Show us your blower! Everybody has one unless you’re running electric. The more I dig into Burning fuels it seems like the more air or oxygen I need.... There’s only about 20% oxygen in the air. (The other 80% is nitrogen which doesn’t burn too nicely....) I have been in rebuilding and polishing giving new bearings to this fri Kijiji find. New bearings cost me $25. It is a 4.6 kW 3phase motor. I’m going to put it on the VFD. (I have lots of them so no big deal.) I want to compare this monster blower head to head against my four stage turbine. My 4 stage turbine is just a super vacuum pump/blower (made by Fuji) This regenerative blower (also known as ring blower, ring compressor and side channel compressor/blower) 4.5 psi at 230 CFM. These two pieces of information can never be mixed at their optimum with out amperage. How much air are you really moving?
Well if this is a prick measuring thread, I'll concede now. My blower is a wuss. Scavenged from a 2year old samsung over the range microwave, It blows plenty to melt bronze with ease. Note the fancy scrolled feet and snazzy volt meter. Also it has 3 speeds.
Thank you Jason, you’ve just earned the cheapest blower on earth. That thing will draw less than.5kw. You have ultimately demonstrated bronze pores at 1800-ish degrees Fahrenheit. You got my hats off!
I can wire a 110vt 3 speed fan with a capacitor in my sleep, but getting a vfd to behave correctly is a mother!
Three phase is so much easier when you get your head wrapped around it. There are no capacitors to shift voltage and phase shift with capacitors. Most people don’t completely understand the amperage single phase and the amperage out for three phase.
4.6KW! or 6 horsepower, that's a big ass blower!. Probably bigger than the blower that Scottish family uses to run the cupola furnace in their family foundry. I'm going to be downsizing to a 1Hp blower as soon as I get it overhauled.
Here's mine. Built as a universal high volume pressure/vacuum source. I use it for vacuum assisted lost foam casting but it could support 1MBTU/hr fuel fired furnace. http://forums.thehomefoundry.org/index.php?threads/vacuum-forced-air-cart.810/ I've discussed the vacuum motors many times. Specs are attached to the bottom of the first post. I think the approach you took with your burner and the need for higher air delivery pressures makes your air source requirements very unique compared to most foundry furnaces. The contrast between your(proposed) & Jason's blower exhibits such. Best, Kelly
Here's mine. I bought it for $3 at an auction. It just needed a new set of brushes which I found in the boxes at Ace Hardware. I control it with a harbor freight router speed controller. I connect a 2" PVC pipe through my barn wall to the outside and the connect flexible shopvac hose to the burner.
I use an old hair dryer set to 'cool' with a lamp dimmer switch extension cord to control the air flow. I think the switch is rated for 200 or 300W only. The hair dryer does have a much higher nominal wattage (1650 comes to mind), but with the heating element turned off (ie. when the blower is set to 'cool'), it's held up fine for years now and I've seen no signs of any trouble from using it. That's what I use when I'm just running propane. It can keep up with about 5psi propane at most with my Moya burner, but that is really all I've needed to melt aluminum or bronze within 15-20 minutes in my new low mass furnace. Once upon a time I used the same hair dryer blower and lamp dimmer switch for my old Gingery charcoal furnace as well, it was able to provide way more air than that charcoal furnace needed. When I am only using propane to preheat the furnace (almost always my much bigger and heavier duty furnace) for a WVO or diesel drip with the Moya (or the upsized Moya that has been tested but not used yet in earnest), I've always used my 5 gallon bucket sized shop vac controlled with a ceiling light fixture dimmer switch. But I've also got a leaf blower that I've found runs very well when controlled by a router speed controller, for a backup. And I have got a more recently acquired bouncy castle blower that still needs a dump gate I haven't built yet to control it, I guess that would be a backup for my backup... Or, maybe I will find some other air to move around with it once I have had a chance to test my new indoor foundry space with the CO meter I just received... Jeff
The nameplate states 4.79 psi and 6.2 m³ per minute. But… If you compare 50 Hz to 60 Hz the psi goes up but the m³ per minute go down. I believe this is a direct relationship to the amps the motor can handle. This is not a traditional vacuum/blower. Most vacuum/blowers have enough clearance in them that if you stop flow from either the vacuum or blower side the amperage goes down and the fan free spins. In this vacuum/blower the amperage starts to increase. I’ve read enough on these, that if you can’t control the rpm you should have a adjustable pressurized check valve on the side that you are using for work to prevent the windings from overheating and melting. I guess that’s why there is a thermal sensor buried within the windings. I’ve even read, there is an absolute must to have the filter on the intake side as any debris can cause damage to the turbine. When I had it apart I checked clearances. In the tightest areas there is less than 0.010”. A clogged air filter cen even block enough airflow to overheat the motor. Here is the PDF. The last model on page 4 I believe. http://www.hohsing.com/download/rb-manual-for_indonesia-english.pdf
