PTS Flowbench Forum

Looking to build a flowbench that I can test cylinder heads up to 500 cfm that can run on
Residential electricity I'm 28 and have been doing cylinder heads for about 10 years..I currently work for a professional traveling race team and like to port on the side as a hobby looking to build a budget bench that can run on household power .. ? Or looking to purchase a unit all ready to run mostly run ls based heads and modular ford and porsche stuff.. Any suggestion and what is a starting price for a ready to run unit that is upgradeable..

Welcome Wheelsonly, nice photos your work...

You can buy the plans Bruce, or order a FB for Bruce he has manufactured Seire FB-II to a Customer...

Plans PTS-DY high level.

Welcome to the Forum.
Most 220/240 volt vacuum motors fall into the 8CFM to 16CFM per amp range.
100/120 volt vacuum motors about 4CFM to 8CFM per amp.

Depending in which part of the world you live, your mains voltage, and the efficiency of your vacuum motors, a genuine 500 CFM bench might require about 125+ Amps at 100 volts (worst case) to perhaps 35 Amps at 240 volts (using the very best and most efficient motors available).

How much you spend building it depends greatly on if you buy everything brand new, or scrounge cheap or free materials, improvise, use home made water manometers, and do all the work yourself, and how fancy the final bench is to be.
A very few hundred, to a couple of thousand dollars would probably cover the range.
It's not really a question that can have a definite answer.

Great reply, Tony and something I was wondering about as well. I think you identified the boundaries quite well. It gives me all the more incentive to look into my gasoline motor driven design.

Welcome;

I can test cylinder heads up to 500 cfm

500CFM at what test pressure? 10"? 28"? 36"? 40"?

Also you need to consider the cost of getting the electric to where it is you want to test (Have Your Bench)

Rick

Well as do power I have 60 amp 220 or its 2 connected 30 amp breakers not an electrician..
I'd like to flow at 28 which seems to be the standard.. I was looking at around 1200-2000 spent

Here is a list of parts you would need from me for a complete flowbench build. Not sure where you are located at?

1 set of PTS Flowbench Plans -$60 International or $50.00 USA

This would be the first item you would need to purchase, once you have the plans you can then decide the direction of your build unless you want me to supply all the parts..

PTS Parts for a ~500-600cfm@28" Flowbench if you want to flow less CFM you would use less motors and check valves still recommend 4 orifice plates to cover your range:

40" Digital Manometer - $325
set of 4 orifice plates to cover a range of 0-600cfm@28" - $120 plates are $30 each
Check valves to control motor flow in unused motors while testing, need check valves on each motor that is not being speed controlled - $6 each (typical 600cfm build uses 6) Check valves are not required if you use a SSR will full motor control (see below)
set of pressure pickups - $30
2 black or white deck plates - $30

2 MTV-5 valves - $50 These swap flow direction of the digital manometer when going from intake to exhaust (optional but nice to have)
2 velocity probes, (intake and exhaust) - $200 (optional) each probe is $100

Solid State Relay Motor Control 75A 220V - $245 Or source a motor control in your area. If you go with a solid state relay control you can control all motor speed and check valves are not required.

220v Contactor with either a 110v or 220v coil.

8 position glass fuse block $12

This would be the parts you would need from me to get your build together, everything else you could source locally. Plus shipping from USA to your location.

Motors would be sourced in your country or purchased from http://www.centralvacuummotor.com/flowbench.htm Not sure if Ward ships to your country?

This should give you an idea of what the parts would cost. 3 sheets of 3/4" MDF is used in the cabinet build.

My dear friend, as I said earlier parts of Bruce and tips are cheap and you will be supported in building in the restricted area. (Here are many good guys to help build)

All parts go results in exellent FB-600 tested and approved
as this ....

Wheelsonly wrote:Well as do power I have 60 amp 220 or its 2 connected 30 amp breakers not an electrician..
I'd like to flow at 28 which seems to be the standard.. I was looking at around 1200-2000 spent

That should do it easily.
Very first thing would be to get some flow bench plans from Bruce.
That will also enable you to access a restricted part of the Forum that you cannot now see, that will help enormously at the bench construction stage, and help you to make some personal design decisions about how to proceed .
Other "must have" items include the deck plates and orifice plates, also from Bruce.

Then shop around for some suitable 220v motors, and buy the timber locally.
At that stage you can start sawing, screwing, and gluing the actual bench together.

Once it is all completely assembled, you then have a number of choices of how to control the motors, and how to read the pressures.
This is where it is possible to save some money on a very tight budget.

Your budget will be sufficient to allow getting all the good stuff for a fully electronic bench from Bruce, right from the very start, at prices you will not be able to better anywhere else.

Bruce to you have a PDF form my father would be building the wood part of the box I would like to get him the blueprints.. So he can start building.