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Message |
    
Arthur Ransom
Registered
Username: Akransom
Post Number: 28
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Saturday, March 03, 2007 - 06:01 pm: | 
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I need to quieten the router. I have the PC 3.5 hp. My laser cut pparts will be here soon and I was thinking of enclosing it within the dust collection duct work and posibly removing the fan blade in the router when I rebuild the gantry. Any suggestions would be appppreciated. Right now it is too loud to be comfortable in the shop and I am sure that the neighbors will complain if it is running at night. |
Gerald_D
Registered
Username: Gerald_d
Post Number: 1088
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, March 03, 2007 - 06:20 pm: |
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Art, removing the fan should make a huge difference to the noise, but you will have to rig up another source of cooling air. This fan (in 115V and 230V versions) does a good job of keeping spindles cool - it should do the same for a router. (Here you can see it on the back of our spindle) You could also cover all the air slots on the back and then inject compressed air in there - if you have a quiet compressor.
Hundreds of people will watch your experiment with keen interest - nobody seems to like the sound of their routers! |
Paco
Registered
Username: Paco
Post Number: 8
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 - 01:42 am: |
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With 3D modeling, you could come up with a perfect fitting for the electric fan... make sure you really push the air through the motor housing as the top motor frame may reduce the air flow downward. Originally, the PC motor suck the air from inside (top) out (bottom). |
Gerald_D
Registered
Username: Gerald_d
Post Number: 1094
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 - 05:34 am: |
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If you go for compressed air cooling, it will actually make more sense to reverse the conventional air flow. Close the bottom slots to solve the dust problem, and inject cold clean air at the main bearing. |
Paco
Registered
Username: Paco
Post Number: 12
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 - 06:46 am: |
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Injecting compressed air in the motor housing?... or sort of vacuum air cooling or else? |
Gerald_D
Registered
Username: Gerald_d
Post Number: 1099
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 - 08:14 am: |
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Plain compressed air, direct from a compressor. That is how the Colombo, Perske and all the other expensive guys do it. A very small amount causes a lot of cooling. No vacuum, no venturi, nothing - just a way of controlling the small amount, which is just a small hole. |
Arthur Ransom
Registered
Username: Akransom
Post Number: 29
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 - 03:05 pm: |
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Since the dust colector duct is next to it why not tap into it with a 1" line going to the top bearing port? Anyone ever take a PC apart? Any thing I need to watch for? While we are on the topic of disenboweling a router anyone have an idea how many hours the bearings will last? |
Gerald_D
Registered
Username: Gerald_d
Post Number: 1102
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 - 05:16 pm: |
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Sucking out the top bearing port means that air has to enter at the bottom - that bottom air is the dirtiest air in the shop. |
Normand Blais
Registered
Username: Normand
Post Number: 8
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 - 09:05 pm: |
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Maybe getting vacuum from the bottom of motor ,and raising the intaketop of motor higher from the dust. As if the dust shirt was pretty tight and most of the air would have to pass throu the motor befofe picking dust. |
Mike Richards
Registered
Username: Richards
Post Number: 74
Registered: 05-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 12:40 am: |
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I think that it would be safer to blow air through the router from the top, rather than letting the vacuum suck air through the router from the bottom. My vacuum pick-up on my Alpha would NOT give constant CFM through the router and I think that the router could easily overheat. |
Arthur Ransom
Registered
Username: Akransom
Post Number: 30
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 02:08 am: |
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I have a 650 CFM DC attached to about 20' of 4" duct. If I tap off with a 1.5" duct sealed to bottom air hole in the router shouldn't I be OK? |
Gerald_D
Registered
Username: Gerald_d
Post Number: 1105
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 07:02 am: |
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In Afrikaans we have a saying: "Om te meet is om te weet" of which the direct translation is "To measure is to know". The key to this experiment of removing the fan is to measure the temps before and after each modification.
Before any modifications, you need to drop a temperature probe down inside the router, against the main windings and then log those temperatures over a week of normal use. This gives the reference baseline for future mods.
I wouldn't consider any connections to the dust collector - I don't think that stream of air is reliable enough for a start. Also, it will be too tempting to leave the dc switched off for things like lithophanes. |
Normand Blais
Registered
Username: Normand
Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2006
| | Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 04:21 pm: |
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Here are some ways others have gone before us.Patent no 4364695
2343875
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm
Enter the number for search |
Gerald_D
Registered
Username: Gerald_d
Post Number: 1108
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 05:37 pm: |
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Another "patent" is 06300694 - this stuff is far from rocket science! 
Why do you guys want to suck dirty air through the router instead of blowing clean air through it? It doesn't have to be a compressor that does the blowing, it could be a "blower"-type device, but the hose will get bigger. Here are some really heavy-duty motor cooling blowers: http://www.columbusfan.com/blowers.htm. Bottom of this page shows the classic blower_as_cooler_for_motor. With VFD drives, motors can be turned much slower, and they need the constant cooling of an external source.
Imagine a quiet Fein blowing through your router... Okay, it is nearly impossible to make a Fein blow (because of its outlet configuration). But, I think everyone gets the idea that one can find an external way to get enough air through a router. . . . . . . |
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