Leaf Blower

[Racinbob 11,081]

Now that I'm serious about making a leaf blower before next fall my wife saw this on Facebook. It was located in North Liberty about 2 miles from where we lived before our move to Florida. A quick trip and it's now on my workbench. 

 

 

 

 

It runs smooth and quiet on the electric motor. I've already got it taken apart for some refreshing. I didn't expect the 1" shaft. The squirrel cage is solid and much heavier than what I've seen. It will clean up nicely.

 

of sorts 

With the age I thought the bearings were pretty cool with their oil lubricators. I'm a bit baffled though. The bronze bushings don't turn. So....what the heck is the oiler lubricating? There's no weep holes in the bushing. There's an oil soaked pad between the shaft collar you can see in the last picture (pushed away from the bearing). Is it relying on seepage for the lubrication? If the bushing was meant to turn it seems to me that there would be a way to lock it to the shaft. It looks like there could be bearings around the sleeve but looking down the oiler hole I see nothing. Also notice the hatch markings that looks like it was done with a magic marker on the inside of the sleeves. Can you guys enlighten me? 

 

 

[WHX?? 48,815]

Having a 1" shaft and the wide wheel that was out of some kind of commercial application. Normally the shaft would only be 1/2 or 5/8ths. 1 & 3/4 was more for high test blowers. 

Those cross hatch marks are to carry oil to the bearing from the oil soaked pad. 

These blowers were not designed to run at high speeds but you should be able to run around 1800 rpm. Note the large pully. The drive pully would have been a 4 in max. adjustable one on a 3/4 or 1hp motor. 

 

When I closed up shop I found a boat load of these blower parts in a box long since used. They were quite common in the day. 

Edited March 27 by WHX??

[Racinbob 11,081]

I didn't think a 1" shaft was normal. The squirrel cage is quite a bit heavier too. It's 12" wide and 10" diameter. 

No tag on the motor. It has a 3" pulley. The blower pulley is 8". The outer pto pulley is 4". Dang! Got lucky. 

That's interesting about the hatch marks. But now I'm comfortable not replacing the bearings. 

 

Great information Jim. Thanks! 

[WHX?? 48,815]

No problem Bob pics when you get it mounted. 

You need parts I just couldn't throw them out but prolly never use them. Some still in package!

[ri702bill 8,323]

Bob - those being sintered bronze, the oil from above will "Wick" thruout the bearing just fine. Speaking of wick - is there any type of felt wick or pad in the bottom of the oil cups?? A lot had them to slow the downward progression of the oil - only had to oil them every 3 months or so. @peter lena can probably give you his take on these.....

 

Due to the large mass there that you would be bringing from zero to 1800 RPM, I hope the tractor has a manual PTO clutch you can ease into engagement, and NOT an electric "all-or-nothing" instant total engagement clutch.....  

Edited March 28 by ri702bill

[Racinbob 11,081]

 

1 hour ago, WHX?? said:

No problem Bob pics when you get it mounted. 

You need parts I just couldn't throw them out but prolly never use them. Some still in package!

 

 

Thanks Jim. I'll keep that in mind but I think I'm good to go. Once I get it back together and mounted I'll figure out how I'll make a belt tensioner. I've got a couple of idler arms I think will work. I've got the housing and frame painted. Nothing fancy. Just used a roller after cleaning it up. Pits in frame can stay. 

 

 

I've also got to extend the frame a few inches. 

 

 

1 hour ago, ri702bill said:

Bob - those being sintered bronze, the oil from above will "Wick" thruout the bearing just fine. Speaking of wick - is there any type of felt wick or pad in the bottom of the oil cups?? A lot had them to slow the downward progression of the oil - only had to oil them every 3 months or so. @peter lena can probably give you his take on these.....

 

Due to the large mass there that you would be bringing from zero to 1800 RPM, I hope the tractor has a manual PTO clutch you can ease into engagement, and NOT an electric "all-or-nothing" instant total engagement chutch.....  

 

There's something inside the housing but not in the cup. It's hard to see but it does look like felt of some sort. 

I didn't think about the clutch but it will be on the 76 with a manual pto. I take that one out of mowing duties first in the fall. I don't like the electric clutch on my 05. I've got a hunch this thing might be harder to get spinning than a mower deck or blower. It's a heavy beast. 

Edited March 27 by Racinbob

[peter lena 8,629]

@Racinbob  the rotational mass is what you want to improve on , a pillow block bearing , with a clean out and re grease , will have a very solid smooth  / easy spin up . regularly , check out  build set up for , easy movement , have also gotten after , my MULE DRIVE BEARINGS , clean out re grease , lucas marine grease ,  hi stress / heat . also detail the PTO ,inner needle bearing  lucas , outer bearing is sealed , available at napa , have also added a HEIM JOINT  on my pto lever end , for smoother / easier engagement . verify as you go , in assembly , thats where you find the dragging faults .  pete

[Lee1977 6,660]

I have a few of those oil cups. Measure the treaded part If I have one that size I'll send It to you.

[Racinbob 11,081]

39 minutes ago, Lee1977 said:

I have a few of those oil cups. Measure the treaded part If I have one that size I'll send It to you.

 

Thank you for the offer but I have both of them.

 

I went to the Randall website and found this. There's the felt you mentioned @ri702bill and that I see looking down the hole. 

 

 

 

[Bill D 1,921]

I can't wait to see the finished product.  Will you be building deflector to direct air flow?  If so how will you be controlling it?

Edited March 27 by Bill D

[Ed Kennell 38,178]

That's a beast Bob.   When you get her spinning, just be sure is doesn't peel up a slab of sidewalk and flatten the neighbors pet cat.     

[Racinbob 11,081]

1 hour ago, Bill D said:

I can't wait to see the finished product.  Will you be building deflector to direct air flow?  If so how will you be controlling it?

 

I'm hoping to enlist a retired sheetmetal worker friend for that. I think choking it down to a 6" round 90. As far as rotating it if he has a simple idea, sure. Otherwise a fixed 90 to the right would be fine 95% of the time. 

[jay bee 897]

This is a picture from the interweb. Looks like a workable solution maybe. Just a thought.

[Bill D 1,921]

2 hours ago, Racinbob said:

 

I'm hoping to enlist a retired sheetmetal worker friend for that. I think choking it down to a 6" round 90. As far as rotating it if he has a simple idea, sure. Otherwise a fixed 90 to the right would be fine 95% of the time. 

That looks like a very large blower.  Would 8" duct be better?  Just a thought.

[WHX?? 48,815]

Funny @953 nut ain't chimed yet he built one. 

3 hours ago, Racinbob said:

think choking it down to a 6" round 90

Yes that might be a little small Bob. I would say at least a 7 maybe an 8. You can always throw a tapered reducer on to gain some velocity.

Or two 6s one pointed ahead abit and one to the side? 

[Racinbob 11,081]

I'm hearing you guys. Keep in mind that the opening you see is actually baffled down about 50%. Based on the area of the opening 6" doesn't seem too small because I do want to increase the velocity. Then again, reducing down an 8" would be easier than going the other way. 

I'm thinking my tin knocker buddy can build the square part tapered out as it goes to the round to maintain the volume while the reduction to the round will give me the velocity.

Am I thinking right? 🤔 

[WHX?? 48,815]

Building a square to round fitting can done but takes an old skool or very talented tin knocker. I worked with a guy once that could make them any size square or rectangle to any size round. 

That would be best. 

Edited March 27 by WHX??

[Racinbob 11,081]

40 minutes ago, WHX?? said:

Building a square to round fitting can done but takes an old skool or very talented tin knocker. I worked with a guy once that could make them any size square or rectangle to any size round. 

That would be best. 

 

 

Believe me, this guy can do it in his sleep. We go back to high school and he's been banging tin as long as I've been twisting wires so he's definitely old school and I've seen his work. He had a stroke last summer and I haven't talked to him about this project yet. He's made what seems to be a 100% recovery but I still want to be sure he's up to more banging. 

[JoeM 7,874]

16 hours ago, Racinbob said:

But now I'm comfortable not replacing the bearings

new pillow blocks are cheap ??

 

One other thing about the air flow. you have to find the sweet spot in the rpm to the outlet size. Making the largest discharge end possible will allow max air flow. I think an large low oval would give the best results. No sense in choking it down and not taking advantage of it's potential cfm's, 

 

 

[Pullstart 62,887]

For the tensioner system Bob, how about taking the triangulation out of your Horse mount and allow those arms to pivot?  You can utilize a snowblower flag to push the frame forward to tension or back to neutral.

[Pullstart 62,887]

It seems like it worked great in past days of 

 

 

 

[Pullstart 62,887]

You could use a snowblower tensioner as well.

 

 

[Racinbob 11,081]

47 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

For the tensioner system Bob, how about taking the triangulation out of your Horse mount and allow those arms to pivot?  You can utilize a snowblower flag to push the frame forward to tension or back to neutral.

 

That's a good idea Kevin and I'll keep it in mind. I was also thinking about using that plate that's leaning on the tire and hinging it like the generators mount. I should get far enough along to decide what I'll do this weekend.

6 hours ago, JoeM said:

new pillow blocks are cheap ??

 

One other thing about the air flow. you have to find the sweet spot in the rpm to the outlet size. Making the largest discharge end possible will allow max air flow. I think an large low oval would give the best results. No sense in choking it down and not taking advantage of it's potential cfm's, 

 

 

 

Thanks for the link but the bearings are in great shape.

I'm not necessarily looking for max volume for what I'm doing. To move leaves (and apparently sidewalks and cats) I'm thinking a sweet spot of volume and velocity. Choking down an outlet on a whole house system basically redirects the air to another opening rather than increasing the velocity. Does that sound even partially right @WHX?? The guys do have me convinced to go 8" instead of 6".

[Racinbob 11,081]

7 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

You could use a snowblower tensioner as well.

 

 

I did think of that but I don't see it needing gobs of tension. Maybe a single arm with a flat idler pulling up from the bottom. That will also give some assist to the belt to pulley contact. 

[953 nut 55,236]

12 minutes ago, Racinbob said:

I don't see it needing gobs of tension

Mine just has enough tension on the belt to keep it from falling off.      A bit of belt slippage is a good thing when you engage the PTO and have to bring the fan up to speed.