The system is back up and running fine. I bypassed the breaker on the iVac box (it is redundant and just causes problems), reconfigured the blast gates, and tested everything out on the miter station and Sawstop.
I put masking tape over the switch on the DC, please leave it in the “ON” position so it will run automatically when the switch box provides power.
Thanks Danny. I also thought it was redundant. It was still kicking off the breaker in box on the wall sometimes, but not as often as the one in the IVAC. I put a clamp ammeter around one of the legs. I left a short Heavy gauge extension cord with one of the legs separated for testing purposes. I know this isn’t a great way to measure start up current. At times it would read 15 A at other times it would read over 20. I have heard that Joe has another motor and impeller. I’m hearing this second hand, but I understand it’s 240 V. I believe Eric has at 240 V IVAC to replace the one that’s on the wall. In theory if the new motor is similar power, the current should be half. But I think there’s something else wrong With the dust collector. The larger impeller and the one micron bag may have been loading the motor too much and drawing too much current. I brought my pleated filter in to try it. It was brand new in a box and had been sitting there for a couple of years. There was a lot more flow. I did not have immediate need for it, Eric said they wanted to keep it and will replace mine in the future. I know you have some great ideas for dust collection. I was just trying to offer a temporary fix until we can get something better. The filter I left can be cleaned from the outside by blowing 60 psi air while The unit is still assembled. It should not cause dust in the space from using compressed air if it’s still assembled. I was also wondering about the start capacitor. It seems to be under rated and may be going bad. It’s rated at 125 V and roughly 400 µF. It is my understanding they should be rated for the peak to Peak voltage, not the RMS voltage. They should be roughly 1.4 times The RMS voltage or about 170 V. I have a start capacitor Rated at 240v and also about 400 µF. If they put Joe’s dust collector into service we could try it out. As far as I can tell there’s not a run capacitor in that motor. I know it’s not completely bad, because the motor does turn On start up. It’s my understanding that as they go bad they can cause excessive current draw. I would like to hear your thoughts.
The pleated filter I believe is a Merv 15. Should be 95% of particles greater than .3 µm
The motor is a 120VAC, and it’s fine. It’s got the correct cap and the cap is fine. It has a really fantastic impeller upgrade and it beats any dust collector of its size on the market. It actually creates more suction than the hose should even be exposed to.
That it does moderately extends the startup time due to the extra inertia but that’s only a prob for the cheap breaker they put on the iVac switch (which doesn’t need to be there). That one will trip far too quickly for startup.
It does not need the external iVac contactor and won’t really benefit from it. The switch that’s there has like two 30A relays in parallel on the original iVac switch by itself IIRC so it’s fine, there’s no shortage of switching capacity there.
The upgrade on top of that would be to build one out with the 208v 3-ph motor and VFD, which can do some really neat stuff and could produce regulated static pressure to any number of tools. I’ve collected the motor, housing, impeller, and VFD for that. It needs a somewhat difficult shaft adapter machined though, and ultimately a small external static pressure circuit but that’s not essential.
Thanks!
Fred Martin