I just put a new central heater in and was close to taking the old one to the dump when I saw the fan blower in bottom.
I took it out and ran some electricity through it and the thing really kicks out some air.
My thought was to put it at floor level of my 10’x12’ shed in a plywood box with some sort of filter on top of the box to suck out any sanding dust etc.
Any thoughts on wiring it, where to put it, what kind of filter to use, or any other useful tidbits would be appreciated.
christian
Hey cj3,
That is a type of “squirrel cage rotor” fan/blower. Similar to what I use in my factory (we have two about 2ft in diameter each). The advantage over a bladed fan is the amount of power pulling the air. However, volume is not near that of a bladed fan for the given energy to turn the machine. That blower might work but it looks as though the driving motor is in the air flow stream, thus debris will quickly clog the motor. FYI, law requires us to have a pulley and belt connected from the rotor, to a motor outside the air flow. We also must use spark-arrested motors.
With that said, you possibly could get that thing to work. Be careful about shielding the motor as they typically rely on the airflow for cooling. Maybe the motor can be moved outboard by installing a pulley system.
Also, look for the CFM rating on the blower someplace. For sanding (depending upon room size and shape) you will need it to be upwards of 1500 cfm. Of course you could build a more passive set-up, which lets sanding debris fall
to the floor before the flow exits the room BUT the flow needs to be enough to keep the work/worker clear of debris.
Actually, those type of blowers are widely available as ‘used’. Very common in the restaraunt industry. We have industrial liquidators in our area that sell them for cheap. Ducting is available at the home improvement centers, as are filters. Boxes/chambers you can build.
I’ve designed quite a few of these things including a down-draft slotted floor collector (if you’ve got the room) which work really well, so please feel free to ask-away…
Regards,
George
George
Thanks for the reply. I looked back at some of your old posts and got quite a bit of good info there. I will most likely use it to just circulate some fresh air through the shed when it get hot in the summer or when there is some residual dust in the air. My shop vac works pretty good for the 6 or so boards I will be doing a year. I end up doing very little planing on the blanks I cut and only use epoxy. The only mess I have to deal with is sanding the Hotcoat and I think I will be sending those out to the local Sander in town. 20-30 bucks sounds like money well spent.
Chrisitan
Hey Christian,
that blower you have would do very well for just circulating the air. Mount up high to exhaust hot and
mount down low to exhaust cold…
…getting an “in” with the local production can save you tons of headaches and mess.
Good Luck,
George
Just an idea I needed to deliver myself of:
With an inflow fan mounted opposite wall…
sorry I know I know nothing, but I wondered
Now I had not thought of that. Very creative. I may even be able to place the blower outside so the motor does not suck any of the dust and trash and use the “venturi effect” to pull out my unwanted foam, dust and vapors.
Thanks janklow
Christian
It may be (maybe very likely) that it doesn’t work, but hey. I think actually that you HAVE to mount it outside or else the vacuum for the exhaust is way compromised by the intake of the fan itself, but I could be all wet about that too.
The guy I know just has a big industro box exhaust fan blowing out the side of his wall and a fan behind him. I don’t even know where the dust goes.