Can I do this?

[Andrew Arndts]

I am getting a new furnace installed tomorrow. I am debating if I should keep the old unit to remove the blower unit and Frankenstein it up as a DC system? Just trying to figure out how it could be done. I am sure it can, just need to get the plumbing figured out too.
OR is this just a wishful thought.

 

[IPD_Mrs]

Northwest Lumber in Indy did something like that. They used the squirrel cage and hooked it up to some duct work. Seems to be fine for them but the building is very big so you wouldn't notice dust build up like you would in a 20 x 20 shop. You might google it and find what you are looking for instruction wise.

 

[Rmartin]

There are lots of uses for a squirrel cage and motor. I wouldn't throw it away!

 

[workinforwood]

I don't think it's worth the time and effort for this purpose because you will be buying a lot of stuff to adapt it, make it solid and the bags themselves are 3/4 of the cost of a new unit. But don't throw the motor away. You can definitely use it for filtering in the shop. Just build a box, mostly open on one end and not so much on the other, with the fan inside, a filter mounted in the big hole, the fan blowing out the small hole..just like the ceiling mounted air filtration units...that is something you can definitely build with this motor and save money for sure.

 

[Frank Nemke sr]

I have one that I use as a fan in the summer. Moving hot air is much better than still hot air

 

[rcarman]

Build an open sided box around it. Put "guides" for furnace filters on the two open sides. Align the blower to put the open side adjacent to the furnace filters. It will pull ambient air through the filters and keep down some the dust floating in your shop. You can get pretty good hepa filters now even at walmart.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

I made a sanding table out of a squirrel cage fan...I'll see if I can dig up some pictures...

 

[jskeen]

I think I like the combination of the last two ideas, build it into a downdraft table for sanding, and filter the output with reuseable hepa filters so that you can turn it on and use it as an ambient air filter if you are not sanding. The enclosure of the downdraft table should help keep the noise level down too. A three layer filter between the tabletop and the blower itself, with the clean(er) exhaust air blowing down on the floor should work and be pretty easy to keep clean. A standard window screen first, to catch the big stuff could just be pulled out and dumped into a trash can. A second cheap blue spun poly filter could be tossed when clogged, and will keep the more expensive hepa filter underneath clean longer. When that gets dirty you can take it outside and blow it out with an airhose while wearing a respirator, or wash it out with a waterhose, depending on what kind you get.

You know, there is a section of one of my work benches that has room under it...... hmmm, and hvac shops have used motors and fans running out their ears. I bet that could be rigged up on the cheap. I just gotta figure out where to stack all the crap i have stacked on that section of bench....... Hmmmm.

Here's a link to the Cadillac version of a downdraft table that I wish I had the time, money, space and skill to build.

http://superwoodworks.com/Projects/SandingBench.htm

 

[bobjackson]

Just putting a furnace filter on it will act as a dust collector. Its not that hard.

 

[bradh]

I am getting a new furnace installed tomorrow. I am debating if I should keep the old unit to remove the blower unit and Frankenstein it up as a DC system? Just trying to figure out how it could be done. I am sure it can, just need to get the plumbing figured out too.
OR is this just a wishful thought.

Yes you can:

http://www.turningshop.com/workshop-dc.html

 

[jskeen]

Yes you can:

http://www.turningshop.com/workshop-dc.html

are you sure you're not from somewhere below the Mason Dixon line? That looks like something I would have thought up on one of my good brain days! Nice work! I like the speed switching especially

 

[ctubbs]

I used the blower from an old window unit to build my filter system. Box with fan inside sucking through two regular furnace filters to catch the rough stuff then a final #M Filtret purple filter for the very fines. Works great. Two speed motor on the fan allows me to choose what fan speed I need at the time.
Charles

 

[Andrew Arndts]

Whoa, and Outstanding. I see that I wasn't thinking with fart gas after all.
Thanks for the info.
now to take it to the next level. get the blooming thing out of the unit.

 

[bradh]

Yes you can:

http://www.turningshop.com/workshop-dc.html

are you sure you're not from somewhere below the Mason Dixon line? That looks like something I would have thought up on one of my good brain days! Nice work! I like the speed switching especially

Nope, I am from the great white north. I like to see what I can make from other people's trash. This unit has a fan from an old furnace I grabbed before it went in the dumpster and most of the wood was scrap too.
The fan has four speeds, so I just rigged up four switches to power the four coils. It gives me plenty of control of the speed. The beauty of this beast is how quiet it is, you only hear the air flowing into the gates.

 

[turner.curtis]

I had been contemplating this same idea. I picked up a 2.5 ton Unico Air Handler from a friend that was swapping out his heat-pump system for a furnace. Not having any sizable scraps and figuring out what I would need to build it out as well as that cost, I decided to just go with the $99.00 1hp mobile deal from HF with a 20% off coupon. I figure after getting all my 4" pipe in and creating a trash can separator for it 80+% of my expense is re-usable and I can build a box for the airhandler at a later time if I decide iI need the extra 600 or so CFM then can use the small deal for a downdraft table. I have the 1hp deal mounted on the wall sort of the way Rockler shows their small DC.