Shaded Pole Blower Mounting

Garth,
I was cleaning up the website a bit and removed the fan pics, sorry. They didn't really show the mounting that well.
The blower is mounted to a birch plywood plenum. I drilled holes though the top of the blower deck as far back as I could and still reach the bolts, I tried to temporarily remove the Squirrel cage but the set screw was in there pretty good. Using heavy gauge bolts and flat rubber bushings between the blower and ply, I glued and screwed the Plenum two inches below the opening in the bench and covered the inside with Aluminum tape. Everything was available from Home Depot, make sure you use lock washers as well.
As far as the duct connection, you have to rig something from the plumbing section. There are a whole pile of sheet metal reducers for vent pipes, you have to bend and cut one to make a flange. Stay away from the flex aluminum stuff, use the heavier rigid sheet metal.

Awesome! Thanks for the tips. You brought up a few things I hadn't even thought of. In my current design the blower is going to be mounted on the output. The only concern I have is that the holes for bolting it on aren't very big, so I may have to ream them out for more sturdy support bolts.

This is turning into a fun project. Hopefully everything will turn out well. I know I won't finish it this weekend, but I plan on making major headway. When I finish up, I'll post pics.

Have you had any problems with the paint solvents eating away at the glue in the plywood?

~ Garth

Guys:

I'm building a downdraft booth & at the same stage of trying to figure out the blower mounting.

Do I understand that you drilled several holes on the inlet side of the blower body and used them to mount it ?? I gather you stayed away from the squirrel cage & I assume the holes were clustered near the outlet or at least as far into the outlet as you could reach to handle the nuts/bolts ?

Thanks,
John

Garth,
I couldn't mount it via the output side. I only need about a 10 inch run to get outside so there wasn't enough support. I was originally planning on a sheet metal layer on the inside of the plenum, but HVAC Aluminum tape works just as well and will save your fingers a lot of slicing. I only use acrylics so I don't expect any delminating of the ply, but nothing would reach it unless there's a spill.

John,
Exactly. I put them in as far as I could reach using automotive grade bolts. I used the ply for the strength, original design was to be sheet metal but the Dayton Blower is too heavy.

Good Luck guys, love to see the pics.

ausf:

Thanks, just the info I need !!!

John