Create a review for a woodworking tool that you are familiar with (Shopsmith brand or Non-Shopsmith) or just post your opinion on a specific tool. Head to head comparisons welcome too.
I believe the reason that the new motor housing reflects so much post-fab machining and the reason that mine and ssuel's have a different shape occurred to me this morning. It is clear to me, a near-certainty, that the new motor housing is hand made from a DC-3300 motor housing:
Motor Housings 1 (2).JPG (252.78 KiB) Viewed 764 times
Motor Housings 2 (2).JPG (439.77 KiB) Viewed 764 times
Essentially the DC-3300 fan housing and motor mating surfaces are cut away. The strange dip I noted at the top of both mine and ssuel's is where part of the air duct is cut away. And in my case these changes were poorly executed. The mating surface on mine came into contact with the cutting tool during this operation and was seriously damaged.
Problem, IMO: I don't see how this can really seal on a "good" one either. There is differential air pressure between the large volume of the housing / hood / collection bag and the motor housing. It might be a fair seal, but I use a 1 micron hood for a reason. Once the stuff has been collected, I want it to stay collected.
Wow....I had assumed, erroneously I guess, that these were all new P/N's. I am really surprised if they are re-working existing housings and/or manufacturing new ones that they are then cutting down like this. Glad I didn't purchase one of these "upgrades".
In the spirit of Tool Review, I have two more comments (or observations or nitpicking) about the DC-6000:
1) We've discussed the foam rubber 'seal' at the top of the motor housing. There is also a thick foam rubber donut seal at the air inlet. It is thick because the air inlet is something near 1/2" smaller in OD than the DC-3300 was, and it sits in the same semi-circle support with a semi-circle clamp over the top. I don't like the thick foam rubber here for the same reasons as elsewhere plus it is load bearing. The weight of the motor and fan assemblies is fully supported by the "U" at the motor end and the lower semi-circle at the inlet end. So the foam is going to start more compressed underneath that weight and over time this will compress more. The foam at the top will be more expanded. If the material degrades over time this will create a significant leak between the high and low pressure volumes. I don't think the foam donut is a good choice over the long haul.
2) The exhaust port of the fan/impeller is much lower compared to DC-3300, I'd estimate around one foot lower. The DC-3300 exhaust port was higher than the top of the motor housing and on the DC-6000 it is lower than the bottom. IIUC the DC-3300 exhaust duct is also designed to slow the airflow down some while still in the duct but moving downward. Combined with the increased air flow, there is quite a bit of turbulence in there on the DC-6000 keeping more collected stuff in motion. This is more of an observation than an issue, unless your DC leaks like mine does. In which case it is this dust that is suspended in the internal turbulent airflow that is leaking out.
Neither of these, nor the reworked DC-3300 motor housing (done correctly) worry me too much. My two concerns are the leak exhibited by mine and what I consider an open question about cooling the motor.
I don't understand all that you are saying so I guess I am going to have to disassemble mine so that I can see for myself.
As for the motor housing - I took pictures of mine and while they appear to be similar I believe mine are not the same as yours. It will be necessary to dismantle for a closer examination. I won't be able to do that before next week but I will soon.
If In recall all past conversations about the DC-3300 conversion, I believe we were led to believe that the motor housing AND the impeller housing were new design and that they were metal rather than a composite material.
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
dusty wrote: ↑Thu Aug 19, 2021 3:48 pm
I don't understand all that you are saying so I guess I am going to have to disassemble mine so that I can for myself.
If yours is leaking similar to mine you'll probably see a bit of sawdust buildup on the grate on the main housing that covers the motor (where the wires come out of the main housing) and on the ground below it. The amount of sawdust leaking increases when more ports are open. It is not necessary to be making/collecting sawdust for this to occur, it is distributing already collected sawdust. So it is only necessary to have some sawdust in the bag.
I dismantled my DC-3300 when I ordered the DC-6000. I have not used it since. Next week I will be able to get out to the shop to make some saw dust and I'll test it then.
When I dismantled, I did have a small amount of saw dust in the exhaust port but it was very little. What I am unable to envision is how saw dust from the bag gets up to the exhaust port. Is the back side of the motor housing (where the motor mounts) not a closed chamber?
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
dusty wrote: ↑Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:13 pm
...What I am unable to envision is how saw dust from the bag gets up to the exhaust port. Is the back side of the motor housing (where the motor mounts) not a closed chamber?
Unlike the DC-3300, on the DC-6000 the motor mounts to the fan housing not the motor housing. The DC-6000 motor housing has both ends open. One end then becomes closed (-ish, IMO) when it mates to the fan housing. (See pics above, the DC-6000 motor housing is the darker gray.) That is where I think mine leaks, the 'flat' mating surface between it and the fan housing. I don't think it leaks around the motor mount because it has a rubber gasket/seal there, and the pressure differential is the other direction. I think the foam rubber "short seal" just above that grate on the inside is also possible. If/when I put it back together I'll seal one of these to isolate.
Note - when I removed the motor housing there was quite a bit of sawdust trapped between it and the fan housing in that flat mating surface. I did not remove the motor, just slid the motor housing off. I think this tends to support my theory that there was airflow between the surfaces.
That just may explain it all. I was unaware that in the DC-6000 the motor mounts to the Fan Housing. This being the case, I might not tear into mine again. I will have to look through the pictures that I do have to learn why I did not notice something so significant. I did not totally dismantle the DC-6000 before installing it.
"Making Sawdust Safely" Dusty
Sent from my Dell XPS using Firefox.
Trimming the protruding screw flush reduced the gap between the top of the motor housing and the main housing from a ridiculous ~5/16" to a disappointing ~7/32". Looking down through the top gap I can see that the gap at the bottom is now closed. This was not a surprise, I knew the screw did not protrude far enough to be solely responsible.
RF Guy