Dust Collection with a 1750 RPM Motor?

[Kurtis Johnson]

I really need dust collection for vintage equipment (planer, jointer, bandsaw) but I’m on an extremely tight budget. I have this vintage 2 HP Wagner in the rats nest that came off of an air compressor and I’m wondering if it might be suitable. What gives me pause is I’ve only noticed faster motors for this purpose. Should I rule this motor out outright?

E3C98EC9-8D82-4773-BBB0-04FEE4E398F6.jpg

[roger wiegand]

Depends on the design of the DC. The impeller fan would have to be quite a different shape or size to work well at half speed. Most DCs are direct drive and 3450 rpm, so the chances of finding one designed for that speed are remote. If you have one with a belt drive then it's just a matter of putting the right size pulleys on it. Of course for direct drive it needs to have the right mounting face and shaft size/length on it as well.

Used motors are pretty cheap and abundant (I've got 4-5 of them in my loft that I pretty much can't give away), I'd look for a motor that matches your DC.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, running the fan at half speed will reduce the airflow to half, the pressure to 1/4 and the power to 1/8.

It won’t be much of a collector with those specs.....Rod.

[Michael W. Clark]

Most fans that would work with a 2hp motor are direct drive and the higher speed. You would need a larger wheel to get the same performance at half the speed.

Belt driven fans are very common, but usually much larger motors.

[Kurtis Johnson]

Thanks everybody. I’ll keep the project on hold until down the road when I collect a faster motor.