Quick Trip to Dallas and More

Loyd just took a quick trip to Dallas to meet with his partner Chris Nachtmann of CNC Performance Engineering in Charlotte, NC. They discussed strategies for 2019.  There will be more information coming out about this soon.

Here is a little video.  Loyd did a cover of Waylon Jenning song. Don't think Hank Done it this way. Its the music behind the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mFkWvZYmgM&t=18s

http://www.vandergriffinc.com

Cylinder Cleaning.

History and Random Tidbits

The use of early cylinder cleaner arrangements that were not confined to just the gin stand itself started in the early 1930’s.  When harvesting cotton became more mechanized, an entire host of new issues were brought to the gin in terms of trashy cotton with sticks, green leaves,bolls, burrs the entire spectrum of possiblities was front and center. This had to be dealt with to keep the cotton clean and grades acceptable. This led to the development of cylinder cleaner arrangements beyond what the feeder on the gin stand could accomplish.  The most common at the time were five to seven cylinder arrangements.  These a were of little benefit, causing even worse issues such as  roping, kinking, and neps.  Buyers of this cotton set a steep financial penalty for cotton like this.  To deal with this, the gins initially slowed the rotation speed of the cylinders down to 200-250 RPM.  This only provided minimal relief.  The manufacturers then flattened the screening surfaces to permit a less drastic transfer of the cotton from cylinder to cylinder. They came up with what we call a 30 degree wrap between the cylinders. Both of these actions reduced roping, but cleaning efficiency was compromised.  More trash was left in the cotton, less trash was extracted.  It was soon realized that  cotton with a higher moisture content was the main culprit.  The cotton was not conditioned or prepped enough to allow the cylinder cleaner arrangements to do much good at all. So this led to the mad rush to develop systems to effectively drop moisture content in cotton, prior to reaching the cylinders. (Drying)  Most common at the time were stub towers (eleven shelf) or USDA seventeen shelf varities.  Once the removal of moisture from cotton improved, so did the efficiency of the cylinder cleaners.  It is interesting to note that the 30 degree wrap that was used then,  still is the most common today.  Once Mr. A.L Vandergriff starting to analyze this arrangement while doing experimental work at Lummus, he changed this wrap to 40 degrees in 1949 in a feeder he designed.  This resulted in the screen going higher between the cylinders. He found this to be a critical area, and by increasing this angle, the cylinders engaged with the cotton even more and much greater trash removal resulted.  He also changed the support area from between the cylinders to under them.  By removing this support and little flange that protruded out into trash removal area, cleaning efficiency further improved.  

Early Arrangement with 30 degree wrap between cylinders.

Note impact area blocked reducing trash removal.

Vandergriff Arrangement 1949. Lummus.

Impact area open. More drastic 40 degree incline between cylinders

allowing for more cylinder exposure and trash release.

Vandergriff Arrangement. 

Supports under cylinders. 

Area between cylinders open to allow

for more trash removal.

Mr. Vandergriff continued using this arrangement in all his designs through the late 1990's and even increased the angle between the cylinders from 40 to 45 degrees. Cylinders were supported under, not between.  The ginning industry for the most part still uses a 30 degree wrap and continues to support thr screens between the cylinders. 

There is another important factor that affects the efficiency and operation of the cylinder cleaners and that continues to be drying.  While these early tower type arrangements did help, the inability to remove enough moisture left the gins with no choice but to slow the cylinders down and even slow the ginning rates down to maintain grades.  He are some little tidbits about drying and cylinder cleaning that I learned from my dad. 

You do not want a long pipe run from your dryer to you cylinder cleaners. Why?  The longer the run the more significant the temperature drop off of the cotton. Yes, you can overcome this but it requires more HP and BTU's. They will sell you a bigger heater. It is well known that cylinders operate and remove trash and foreign matter more efficiently when the cotton is warmer. And moisture reduction (drying) continues.  Good drying systems have little temperature fall-off between the entry point of the cotton and exit point.  You do not want an extreme drop off at the exit point, coupled with a long pipe run.  Your cylinder cleaners are placed in a difficult position with this arrangement.  The drying and moisture removal from cotton is three times greater at 200 degrees than 150 degrees. If your cotton exits your dryer at 150 goes on a long pipe run and then enters the cylinder arrangement?  Drying does not continue to any serious extent and trash extraction is seriously compromised.  If grades are being compromised and cylinder cleaners not getting the job done, heat is your friend. This also helps with roping, and neps as well.  Warm, well conditioned cotton that gets into the cylinder arrangments quickly lets them do what they are supposed to do in the most efficient way possible.  Use the Vandergriff arrangement for your screens under the cylinders see even better results.

Try to limit the number of cylinders the fiber is exposed too.  Some plants are overkill in this area, and fiber quality and integrity is compromised. This is just another reason not to have them as part of your dryer. More cylinders are not necessarily better if you have a good drying system and the cleaners are set-up right.  

If  you are using Tower type dryers, just know that any of them with shelf spacings under 12" are a energy hog.  Big static drop. They require the use of much more HP and BTU's to move the cotton along and try to maintain the temperature.  Even with this, there is considerable temperature drop-off from entry to exit.  There are still alot of stub tower's tucked away in many gins. The same thing applies to taller tower arrangements, and they have even more of a temperature fall off from entry point to exit.  The only really successful Tower Dryer arrangement was The Vandergriff Hot Shelf Dryer and Even Heat Dryer.  The cotton remained warm through the drying cycle and there was no drop-off in temperature at the exit point. Shelf Spacings were wider and vanes and bump-ups along the shelves created turbulance.

The cotton should be exposed to some type of "turbulent action," during the drying cycle. This starts the single locking process,  exposes the fibers to warm air, letting it flow around and through, and trash release and separation begins.  Now you have real moisture removal and drying is starting to occur. There should be minimal and preferably no exposure to any cylinder type situtations especially with screens or grids under them.at this point. The cotton can then enter your cylinder cleaner arrangement "conditioned" and it will let them do their job in a much more efficient manner.  The Vandergriff Jet Dryer has been highly successful in meeting all the criteria mentioned.

Much of this information was taken from "Ginning Cotton, An Entrepreneur's Story," by A.L. Vandergriff. Published by Texas Tech University in 1997. The book has sold out completely. If you have one you are lucky. If you have a signed one, you have a real treasure.

Loyd Vandergriff

Vandergriff Inc.

559-324-8848

vanderinc@aol.com

"Products of Vandergriff Research."

Made in the USA

Early Summer Updates

Hope everyone has got the cotton in the ground. Weather has been tricky in many area's with the elements from cold to rain getting in the way.

We are about to complete the first big run of Vandergriff  Continental Game Changers, well over 2000 parts.  Delivery date first week of June.  We then will start the second big run with a mid-July delivery date.  Then, close to a 2000 run Lummus, with August delivery date. This has been one of our bigger years. Toss in the Australian market earlier and the CNC machines in Charlotte, NC have been grinding away all year. The amount of ribs we get through these CNC machines is amazing.

If you haven't ordered ribs yet, we might be able to work in a few more sets of Continentals, but that will be it. As far as Lummus, we are up against the clock on delivery dates on any new orders.

Smaller Varieties of Seed

We have two sets of "test ribs" running in Australia. Loyd modified a key part of the Vandergriff rib to see how it would respond to the smaller varieties of seed.  Initial reports are outstanding, and we most certainly can incorporate this modification for the USA market. We also do offer a carbide option, if you gin a lot of cotton it maybe something for you to consider.

Loyd Vandergriff

559-324-8848

The industry standard for close to 25 years.

Made in the USA

Late Spring Updates

Great seeing many of you at the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show a few weeks back. Thanks for stopping by the booth and chatting.

As mentioned before, we are in unprecedented territory for pre-sales on our Vandergriff 161 Game Changer Rib.  As it stands now, we only have maybe 4 sets left to sell, with a delivery date of August.
We CNC machine all the ribs, a time consuming process but the key to our precision and accuracy.

Game Changer Forgings waiting to be CNC Machined.

1018 USA Steel.

Made in USA

On a side note, I still am amazed at some of things that float around in the industry regarding the Vandergriff Rib. I had one guy ask me the other day if it really is a forged rib.  He went on to say it looks rough on the backside.  Yep.  We machine the backside, but don't give it the finish that we give on the front side, and we don't plate it either.  No reason to.  Of course it is a forging.  Very expensive tooling developed by Vandergriff Inc and CNC Performance Engineering to get the forgings made. There are only a couple of forging places in the USA that have the equipment powerful enough to hammer these bad boys out.  CNC Performance engineering has been machining these parts for 22 years. They have the process down to keep prices as low as we possibly can.  

Many of you are getting cotton planted now. Hope its going good for you.  Beware of  some varieties of seed.  With more and more emphasis being placed on yield, the trade-off has been smaller and smaller seed. Some of these are getting to small to gin effectively.  

Mid-South Farm and Gin Show 2018

Look forward to seeing you all at the Mid-South Farm and Gin show in Memphis March 2, 2018.


Check out new video, "Let's Gin."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0zjfdSi8oM&feature=youtu.be



See ya there.

*This has been an unprecented year in terms of sales for The Vandergriff Gin Rib.   We are all the way out to July 2018 on delivery dates now with orders.  We are almost to our limit on what we can get machined and delivered for the 2018 season.

Vandergriff Inc

559-324-8848

Vandy Updates/Ribs

As we near the completion of January, we are entering record territory for pre-sale gin rib orders, especially for Vandergriff Continental Game Changers.  The current run we are now starting has a completion date of approximately June 1, 2018.  This is a huge run. All these people got their orders early.   We have started another waiting list for late summer delivery.  There will miminal availability for this one.  As most know, all Vandergriff Gin Ribs are CNC machined from 1018 USA steel forgings.  This forging process is only used by Vandergriff Inc.   CNC Performance Engineering  in Charlotte, NC has machined Vandergriff Ribs for 22 years. The combination of these two make the Vandergriff rib the elite gin rib in the business.  

We will also have a few sets of Vandergriff Ribs for Lummus Gin Stands availabe as well.

Vandergriff Game Changer Ribs.

No Gin Rib has the precision of Vandergriff Ribs.

Ribs shipping out to Australia.

Proudly Made in the USA

Where are your ribs made?

Loyd Vandergriff

559-324-8848

USA

New Year. 2018

Hope you had a great ginning season and the new year is off to a good start for you.

On the gin rib front, we have had unprecedented demand for 161 game-changer ribs. A waiting list was started for our first batch due for April 1, and this has already sold out.  We are starting another waiting list for early summer delivery. If you want game-changers for your Continental Gin Stand, you need to get on the list. There will be no third run.

Vandergriff Gin Ribs

CNC from steel forgings.

Most accurate rib on the market.

Stong.

Made in USA

Vandy Ribs Shipping out.

Made in USA.

Get those Chinese Ribs out of your ginstand. Mercy.

We will also have Lummus ribs ready by early summer as well. List going for those too.

Any questions, call:

Loyd Vandergriff

559-324-8848