Kubota seeks custom solution for welding and grinding dust

Kubota Materials Corporation located in Orillia, Ontario is a world-class manufacturer of high quality alloy-steel castings and assemblies. The company was looking for a solution for dealing with welding smoke and grinding dust being generated from their finishing work on sand-cast products. For Kubota, it was critical to find a way to eliminate the dust and fumes from grinding and welding stainless steel pipes to better protect workers.

Many of these products are used throughout the Oil & Gas, Steel & Aluminum fabrication and the Mining industry.

Diversitech visited their facility, and spoke to operators and engineering to come up with a custom solution to handle their unique application. A custom downdraft table was chosen as the optimal solution to remove welding fumes and grinding dust from their workspace.

After careful evaluation, Diversitech’s engineering group designed a reinforced 3′ x 6′ downdraft table rated for heavy 1000 lbs parts. The machine was equipped with a low profile 32” high table for ergonomic operation along with an electronic height adjustment system including 4 hydraulic pistons. The actuators allow operators to operate the table at the preferred height depending on the dimensions of their work-pieces. A custom side shroud was incorporated to capture and direct grinding sparks and dust down in the table and two front cut-outs provide suction even when working off of the ventilated table surface.

After initially installing two of these 3′x6′ custom downdraft tables, Kubota achieved an improvement in plant air quality, and an increase operator comfort They approved an additional four 3′x6′ downdraft tables for the other workstations.