New Vac Box Design (based on the work of others)

[Josh Beckmann]

Hello,
I've been working through a new vacbox design with a few goals in mind:

I want access to the motors if there is any need for repair or work or revision.
I want the box to have completely modular motors. (6 motors are probably excessive, although I do have a 5x10ft table.) I know that I will normally be using many fewer, and I want to be able to turn them on one-by-one. This is particularly important since noise and power usage are a concern in my shop.
I want a wired remote control with an easy way to select the number of active motors.
I accept that this design might be a bit more expensive, and not everyone might want to expend the resources to build it!
I want to contribute to good documentation (a 3d model, v-carve cut files, a part list, etc) to help expedite construction for anyone hoping to replicate or improve on my work and the work of others. The forum is a valuable resource; I can also envision a way to organize some of these design documents a bit more efficiently.


I welcome your feedback. I know that there is only so much you can glean from these pictures. I'll keep you all up-to-date as I finish the prototype.

Best,
Josh

[David Iannone]

Keep us posted.

I built a Bluebox with 2 lighthouse motors about 2 months ago. It works great for what I am trying to hold down so far.

Dave

[barrowj]

I built a 2 motor black box design but now wish I had made it 4 motor. At the time I was still using power pulled from the house (60amp 220v) and was already getting close to maxing it out if I used another tool in addition to the shopbot running. I just recently had the power company run a 200amp dedicated power line and now will have no issues running 4 motors for the vac. I am going to redo my box later this summer and would like to see more info on your's Josh, looks very interesting.

David, sleep issues? My wife can't go to sleep till 2:30am so I understand, me, I go around 10:30-11:00 but never past 11:30.

Joe

[David Iannone]

Hey Joe, yeah I have a hard time sleeping. My wife goes to bed early, I end up awake watching TV or tinkering around in my home shop till I get tired most days.

I'm thinking about adding a Laser engraver/cutter for my home shop later this year hopefully. More toys to play with....:D

[barrowj]

Dave,

Make sure you get one sized for all that you plan on doing with it, I had a 30watt laser and it just didn't have the power to do all that I had imagined that I wanted to do, don't get me wrong, I made enough money from it on what we did do.

[ken_rychlik]

Suggestions--- Get the mufflers---- don't forget bleeder orfice---- draw in fresh air to cool the motors so they don't melt down---- I have my machine automatically start the vac with software and have override switches if I want to turn off one. A remote is overkill if the software will turn it on and off when needed. Mine is a two motor unit and does good on a 4x8 table. Good Luck. Ken

[Josh Beckmann]

Hi Ken,
Thanks for your suggestions. A few questions:

1.) Are these the mufflers you are talking about?
http://www.centralvacuummotor.com/muffler.htm
2.) Did you let the motors draw the air into the box or did you use an additional fan?
3.) Do you have pictures or a description of the software controlled motor setup?

Thanks again,
Josh

[ken_rychlik]

1- yes
2- motors pull their own air, but it is cool air instead of heated air from around it.
3- It is standard shopbot stuff. the same as having dust collector, spindle, ect.. come on and off with a file. Shopbot sells a relay board that will do it for you or if you do a search, their are lots of options.

[80grit]

I'm getting ready to build a vac box with up to 4 lighthouse motors. I have some questions about both the vacuum exhaust and cooling exhaust.

1. Which produces more heat? I'm com earned that it will add more heat to my shop that already gets hot in the summer.

2. Which produces more air flow?

3. Which produces more noise?

4. Is there an advantage to routing either or both of the exhausts outside?

Thanks.

Andy H.

[selphb]

I am also interested in the info.

[knight_toolworks]

the vac exhaust is hotter and will heat your shop up more. noise comes from the motors an from the airflow both.if you can get them both outside that would be good. they are noisy motors.