A Spit in Time
by
David B. South
Reprint from the 1999 Fall Roundup
Once upon
a time, David Michael, a customer in western North Dakota, bought a foam
machine. But David was not all that experienced with foam machines and
had no one around him to help. So David would call me-nearly 1000 miles
away-and I'd try to see what was going on with his machine.
That did not work too well. After four or five frustrating days of trying
to get polyurethane foam sprayed onto a metal building, David called again.
This time, he asked if I could fly there, at his expense, and help him
get going. I agreed.
The jobsite was a large metal building. A trailer sat in its middle. David's
cantankerous foam machine and barrels of foam sat on the trailer. I told
him to "fire it up."
Now, a foam machine pulls equal amounts of A component and B component
simultaneously from their drums. These materials are then pushed through
heaters to make them flow easier through the hoses and gun. The two materials
mix at the gun.
On most machines, the A component runs at about 120 to 125 degrees, while
the B component runs at about 140 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. And the two
heaters usually have thermostats.
Alas, David's heaters had no thermostats, and the one for the A component
even lacked a pressure gauge. Poor David! He would get nowhere as long
as he did not know his temperatures.
Fortunately, I knew that if you spit on the heaters they will evaporate
the saliva rapidly if they are at the right temperatures. I began spitting.
The saliva did not evaporate! Obviously, David's heaters were not hot
enough.
I began increasing the heat-and spitting to check the adequacy of each
adjustment. Within about 10 spits, I had the heaters at the right temperature.
A delighted David began spraying as fine a foam as you could ask for.
Afterwards, I got David the part numbers for the thermostats and gauges
he needed to order, and went through the how-to for doing proper settings.
Then, a much happier David drove me to the airport. And, as we parted
company, David said, "I paid $1500 for a plane ticket to get you up here
just so you could spit on my machine?! But-I've got to admit-it does run!"
Since all that, David Michael has not called with any more problems. I
assume David and his foam machine are spraying happily ever after. ¬
|