Blower mod-- How bad an idea is this?

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

OK I follow this topic, and I have the same blower.
so I have only had a few small scraps of paper sucked out one time only and block the air flow, nothing big but I had to take things apart to clear it.
So now I take of the grill in front of the blower and on the exhaust side, mine is setup so I never have to worry about fingers anyway.

Made a big differance in air flow, So I am a happy camper.

Today I am checking the lens, and as usual I put a sheet of paper down to hold the screws. And the blower pulls the whole sheet of paper into it.
Now I know I have better airflow, and I am really a happy camper.

So if you take off the grills on the blower, Be prepared for better suction.
Why is it called a blower when what we want is suction?

[Bill Cunningham]

My blower is something like the harbor freight one I guess, it's distributed in Canada by Busy Bee tools.. Just out of curiosity and because I thought the airflow was not as 'robust' as it used to be, I decided to pull the vent pipes at both ends, and see what the crap collections looked like.. I pulled the discharge pipe off, and there was a grill with nothing stuck to it, a bit of a scum buildup, so i cut the grill out just to be safe.. Then, I pulled the intake pipe off, and WOW I was amazed that anything at all was getting through the grill.. It looked completely covered with paper/card/crud/and scum the layer of crud was a buildup of crud that created it's own layer (see pic).. I cut the grill off without a second thought. There was just enough air going through to remove smoke, and barely cool the machine..

BEWARE: I think anyone that uses a wood shop blower should obviously pull the bag off..ha.. THEN cut both those damn grills out before hooking up your 'metal' intake and discharge pipes.. The machine you save, may be your own...

By the way... Thanks for starting this thread Dave..Without it, my curiosity may have not got the better of me, and could have caused a lot of grief..

[David Fairfield]

Hey Bill

Glad I could help. YOu know what I'm thinking now, those grilles are really just there to avoid a law suit over missing fingers. So, needless to say, after the grille is off, don't stick your fingers into the hole with the fan running. Not that anyone would do that, I'm just saying for legal reasons.

Dave

[Bill Cunningham]

Originally Posted by David Fairfield

Hey Bill

Glad I could help. YOu know what I'm thinking now, those grilles are really just there to avoid a law suit over missing fingers. So, needless to say, after the grille is off, don't stick your fingers into the hole with the fan running. Not that anyone would do that, I'm just saying for legal reasons.

Dave

Ya.. Ok Dave.. Ha.. I would never do this at home anyway