The Ammeter
I don't understand these things, that is the electrician's job. Our ammeter is broken, but the machine still works, so why worry?
The ammeter is a vital tool to help you control cleaning efficiency. It is the only way to determine at a glance, how much abrasive is being thrown by the wheel.
For example, on a typical wheel blast machine, with a wheel diameter of
+ 500mm and a width of
+ 64mm, using a 15 HP motor on 440 volts, approximately 8 AMPS would be used without any abrasive flowing into the wheel. Under full load, approximately 20 AMPS would be used.
The abrasive thrown under full amperage would weigh about 170kg per minute or 14kg per AMPS, there would be 25% reduction in wheel efficiency.
At full load (varies with motor H.P.)
Wheel is throwing maximum abrasive volume
When the wheel is operating at less then full amperage (as stamped on the plate above the ammeter), this usually means there is an insufficient amount of abrasive in the machine, but it may also indicate poor adjustment of the wheel parts.
It is important that the cause of this low amperage can be corrected immediately since longer periods of blasting are required under these conditions to produce the desired cleaning results.
A simple test to isolate the problem of low amperage
- With the wheel running, turn on abrasive, turn off abrasive flow.
- If amperage increases before failing to "NO LOAD", problem is with a "FLOODED WHEEL".
- If amperage fails to "NO LOAD", problem is a "STARVED WHEEL".
Other Frequently Asked Questions