Curious to know if there are any plans to build one in the wild. The cheapest one I can find new that looks to be worth a damn is the Royal Filtermist and it clocks in around $1,300, which is waaay over my budget.
pest one I can find new that looks to be worth a damn is the Royal Filtermi st and it clocks in around $1,300, which is waaay over my budget.
--Bit the bullet and bought a Royal Filtermist. I saved a bundle by making my own stand for it. I also did a tiny bit of sheet metal work and made a 6 " to 4" duct reducer. Photos start about halfway down this page:
Is that a contactor or VFD in the box on the back? They sure don't give those Filtermists away. Wow. Very nice work, Ed.
That's a big bin of Clecos there. Doing a lot of sheetmetal work?
I also love the concept of the articulated die-grinder-on-a-stick on your bench. I was going to ask if you built it yourself but then saw the warning label. Have you seen the speed controls that come on some inexpensive die grinders, simple screw with a nut on either side of the paddle actuator? More of a speed limiter.
--It's a VFD. One of the bright guys in my posse fixed me up with a par ts list to do it right and helped me wire it to OSHA specs. Saved a bundle compared to what Royal charges for the same thing.
--Heh a pal gave 'em to me. I wound up parting 'em out to folks who nee d 'em more than me.
--It's a Chinese clone that was within my budget. The American equival ent was $3,000 and I got this one for $500 new on ebay. Did a ton of googli ng but couldn't find anything like the high speed air drill setup I've got now: these things seem to be specifically made for tapping in production se tups, but I had another application in mind. Die grinder came courtesy of a pal who got it from his dad. The curvy shape of the die grinder was too we ird to fasten securely in the end clamp so we made a 'bushing' with Shapelo ck: the plastic that melts in hot water. The beauty of this old die grinder is it uses standard collets. I'm using it to drill 10 holes apiece of an o dd diameter in a shitpile of plastic parts for a customer. Still and all I' d like to clone the whole thing so two of us could do the work in half the time!
Why the VFD, as the Royal site says the FMs use a single speed, and caution you not to cycle them too often. At that price, they should be more beefy, don't you think? Odd.
I have half a dozen in the old automotive tool chest from my other life way back when, 30+ years ago.
Well done! And $2,500 is a hefty savings. That's about how much they want for a new furnace for my attic. The secondary heat exchanger delaminated and it's 16 years old, and it threw a couple codes, so the smart thing is to replace it. But it's a Christmas OUCH.
Amen to that. It doesn't seem too hard to clone. And now that the pneumatic shocks are available for $15 a pop at Autozone, that's doable. Pick your pressure!
heapest one I can find new that looks to be worth a damn is the Royal Filte rmist and it clocks in around $1,300, which is waaay over my budget.
ng my own stand for it. I also did a tiny bit of sheet metal work and made a 6" to 4" duct reducer. Photos start about halfway down this page:
--It's a VFD. One of the guys in my gang (Sebastopol Makers) is an EE who builds test equipment where he works and he's been very helpful.
--A pal dumped 'em off; one of those 'here Ed you need these' things. S ince then I've managed to disperse them to the vultures.
--Ah. That's something special I cobbled together for a production jo b. I bought a production tapping setup on ebay (wanted to buy American but this one cost 1/6 as much!). I removed the really beautiful pneumatic tappi ng unit and replaced it with an old die grinder that used the same collets I already had for a toolholder on my mill. With the die grinder's speed and the collet's range I can now drill holes at the correct speed. I've made a n aluminum guide plate with a dozen drill bushings pressed in. The over arm assembly makes alignment a breeze and I've got time per hole down to 5 sec onds.
Nice!
Slick, dude.
-A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein
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