Gas wiping apparatus

A gas wiping apparatus for blowing a gas on a front side and a back side of a steel strip, which exits from a hot-dip plating bath and travels upward, comprising:

• wiping nozzles that blow the gas to adjust an amount of a plating deposit on the front side and the back side of the steel strip,
• main guides that support the wiping nozzles when the wiping nozzles are in a first position where the wiping nozzles oppose the steel strip;
• sub-guides that support the wiping nozzles when the wiping nozzles are in a second position for maintaining and replacing the wiping nozzles, the sub-guides linearly extend from one end of the main guides beyond a width of the steel strip;
• a drive unit that moves the wiping nozzles between the first and second positions;
• and
• movable frames that support the wiping nozzles, wherein
• the wiping nozzles move between the first and second positions by moving the movable frames along the main guides and the sub-guides by the drive unit, and
• the sub-guides include first sub-guides and second sub-guides that extend parallel to one another, the first sub-guides being configured to support the wiping nozzles, and the second sub-guides being configured to support replacement wiping nozzles, wherein
• the gas wiping apparatus further includes,
• frames that extend in a direction perpendicular to the sub-guides and support the first and second sub-guides movably in the perpendicular direction, such that sub-guides move between a position where the first sub-guides linearly extend from the one end of the main guides and a position where the second sub-guides linearly extend from the one end of the main guides.