The progress so far....
11
Here is the filter mount plate that goes inside the cabinet.
The 3 cartridge type air filters will set over the rings to help hold them in place.
Stainless steel bolts will be used to attach the plate to the cabinet, through the small flange around the perimeter.
Silicone will be used around the flange to seal it off, so the blower can only **** through the filters and no place else.
12
Another shot of the filter mount rings.
13
Air tank mount
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Both tank mounts are complete, and await welding to the tank.
15
Checking tank alignment before welding on the mounts.
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Aligning the 3 homemade fittings before welding.
3/4" pipe will screw into these fittings, to bring air to the top of each filter, to act as a back-purge or cleaner .
The filters are special units made to be cleaned, with compressed air in this fashion.
As you use this collector the filters will start to resist airflow as they fill up with all sorts of crud.
You put about 45 to 50 pounds of air in the tank, and expell the whole tank, to clean each filter one at a time.
Commercial units have all sorts of timers and electric valves for this to happen automatically.
I decided that I didn't need any of that, and went with 3 ball valves instead.
When my airflow starts to drop, I shut down the unit, turn on the main valve to the tank and let it fill, then
go outside and open each of the 3 filter valves one at a time, pausing to let the tank refill after each.
19
The "Never Weld On a Pressure Vessel Boys", will have a field day with this.
Shown here is one of the fittings welded to the old portable air tank.
Had one heck of time welding these things onto the tank, because my home made fittings
ended up being free machining or leaded steel.
No wonder why the turning and tapping jobs went so fast on the lathe.
Leaded steel is made for turning, not for welding!!!!
That will teach me to use an unmarked piece of steel from the junkbox.
Leaded steel is only available in round or hex stock, so you don't have to worry about any flat stock being leaded.
20
Tank, deflector plate and other small parts waiting to be sand blasted.
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Door latch made from a single piece of 16 ga. x 1-1/2 square tube
The end was closed off, by cutting a V out of tube then folding it over, and welding
22
Here is the purge tank aloft on its new mounts.
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Nordfab piping welded on to a custom adapter for the North American blower.
Nordfab piping is great stuff to work with, everything just clamps together .
Its quite expensive, but worth the extra cost if you want a first-rate system
thats easy to work on, and change in the future when needed.
24
Blower shown here with the outlet on top, I later turned it so that the outlet is out the other side and on the bottom.
Having the outlet on the bottom, will direct the exhaust air away from the side of the shop where the unit is mounted outside.
25
Purge tank all plumbed in with the 3 ball valves.
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At the bottom of the cabinet, is a clean-out that I welded on, to remove all the dust inside the filter cabinet.
A 5 gallon bucket will fit right under the clean-out.
On the left side is the inlet.
Air passes through a 55 gallon drum to get rid of the bigger stuff first,
then on to the inlet through the filters and finally through the blower outlet.
27
Here you can see the "Perch" for the air tank to mount on.
Rubber machine mounts are used under the main framework,
to get the unit up out of any water that may be present.
All of the 1-1/2 square tube used in this project is made from Yamaha ATV crates.
Top of cabinet showing air piping, used to clean the filters.
Shown in the center is the outlet from the filters, before it heads to the blower.
Those pipe flanges are made from hole-saw slugs.
Each one has a rubber gasket under it to seal the air in and any rain water out.
30
At the extreme top you can see the holes for the steel roof frame to bolt on.
Inside of filter cabinet, with the purge pipes sticking through their flanges
Shown here is the filter mount plate.
You can see how the pipes are mounted a few inches away from the filters to let the
purge air "fan" out a bit before entering the filters, making a kind of air piston effect instead
of a sharp stream which would shorten the life of the filters.
Push bolt that holds the filters in place.
Through bolts like are used on car and truck filters are not used because
the bolt would interfere with the back purge cleaning of these filters.
Also shown is the air inlet that resides in back of the "Simplicity" deflector plate.
The purpose of the deflector plate is to shield the filters from being struck by high
velocity air, filled with bits of metal, as this would quickly blow the filters full of holes.
Each filter will handle 500 CFM, the blower is rated at 700 CFM so should have
some extra capacity even when they start to clog up.
700 CFM is not a lot of air for 5 H.P. the reason is this is a high pressure/velocity blower
which is just the ticket when you want to move metal shavings and dust.
Thats why I only need 4" pipe for this as well.
I have seen some commercial units with 15 HP and only 4" pipe.
A sawdust blower in the same horsepower would need a 12-14" pipe.
Pusher bolts holding filters in position.
The two holes are for the deflector plate mounts.
More to come....
-John
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