I am cutting my last sign tonight, a group of 5 and as I watch the machine cut I had a thought about the Cut Motor....
My Muffler is about shot and was thinking on my options...
I see a few users run the exhaust of the Cut Motor into a dust collection system or down draft. I had a though about all the sparks the Cut Motor Brushes make.... And the thought of sparks getting sucked into the dust collection dust....
This is really a "s t r e a t c h" but last year a Wood Shop on Sawmill Creek had a Sunday Shop Fire after being closed since noon on Saturday. Started in the Dust Collection a day later....
The Cut Motor cooling fan draws air from 2 places. The one I am concerned about is the air sucked into the back of the Cut Motor near the Brushes and the air passes through the Stator and Rotor area and out the muffler.
So far we have all been pretty lucky. I have one motor here that I bought off a user for the case paying the core charge. It had a burnt wire inside and it looks like some windings in the stator shorted causing a increase in current. I measured the Ohms on the Stator and a good one and there was a difference in the bad one. Measured like some turns were shorted. The Wire has a coating that lets them wind the turns on each other.
This is a rare case.... The Stator might have been dropped in the factory.
As our machines age and the brushes get shorter, they spark more...
I am rethinking my Muffler Idea..... I may just make something like a metal can with a metal mesh screen.... Like a Kitchen Exhaust Fan uses....
May be over thinking this but I would re evaluate dumping the muffler into a dust collection....
Notice all that nice inside the cut motor....
When I do my Wall Mount for 2 of my machines, I am going to mount the Cut Motor outside the machine above the machine on a wall bracket. I will Exhaust it outside through the wall. It will just take extending the wires for the Cut Motor Power and Motor RPM Sensor. I will mount the motor 90 degrees from the way it is now so there will be less stress on the Flex Drive.
Just my 2 Cents....
AL