iDRY Vacuum Kilns

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will it work??

Started by lynches lumber, September 07, 2011, 07:59:30 PM

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lynches lumber

 Right now I do my wood working in a partially enclosed shed. Wanting to close it the rest of the way in for the winter. right now I just use a large construction fan to pull the dust out. If I close it in Im gonna have to set something up for dust collection. If I buy a system then I gotta woman wanting a Kirby. So you know how thats goona go. Well, what if I box in a 1300cfm attic ventilation fan with fine screen in front of it and it blowing to the outside. Have a 6" pipe running down the wall with drops to connect to the tools. I know the fan needs a little more intake than exhaust to keep it from working so hard so maybe another 6" hole in the box to help clean the air. When the stuff enters the box it will drop into a container that can be remove from a door in the box. What ya think?

Al_Smith

Questionable ! The reason being is that dust collecters are basicaly a van axial type fan .In other words made to take a suction on a relatively small area ,such as a 6" pipe .

An attic fan is usually just a blade type fan .They move a lot of air but the static pressure is fairly low .Now I may be wrong but I don't think you could draw enough of a vacuum using a blade type fan on an area as small as a 6" pipe to move much air .You need something that will produce a high static flow with a lot of velocity I think .

If you can get into McMaster -Carrs on line catalog they explain different types of fans for different applications .

mad murdock

FWIW lynches lumber, I think Al is right on the oney.  If you look at a typical pneumatic sawdust/chip evac system, it is based on a blower of the type he described.  You would need a lot of power behind a pretty aggressive propeller or "blade" type fan to move the air with a draw sufficient to suck up chips and dust from woodworking machinery.  I have seen silo loaders, the type that are PTO driven from a tractor that have been adapted to a similar type of application, but a study of one of those units will reveal a good sized blower (axial type), coupled with a fair amount of HP.  That said, maybe you could find an old silo loader and adapt it to your system for way less $$ than buying new?
Turbosawmill M6 (now M8) Warrior Ultra liteweight, Granberg Alaskan III, lots of saws-gas powered and human powered :D

lynches lumber

Thanks guys, I guess Ill rethink this one then.

Al_Smith

You might be able to do it with a squirrel cage blower but I don't know .I'm afraid a regular squirrel cage would fly apart with the chips hitting the blades .

Generally speaking the type fans used for all intents as a heavy duty vacuum for a dust system have heavy straight blades with wide spacings .

Now if you could find an old leaf sucker that would work but you'd have to put some power behind it .Mine has a 7.5 HP gas engine on it .

SPIKER

I have 2 of the green units in the center of this page at the tip paid 68 bucks for them on clearance sale few years ago work pretty well...
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=dust+colector

attic fan wont work same for a squirrel cage style blower.

mark
I'm looking for help all the shrinks have given up on me :o

lynches lumber

 Yea I dont think a squirrel cage would hold up like that. I wasnt planning on the dust and chips getting to the fan. Ive got a couple of squirrel fans under the shed to keep a breeze going. I dont think they have enough suction. I know one thing if you have the chips getting to the fan, you better not be in front of it. Was doing some finish work on an upstairs bedroom for a fellow once. He brought us a squirrel cage up there to help cool us off. He didnt bother to tell us it had been under the corn shed to keep his workers cool while they bagged corn. I was in front of it when I plugged it in. Felt like I had been shot with rat shot before I could get away from it. The reason I thought an exhaust fan might work is Ive got a small room set up in an old mobile home that I used to spray finishes on cabinets. I installed an exhaust fan in the ceiling with a sceened & filtered vent in the floor. Even with the vent opening it will suck the plastic up off the floor. I looked at the mcmaster site and saw what you were talking about. For the price of those fans I could just about buy a system.

Al_Smith

Well yeah a heavy duty axial type industrial fan or blower is very costly. I don't  know the situation but it might be an item you could find at a salvage yard .Sometimes you have to be somewhat of a dumpster diver on these things .

I've got a 3HP evacuation blower that came from a large coolant system in an automotive engine plant that would work .I've never used it though, just blow the chips on the floor and broom them up .I do however have a Stihl BR 400 back pack blower that works pretty well instead of a broom .Makes a bit of a mess though cleaning up the mess .

Babbling on though I planed some ash yesterday and my heavens do you get the chips seems like a wheelbarrow full per 16 foot board .I wish there were a market for chips ,I could retire .

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