Client JPW Companies
Product Gold Series® Dust Collector
Model GS6 with side mount blower
Air volume 6,000 CFM
Application Shot Blasting
Install date February 2014
Supporting dealers in over 20 countries, JPW Companies offers a wide variety of products built to last for manufacturing companies. JPW Companies originally installed a Donaldson Torit dust collector on a shot blasting machine to manage the facility.
“In the [Donaldson Torit], the filters were stacked horizontally, two across and three down,” Tim Toolan, shop foreman of JPW Companies, said. “When the collector was in shake-off mode, the dust would get stuck on the filter below and the filter below that one. The collector couldn’t shake them clean so the filters were constantly dirty and air purification wasn’t good.”
“Shot blasting is a method used to clean, strengthen (peen) or polish metal. Shot blasting is used in almost every industry that uses metal,including aerospace, automotive, construction, foundry, shipbuilding,rail, and many others.”
“We had the dust collector for four years. We don’t run the shot blast machine constantly. Sometimes it only runs once every four months,” Toolan said. “Sometimes we run it for 10 days at a time. Running the machine for 40 hours a week we were changing the filters every six to 12 weeks.”
Eric Melfi of R.P. Fedder Corporation approached the owner of JPW Companies as a friend about the dust collection problem.
“I made contact with the owner, whom I have known for years, to bring in R.P. Fedder’s Camfil APC regional salesman, Chris Fluharty, and a trailer demo of the Gold Series dust collector,” Melfi said. “We did the presentation and the owner took us to look at the existing situation. The [Torit] unit and condition of the building were terrible.”
The Donaldson Torit dust collector was blowing dust and discharging outside to prevailing winds. The siding of the building was ruined and neighboring businesses complained.
“Melfi brought in literature and looked at our facility to see what would be best for what we do,” Toolan said. “Our owner did a lot of research himself too and found out that the Gold Series was well built, easy to install and easy to maintain.”
After presenting the demo Gold Series dust collector, Melfi and his team designed a unit to fit JPW Companies’ needs. JPW Companies,with Melfi overseeing, installed the GS6 themselves. “They were getting complaints from the neighbors and the old system simply didn’t work,” Melfi said. “I worked with Fluharty to design a new ductwork system. JPW Companies removed the old duct work which was restricting airflow and installed new duct work from the blasting machine to the collector.”
With the dust collector being in the same building as the shot blast machine, there was limited space for the unit and its accessories. The GS6 included an abrasive resistant inlet due to the corrosive application,secondary SMF to discharge air back into the shop, a side mount blower for height restrictions, remote start at the shot blasting machine to limit operator travel time when starting the GS6 and an offline cleaning interlock so the dust collector cleans while the blast machine is not in use.
“[My favorite thing about this project] most of all is how seamless the whole thing took place,” Melfi said. “[JPW Companies] is a structural fabrication and rigging company so installation was performed by the owner.
"With the original filters still in the Gold Series over a year later, JPW Companies is impressed with the easy install, the easy maintenance and customer relations.” Melfi stops in to check on us often and we have back up filters in house for when it’s time to change,” Toolan said. “We are very impressed.”