material separation

Jack Steinbuch

How You Can Improve the Performance of Your Vibratory Screener?

By Jack Steinbuch

We can all agree that the improvement of the performance of any production equipment is a good idea.  That being said, we first need to establish the definition of the performance of a screener.  I will go with any means to improve the screening efficiency to gain as much of the desired product with the least amount of contamination.  We will make the assumption that the correct screener has been selected for the application, so now we will look for ways to improve its performance.

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Jack Steinbuch

How Hoppers Can Improve Performance of Feeders & Screeners

By Jack Steinbuch

Hoppers can aid in the performance of material handling equipment, plus provide health and safety benefits for your workforce. To begin, we will review the advantages hoppers can provide to improve the performance of feeders and screeners for bulk loading applications.

RFM electromechanical hopper feeder Side loading
Hopper

Okay, so what is a hopper?

Hoppers can be stationary with steeply sloping walls to allow free-flowing material to discharge onto the feed tray. Due to their steep walls, these hoppers can have a high dump height, depending on the volume. For lower dump heights and/or poor flowing materials, a vibrating hopper is a great solution. The hopper is attached to the vibrating body and the vibrators are then upsized to compensate for the increase in vibrating weight. The material is fed from the hopper onto the equipment.

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Katy Sabo

Shaking It Out & Saving the Earth One K-Cup at a Time

By Katy Sabo

Being a mom, there are certain things in life I cannot live without. Obviously, Disney Junior and endless amount of toys make my life a lot easier but coffee gives me life. It sounds dramatic, I know, but any parent out there reading this knows exactly where I am coming from! We all have our vices and coffee is my kryptonite. I don’t discriminate when it comes to preparing java, whether it is from my favorite local roaster, my own coffee pot or that quick instant cup out of a Keurig, you can bet your bottom dollar not a drop will be left in my mug at day’s end.

Single-serve coffee cups have given a new meaning to coffee on-the-go. Even though the cost of the single-serve cup is proven to be higher overall than the standard coffee grounds, the savings in time makes it worth it for the die-hard caffeine addicts. Guilty as charged and with no shame at all, I am one of those addicts but the tree hugger side of me sticks to the old school Mr. Coffee maker every morning. My Keurig is on standby if I desperately need that afternoon pick-me-up and takes residence behind me in my office as I write this blog. I like sharing so it is “open to the public” during work hours for my fellow CVC comrades, but they provide their own goods! Coworkers know to discard their used K-cups into my recycling box but it made me wonder, how many other people think to recycle them? Read More…


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Jeff Hochadel

The Nitty Gritty of 3D Printing & Powder Sieving

By Jeff Hochadel

Here at HK Technologies, we have been sieving powder metal for quite some time. Our Ultrasonic Sieving Systems allow for sieving very fine atomized powders – down to 20 micron on conventional wire mesh and in some cases finer –using electroformed material provided by PrecisionForm, Inc. As the 3D printing industry has exploded, so has the need for finer powders. While I am no expert in the field of 3D printing, I have been involved in several areas requiring finer and finer mesh sieving.

Many of the 3D printing manufacturers install a very simple inline vibratory screener system in the powder feed system. These simple screeners typically sieve the powder through a 74 micron or 200 mesh screen. This ensures that no large foreign objects are being fed into the powder part building process. Many times the end-user needs finer powder to create the intricate parts they are producing. This powder is typically said to be +20 -25 micron powder. We are also told this powder is classified through an air classification process. The process, while quick and relatively easy, leaves a powder that is not always what it is claimed to be. When asked to check the accuracy of the particle size, we find there is almost always a significant amount, 10% or more, of finer material than claimed. Read More…


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Jack Steinbuch

What You Need To Know About Screening Media – Part IV

By Jack Steinbuch

This blog is the fourth in a series that has been dedicated to typical screening media that are installed in Vibratory Screeners with their advantages and disadvantages so you can be in a better position to assist us in the selection process.

Profile (Wire) Deck

This screening media is used primarily for dewatering applications.  Additionally this decking is used in the Coal industry for drain & rinse and desliming applications.  This decking is also utilized in screeners for the iron ore, potash and phosphate industries.

Profile decking is most often stainless steel construction, but can also be constructed from other metals.  This decking most typically consists of V-shape or triangular wire profiles that are supported in parallel on cross bars.  Read More…


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Katy Sabo

Why Recycle Glass? The Answer Is Clear

By Katy Sabo

Remember the days of “Tube TVs” and “Low Radiation” computer screens?

I remember walking into Cleveland Vibrator and seeing, what I would describe as, the land of misfit computer screens that had been stored away through the many years that Cleveland Vibrator has been in business. One day they disappeared and the land of misfits was replaced by trade show accessories. Working here has opened my eyes to the many industries that don’t get the attention they well deserve, especially recycling. Recently, I was invited to visit a customer whose specialty was Glass Recycling of old TV screens and computer monitors. Ding, ding, ding, the lightbulb went off… this is where those “misfits” disappeared to. This got me thinking, what exactly can recycled glass be used for?

The glass used for these old monitors and displays is referred to as CRT, Cathode Ray Tube Glass, and it is estimated that the typical CRT device is made up of between 15 to 90 pounds of glass (depending on device) that protects the users from the radiation produced by the electron gun and beam gun inside that device. Since the emerging high demand of LCD, LED and Plasma Screens of the 2000s, it is an estimated 57 million computers and televisions are sold annually in the U.S. according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Households are now discarding old models of outdated technology at a much higher rate than we have ever seen before. Read More…


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Jack Steinbuch

What You Need to Know About Screening Media – Part Deux

By Jack Steinbuch

This blog is the second in a series that will be dedicated to typical screening medias that are installed in Vibratory Screeners. I will discuss their advantages and disadvantages so you can be in a better position to assist us in the selection process.

Perforated Plate

This is also a fairly common and widely used screening media for many applications including scalping, sizing and dewatering.  Perforated plate, as relates to sections installed in vibratory screeners, is typically designated by the openings, the bar width (amount of material between the openings), centers (distance between the holes as well as staggered or straight line) and thickness. Read More…


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Jack Steinbuch

What You Need To Know About Screening Media: Woven Wire Cloth, Part I.

By Jack Steinbuch

There are a wide variety of screening media that can be installed in vibratory screeners.  Our challenge is to select which type would be best suited for your application.  You can refer back to my blog: Importance of screening data from May 2013 to review the technical data that would best assist us in making screener recommendations.  Some of this data would also be appropriate for selecting screening media. This blog is the first in a series that will be dedicated to typical screening media that are installed in Vibratory Screeners with their advantages and disadvantages so you can be in a better position to assist us in the selection process.

Woven Wire Cloth

This is the most common and widely used screening media for many applications including scalping, sizing and dewatering.  Woven wire cloth is typically designated as space screen (clear openings) or square mesh.  Space screen is the inside dimensions of the opening which should be further designated with a specific wire diameter.  Please note that the wire diameter doesn’t affect the screen opening Read More…


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Jeff Hochadel

Powder Metal Fine Mesh Screening Customizations

By Jeff Hochadel

As a custom equipment manufacturer, we have quite a bit of flexibility in what we can offer.  Sometimes a screening application calls for requirements that a standard vibratory screener just cannot accommodate.

Recently, a customer asked us to redesign his powder metal screening operation in order to provide additional headroom for an additional piece of equipment. His application requirements were a vacuum, two-deck screening, and ultrasonics on both screen decks PLUS he wanted to increase production. He currently was also Read More…


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Jack Steinbuch

The Importance of Getting All the Data for Screening Applications

By Jack Steinbuch

We receive numerous requests for Screeners where the effective screening area has been specified by the customer.  While a decent amount of these requests work out to the best of our knowledge (since not everyone is willing to admit that they may have erred in their request), we do offer to review the application to confirm that the screening area is adequate if sufficient data is provided.

Our challenge in this instance is to get the customer to provide us with the information we require to determine the optimum size, and Read More…


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