Things are progressing with Vandergriff Gin Ribs for Continental Gin Stands. Forgings are showing up and machining is about to start. We have a waiting list for "Game Changer," ribs. We are doing two runs, and are about sold out for the first run. Make sure if you want the Vandy Rib for next season, to call and get on the list. CNC Performance Engineering is very active now in the process and you can call them directly to place your order, and get on the waiting list. They have established a Gin Rib Hotline. Here it is: 704-495-0296 Email. ginribs@cncpe.com If you have any questions or concerns. Call Loyd. He is not going anywhere. We will get set up to run Vandy ribs for Lummus Gin stands next. We make all models. It is important to understand that if you have a Cherokee Gin Stand, Vandy ribs run good in them. We sold several sets with the narrower saw spacings, and have them for all models of their gin stands. Vandy Ribs are strong, the forgings are made from 1018 USA Steel and they are precision machined. We have used this process for 23 years and CNC Performance Engineering has been involved from the start. Mr. Vandergriff designed the original rib for Consolidated gin stands. He drew one of a forged rib that was never used. They decided to stick with the original rib. With so many calling and inquiring about the "Vandergriff Rib," for this gin stand, Loyd pulled out Mr. Vandergriff's drawing from 1996 and used it to develop the tooling to make the forgings. Of course this drawing was spot on. We started offering this rib for Consolidated Gin Stands a few years ago. They perform just like Vandergriff Ribs do. No nagging issues that slow down the ginning process. On the front of the gin stand it says, "A Product of Vandergriff Research," just like these gin ribs are. They are made for each other. These ribs will not be available until mid-summer, after we finish running Vandy Ribs for Lummus Gin stands.
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Our first batch of forgings from the new tooling place are almost ready. They should be shipped to CNC Performance Engineering next week. Chris Nachtmann has been working close with them to get them right. They look good. We should begin machining ribs in 10 days or less. These will be the Game Changer ribs for Continental Gin Stands. We already have a waiting list going. If you want on the list, call Loyd (559-324-8848). For those of you that aren't aware, the profile on the game changer has been tweaked. We have a steeper slope on the curvature of the rib as it heads down to the bottom of the rib. This provides for better seed discharge. This in turn allows the roll to run looser creating a situation for more capacity if you want to take advantage of it. Lot's of customers have put our game changers in their 161 stands, changed to a 200 HP motor and have seen significant increases in capacity.
As soon as we finish up with Game Changer ribs, we will move on to Lummus. Currently, we have about 3 sets of Vandy 170 ribs in stock! Call Loyd and get em! Finally, we will take a look at ribs for Consolidated Gin Stands once we finish up with the Vandy Ribs for Lummus Gin Stands. Don't let inferior ribs bog down your ginning operation and performance of your gin stand. Down time is money. Rib fires, tore up saws, and tagging are not cost cost effective. Make the investment in Vandergriff Ribs and then you can address other problem areas of your ginning operation. Vandy Ribs are machined from Forgings made from 1018 USA steel. Each rib is CNC machined. For 24 years, The leader in gin rib technology and performance. A customer that is well known for being "hard to please," ran a set of our 161 game changer ribs this past season. He called and wanted two more sets for next season. He told me; "I hate to tell you this, but yo rib is by far the best on the market. It's like throwing prime rib into the gin stand." Greetings. This has been a difficult season for many ginning operations. Excessive rains and bad conditions in the field have caused the gin plants to face high moisture situations that left them with wet soft seed. A ginning nightmare. We hope this will not occur anytime soon in the near future. We need the upcoming ginning season to be more cooperative weather wise to compensate for this big mess this year.
Vandergriff Gin Ribs are in a bit of a transition. We have changed forging suppliers. This is causing us to develop new tooling. This is expensive. This is not an investment Loyd wanted to make at this stage of his career. Given this, he has made a deal with his partner, Chris Nachtmann. Chris will make this investment in the new tooling development and the new tooling required to get forgings made, and ultimately ribs machined at his plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, CNC Performance Engineering. All the Vandergriff Rib business will now run through their operation from taking orders to billing. Understand that CNC Performance has been involved with The Vandergriff Rib from the start. (24 years) Nothing will change in terms of the quality of this rib. We will start with Continental Game Changer tooling and forgings first, and should have our first ribs rolling out by late spring. During this time, we will be developing the Lummus Tooling and should have ribs by early summer. I will remain actively involved with Vandergriff Ribs, but you can call Chris Nachtmann or Tammy Rogero at CNC to get on waiting lists and ask any questions you might have. (704)- 599-2555. Don't hesitate to call me with questions or concerns. We already have waiting lists started for both Continental and Lummus ribs. We will begin to look at ribs for Consolidated Gin Stands after we get the Lummus ribs up and running. Ultimately, we will have all 3 varieties of ribs running smoothly, along with wearplates. Also understand that The Vandergriff Rib for Lummus gin stands fits Cherokee Stands as well, and we can make the narrower model of rib for both of these stands. We were the pioneer in going "narrower," to begin with. We also offer a carbide option. This carbide is a special blend formulated for ginning applications and is USA Carbide, simply the best.
Loyd just took a quick trip to Dallas, TX to meet with his long-time partner Chris Nachtmann of CNC Performance Engineering. They have made the Vandergriff Gin Rib since the beginning. They discussed strategies and plans for 2019. There will be more about this later.
Here is a video Loyd did. He recorded Waylon Jenning's song, Don't Think Hank done it this Way and it is playing during the video.
Music by Loyd Vandergriff. It will be available for download soon.
Many of you know that Loyd Vandergriff is also a singer-songwriter. He has released 6 CD's of almost entirely original music. One of his songs from his 2014 CD is called "King Cotton." If you are in the ginning industry or cotton related industry, you might like it. The link to download the song is below.
If you want to check out Loyd's music. click on the link.
www.humanprojectmusic.com/ I know, it's only rock n roll..but I like it. Wishing all our friends and customers a very Happy Thanksgiving 2018. We are grateful for your business and trust you place in us. Many of you are aware that Vandergriff Ribs have been in short supply this season. Simply put, we sold out. The way we manufacture this rib starting with raw 1018 USA steel, to placing it in a die designed especially for our ribs, to hammering or pressing out a forging, to ultimately CNC Machining each rib is very time consuming. It is not a simple matter to order 500, 1000, 2000 forgings and have finished ribs in a couple of weeks. A run of 2,500 ribs from ordering steel to completed CNC machined ribs can take close to 3 months. If we run out, we are out until this entire process starts again. We go through this process not for one model of gin rib, but three. Today's environment with tariff's placed on steel imports make things even more difficult. There is more domestic demand for USA steel and now delivery dates are extended way out further and further. 8-12 weeks just for delivery once order is placed. We continue to make every effort to get Vandergriff Ribs made for all of our customers. We know this has been a difficult year. We appreciate you very much.
Happy Thanksgiving 2018. Loyd recently wrote a blog on cylinder cleaning. In the article he talked briefly about drying. With so much wet, high moisture cotton being brought to the gins today, its worth another read. A valuable tid-bit drawn from a paper Mr. Vandergriff wrote on drying in the 1990's is the following regarding the importance of temperature of cotton as it enters the cylinder cleaners: "The cleaning and drying efficiency at 200 degrees is three times greater than at 150 degrees." Translation? You don't want low temperature high moisture cotton entering your cylinder cleaners. Long pipe runs to your first stage cylinders are poor arrangements. The temperature drops significantly and moisture removal is compromised severely. Cylinder cleaners do their jobs better when the cotton is warm, ie 200 degrees. Moisture removal continues and trash is released in a much more efficient manner. Not only that, your gin stands will greatly appreciate it and so will your saws and ribs. When setting up your drying and cylinder cleaning arrangement. Keep it simple. Don't let technology over-ride common sense.
vandergriffinc.blogspot.com/2018/07/cylinder-cleaning.html Sending prayers out to all in the south that are affected by Hurricane Michael. This is devastating anytime, but particularly at this time of the year when cotton is just being picked and ginning has just started. We have finished a big year for gin rib sales. We have made some modifications that have proven to help with little seed loss. A few sets of ribs with these modifications are running this year in the USA. Will get further documentation. Wishing all of you the best this year and once again our thoughts are with all affected by Hurricane Michael. Vandergriff Ribs getting packaged up and ready to ship out. Always made in the USA from USA steel and CNC Machined to high precision. Installing wearplates for our Continental Game Changer Ribs.
Loyd wrote this song about his dad in 2011. He made a youtube of it right before the Southern Southeastern Gin show in Memphis last year, where the Vandergriff Pioneer Award is presented. He decided to share it here as well. Loyd has written over 70 songs and has released 6 CD's. He has cotton in his blood.
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Loyd VandergriffLoyd personally writes the blogs and provides updates on what is going on with Vandy Inc and the industry in general. Archives
April 2021
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