: Only Time Will Tell

By CVC Team

Some time back in the mid-60s Cleveland Vibrator started working with coating technology in an effort to improve the performance and longevity of our line of pneumatic piston vibrators.  For best operation, while consuming a minimum of compressed air, the piston and the body of any pneumatic piston vibrator need to be very closely matched.  Clearance between the moving piston and the fixed body is very fine, in certain installation orientations, the piston rides on the body of the vibrator creating a metal-on-metal contact area.  Because of the metal-on-metal contact, it is recommended to supply a pneumatic piston vibrator with lubricated air.  The appropriate amount of oil mist in the air stream will lubricate the moving parts, reducing the coefficient of friction between the surfaces and extend the life of the vibrator.

Cleveland Vibrator’s investigation into and early use of friction-reducing coatings was designed to leverage the benefits of the coating to enhance the performance and extend the life of the vibrator by reducing parts wear due to friction.  If not properly maintained and lubricated a piston vibrator will start to wear due to the piston/body surface contact.  Indicators of excessive wear will be reduced performance, less force output, and more air consumed at the same operating pressure.  As the piston and body wear over time, the gap between the two parts will increase, with the larger spacing air can “blow by” the piston, blow by air isn’t effectively used by the vibrator to generate force it simply exhausts out of the body.  Read More…


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Truck & Trailer Loads Demand A Tough Solution – What Are Your Vibratory Options?
Mike Stratis

Truck & Trailer Loads Demand A Tough Solution – What Are Your Vibratory Options?

By Mike Stratis

When it comes to unloading dry or semi-dry bulk materials from a hopper trailer, belly dump, side dump, end dump, or similar type of truck, a few vibratory options are available to the market. Depending on the power supply available on the mobile equipment, air or electric, the vibratory components change. We will first look at the air-powered vibrator options then turn to the electric-powered vibrator options.

Air Powered Options

Piston Style Vibrator

The pneumatic or air-powered units that are available are the piston-style vibrator or the turbine-style vibrator. These two are by far the most common air-powered vibrators found on mobile equipment. The Vibra-Might Air Piston Vibrators are popular units in the field because these vibrators have a dual-diameter piston that allows for start-up at any mounting angle, and there is no spring on the inside of the vibrator. No spring = less wear parts.

These vibrators also have a single exhaust port and come standard with the exhaust port protector. The exhaust port protector helps keep dust, dirt, water, and other contaminants out of the bore of the vibrator. These Vibra-Might air piston vibrators come in both 4-bolt square base and 2-bolt rectangular base designs. The 2-bolt design is more common, and the slotted bolt holes of the 1200 VMR (impacting piston) or 1200 VMRAC (non-impacting piston) cover a wide range of new or existing bolt patterns. Also, if there is no oiler or lubricator on the truck itself, we offer coated casted bodies that can operate with or without lubricant. Adding lubricant will help the longevity of the vibrator, but it is not necessary.

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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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Manufacturing Solutions, From Start to Finish.
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Manufacturing Solutions, From Start to Finish.

By CVC Team

Cleveland Vibrator recently added a new employee in the Fabricated Equipment area of the company.  At the end of 2015 our CEO declared that 2016 would be a “year of investment” here in terms of both people and equipment.  It’s exciting to see this sort of thing happening, good people coming on board as well as some new CNC equipment on the immediate horizon.  It all makes Cleveland Vibrator a better company.  While getting to know a bit about our new guy in the Fab area, we talked some about his work experience and the opportunity at Cleveland Vibrator.  One of the things he already likes about the position is that he gets to see a piece of equipment completely manufactured, start to finish.  I told him that’s one of the things that I’ve always enjoyed about my job, getting to be involved with the complete process often starting with the solution concept generation phase to final testing of that solution prior to it shipping out to the customer.

I think most engineers are problem solvers and that’s one of the aspects of this profession that they find interesting and rewarding.  That’s certainly the case for me.  I’ve always found the diversity of Cleveland Vibrator’s customers and their problems very interesting.  Plus, I feel that we have a very “intimate” manufacturing process, it’s all here in one location.   Whether it’s the manufacture of a pneumatic piston vibrator, as an example the 1300 VMSAC, air cushion vibrator piston vibrator or a large vibratory feeder 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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What’s the Difference Between Attached & Unattached Volumetric Hopper Designs for Vibratory Equipment?
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What’s the Difference Between Attached & Unattached Volumetric Hopper Designs for Vibratory Equipment?

By CVC Team

Generally speaking, in life, choices are a good thing.  This applies to industrial vibrators and vibrating equipment as much as it does for lunch time options.  In terms of fabricated vibratory equipment, Cleveland Vibrator offers a variety of solutions to processing and material handling problems.  Regardless if the need is for a vibratory feeder, screener, compaction table or vibratory belt table, our sales and application folks are up to the challenge of solving the particular needs and requirements of our diverse customer base.  As I mentioned in earlier blogs, when it comes to vibratory equipment, one size in fact doesn’t fit all.  Rarely do one customer’s particular requirements match up exactly with another customer’s, the solution may be similar in type but not in exact physical size.  Tailoring to meet the individual needs of each customer is part of the Cleveland Vibrator fabricated equipment DNA.

One of the many types of fabricated equipment manufactured by The Cleveland Vibrator Company is the volumetric feeder.   Internally, they are generally referred to as Hopper Feeders, RFM, these units can be pneumatic or electric powered.  The key design element is that a vibratory feeder has a storage hopper associated with it which accepts and stores dumps of material and then feeds the material out of the hopper in a controlled manner.  Read More…
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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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