Cyclone surprises

[Frank Pellow]

The ducting and the port are 6".


Lee, maybe you're right. I can't think of a way to decide what it is.

Kelly, the cyclone just sits in the shop. The shop is about 500 sq ft, with a 12' ceiling. In the summer, you'll find me working in shorts, no shirt, and bare feet.[

Bare feet in a workshop. Jamie, why are you tempting injury like that?

[Jamie Buxton]

Jamie
I was searching SMC for info on the Woodsucker and found your post. I'm currently researching the possibility of putting a cyclone unit overhead in the rafters of my garage shop. I'd planned to locate it within about an inch of the roof boards. I started looking a bit more closely at the Woodsucker as it appears to have one of the smallest vertical footprints of the cyclones I've looked at. Your post got me curious regarding the heat issue. Do you think I'm risking a fire hazard with the motor on a Woodsucker being an inch away from the roof boards? Increasing the ambient air temp 10-15 is a bonus that will cut down how much I'll have to use my propane heater in colder months, but do you think there's any hazard with what I have in mind?

Doug --
As long as there's room for air to circulate in the area, I don't think you'd be putting the wood at risk.
Here's one way to think about it.... The motor gets warm enough that you can't really hold your hand on it. You can touch it for a few seconds, but you don't want to leave your hand there. If you held wood directly against the motor, it would be subject to the same temperature. That is, it will be way below ignition.

Jamie

[Jamie Buxton]

Bare feet in a workshop. Jamie, why are you tempting injury like that?

Frank, several posters have expressed concern about me working in bare feet. I don't get it. What's the issue?

Jamie

[martyphee]

Leeson makes a good motor, but I'm curious about long term reliability running a motor at FLA all the time.

[Jamie Buxton]

Leeson makes a good motor, but I'm curious about long term reliability running a motor at FLA all the time.

What's FLA?

[Frank Hagan]

I think the heat is probably from friction from moving all that air, not just the motor. Its amazing how much heat that kind of thing generates. In pumped water, the same principle can heat water up to the point where it softens plastic pipe (this happens when there isn't enough flow for the water to wick the heat away.)

The concrete slab in houses is often tied into the ground circuit ... in modern slab construction, they put a 20' rod in the foundation horizontally rather than pounding it into the ground. Perhaps that's why the concrete provides such a good source to ground. But I've heard the same thing, and I always wear rubber soles in my shop.

[Dan Forman]

Doug---Oneida recommends 2" of clearance from the top of the moter to the ceiling, not so much to protect the ceiling, but to provide adequate ventilation for the motor's fan so that the motor won't overheat.

In one of the recent Clearvue threads, they talk about the option of placing the blower unit off to the side of the cylone rather than on top, thus saving some headroom. I'll see if I can find the link.

Dan

[Frank Pellow]

Frank, several posters have expressed concern about me working in bare feet. I don't get it. What's the issue?

Jamie

A shop is a dangerous place and I would never expose my bare feet to the heavy things and the sharp things that reside there. I do often only wear shoes, but my feet are really only safe when wearing construction boots. Certainly, when otherts are working with me in the shop, I wear such boots.

Others seems to feal that your concrete floor may conduct electricity but, having a wooden floor, I don't have to worry about that

[Doug Shepard]

Doug --
As long as there's room for air to circulate in the area, I don't think you'd be putting the wood at risk.
Here's one way to think about it.... The motor gets warm enough that you can't really hold your hand on it. You can touch it for a few seconds, but you don't want to leave your hand there. If you held wood directly against the motor, it would be subject to the same temperature. That is, it will be way below ignition.
Jamie

Thanks - Doesn't sound like it would be a problem. I wasn't sure how hot the housing actually got.

Doug, I have a similar "problem" with my Clear Vue, I'm about 2 inches from the roof sheathing. I'm going to install a powered roof vent close to exhaust heat from the "attic", actually too small to qualify for a crawl space, and in the winter it should provide for heat to escape without the fan running. If adequate ventilation already exists, then probably nothing else would be needed, maybe a small fan to circulate the air. In my case, there is no existing roof ventilation at all. Jim.

Coincidently, I just happen to be contemplating mounting it right next to where the cupola on the garage is - more because it's the highest open space available in the rafters than any conscious plan of locating it by a vent. There's a powered exhaust fan on the cupola but that's usually only turned on in hot weather to cool the garage.

Doug---Oneida recommends 2" of clearance from the top of the moter to the ceiling, not so much to protect the ceiling, but to provide adequate ventilation for the motor's fan so that the motor won't overheat.
In one of the recent Clearvue threads, they talk about the option of placing the blower unit off to the side of the cylone rather than on top, thus saving some headroom. I'll see if I can find the link.
Dan

Dan - Thanks! If you can locate that thread I'd be real interested in seeing it. That might make it possible for me to have none of the cyclone projecting down below the ceiling joists and void any concerns I'd have about the thing projecting down so far that hitting the van roof makes this whole idea a no-go. Either way, giving it 2" instead of 1" should be the least of my problems.

[Travis Porter]

I got electrocuted that way using my drill press when lightning hit out behind my shop. I did a dance like never seen before.

Unfortunately, it didn't break me from going barefooted. Just made me very leary of thunderstorms.

[martyphee]

Full Load Amps

[Jamie Buxton]

Leeson makes a good motor, but I'm curious about long term reliability running a motor at FLA(Full Load Amps) all the time.

Most chip collectors run their motors at very near the full capacity of the motor. And, unlike the motors in many woodworking machnes, the chip collectors work at constant load. I guess you just have to trust that the motor manufacturer is rating its motors correctly.

[Jamie Buxton]

A shop is a dangerous place and I would never expose my bare feet to the heavy things and the sharp things that reside there. I do often only wear shoes, but my feet are really only safe when wearing construction boots. Certainly, when otherts are working with me in the shop, I wear such boots.

Others seems to feal that your concrete floor may conduct electricity but, having a wooden floor, I don't have to worry about that

Frank ---
What's on the floor of my shop is sawdust, and not a great deal of it. It isn't likely to hurt me.

Heavy objects falling on my feet? Well, short of steel-toed boots, shoes are unlikely to provide much protection. As is happens, the objects I handle in the shop don't weigh a great deal, and wouldn't do much damage with or without shoes.

Electricity? All of my stationary machines and most of my hand tools are grounded. The outlets are grounded -- I installed most of them, and I've tested all of them. A few tools are double-insulated. That is, it would take failures of two separate barriers for any of these tools to present a shock hazard. This is pretty darn unlikely. Now, if I were were working inside a live breaker box, shoes would be a very good idea. (Of course, not working inside of live breaker boxes would be an even better idea. )

Jamie