by Tony » Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:19 am
Again, that sounds about right John.
I have not seen that book, but it sounds like the Holy Grail.
It might be worth promoting it a bit more on this Forum as required reading for big blower freaks.
As I suggested earlier, when searching junk yards, look for something with about a 36 inch diameter (900mm) outer casing. It will probably have about a 24 inch diameter (600mm) wheel inside. That will put you in the required pressure range with sane motor rpm. And something three feet in diameter is just practical to fit inside a bench and have a convenient work height.
With a 10Hp motor, (or better) should put you into the race with about 500-600 CFM at usable flow bench pressures.
A 20 Hp motor should be good for around 1000 CFM + with the same diameter (but wider) wheel, and wider outer casing, and correspondingly scaled up inlet and discharge flow areas, maybe six inch inlet and four or five inch outlet, for a six inch flow bench test hole.
These type of threads are good, because it helps people to get the "eye" for what might be an ideal bench blower, just by the shape and dimensions of the outer casing, and diameters of the inlet and outlet. Something around four inch inlet and three and a half inch outlet might be about right for most of us that run a four inch flow bench test hole.
You can usually slip a steel tape up through the intake of a junk yard blower to measure the wheel radius, and look through the discharge hole to judge wheel width.
If you can find an ideal junk yard blower, it will probably cost you less than the steel to build it.
The motor can always be changed, but a well sized rotor and housing are pure gold.
Also known as the infamous "Warpspeed" on some other Forums.