The typical customer who calls or emails with a process question has either hundreds of pounds per hour or tons of material per hour to screen. Although these may be the majority of the applications, I do get many inquiries where the customer only has to process maybe 20 or 30lbs/hr. (or less) but still needs a vibratory screener. These small-batch screening applications are sometimes a little more challenging to solve than the typical large-batch application. Some applications may require a much finer mesh, there’s not much room to work with, or the material is extremely valuable. Besides our standard screeners, we also have the capability to manufacture a special screener around the customer’s process. I don’t know how many times I have seen an overly large vibratory screener handling an application where a screener half the size would suffice.

So, we first need to determine how much material the customer plans on running through the screener per hour or per shift, then we need to determine the mesh size requirements.  We need to answer two questions:

1. Does the material require an oversize removal chute for oversize (plus) material?
2. Does the material require a cover or any special inlet or outlet sizes?

Once we have determined the process parameters, we need to determine how much room we have to work with. Typically, these applications require us to fit a machine in a very narrow space or sieve into a very small container. Once we have all the above information we can get work designing a screener that will achieve the customer’s needs.

One of the most requested small-batch applications works with valuable materials – precious metals, additive materials, or high-end pharma powders. Often times, these applications require very precise cuts of powder with extremely small amounts of oversize in the final product. Our HK Ultrasonic Sieving Systems applied to any of our small vibratory screeners will effectively increase yields up to 5-10 times and eliminate screen blinding or clogging of the mesh openings. The HK Ultrasonic Sieving System will also allow for the use of small diameter screening – thus reducing your footprint. The compact HKC12 (12-inch screen diameter) is shown above, equipped with the HK Ultrasonic Sieving System. The HKC Series is also available in an 8-inch screen diameter.

Above is a small 8-inch sieve that required an air operated vibrator due to a Class II Div. I application. This customer had small batches of 100-200 grams of precious metals.

Here, my niece poses with a small portable 12-in diameter vibrator screener used to quickly test 20lb. batches of flour. For her modeling services, my niece received a “Build a Bear” from the local shopping mall.

If the customer needs a small screener they may also need a small vibrator hopper/feeder to continuously feed their screener –we offer small vibratory feeders as well. Hopper sizes range from as small as a couple of liters.

In conclusion, large or small screening applications are all important processes to the end-user. Reach out to us if you have any questions, our Sales & Services Team is happy to help!

Jeff Hochadel

Jeff Hochadel has over 25 years of experience building and selling vibratory screening equipment. Jeff is responsible for handling fine mesh screening applications for The Cleveland Vibrator Company. His expertise is utilizing our Ultrasonic Deblinding System to solve difficult screening problems. When Jeff is not visiting customers promoting our products you can most likely find him fly fishing.