DC Motor Upgrade? Yay or Nay?

[fredhargis]

I have no idea what's powering that, the G0863 is the cyclone body (apparently). Do you know anything about what blower he has hooked to it?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Sorry. It's a HF 2hp unit. Model 87869. Just got the model number from him. I'm looking up reviews on it.

[TDKPE]

I have the 2 hp HFDC blower on top of my 18" diameter cyclone (that I built from the Pentz design).  It's adequate for my needs, maybe, but if I was shopping for a blower, I'd go 3 hp as a bare minimum.  5 hp is better.  It has a 9.85" diameter blower wheel, though some have reported 10".  That's tiny as these things go.  It also has a pretty lousy flow curve, which I mapped long ago when it was still a bag machine.  It moves more air now that I've opened the inlet to 9" and removed the adapter from the outlet and ducted it with 8" flex to a window, but I'm wringing every bit of performance I can out of it.  And it still could be bigger.

A 5 hp may be more than you need, but there's no down side to it.  Choking off the air due to small and/or long ductwork unloads the motor, and it will draw less power as a result.  And if/when you upsize the ductwork, or run more than one machine at a time, you'll be glad you have the air flow.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. I'll jump on a 3hp unit and keep my eyes peeled for a 5.

[jteneyck]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.  I'll jump on a 3hp unit and keep my eyes peeled for a 5.

Yep, you want at least 3 HP.  I have a 2HP Grizzly fan mounted directly on top of my 18" cyclone, following TDKPE's advise when I put it together.  It works far better than when I had it coupled indirectly, but the biggest improvement came when I got rid of the bags and piped the outlet straight out a window.  Long story to say that 2HP is not enough if you intend to use filters and you need enough flow to handle a large bandsaw, for example, as I did.  You need a real flow of at least 650 cfm for that and a filtered 2HP isn't going to do it.  You need to size it so that even when the filters get loaded up, which they will, you still have enough flow.  

John

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Would a claimed 1900cfm on a 3hp, 220v motor spinning a 14" impeller be a fair start until I can grab a 5hp?

[Stwood_]

yes..............

[jteneyck]

Would a claimed 1900cfm on a 3hp, 220v motor spinning a 14" impeller be a fair start until I can grab a 5hp?

Probably all you'd ever need if you don't need to open more than 2 blast gates at a time.  

John

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Probably won't ever get to that point honestly. Would like to run two pipes to both my table saw and router table when using them. For the TS, one to the plinth and one over the blade. For the RT, one to the box surrounding the router and one to the fence.

[fredhargis]

I'd also bet it's the last one you'll ever need. A 14" impeller will move a lot if air.