For these kinds of projects, I have found the perfect blower motor fan thingy. They're available everyday everywhere for next to nothing. Drum roll please...
Look on your local yard sale marketplace bulletin board and find a clothes dryer with a heating problem. It doesn't matter whether the thing is electric or gas, they use the same ultra durable blower. Depending on brand / design, the blower may be self-contained or have a housing that mounts separately. Either way, it's not a big deal, because the cabinet usually acts as the thing that keeps everything lined up. I bet anyone, given a few days of random hunting, can find one for around 20 bucks or less. For the scavenger types, they litter the dumps and scrap yards everywhere. While you're dropping off all the waste metal, throw one in the empty truck bed. The whole thing might weigh 5 bucks.
The fans and motors in these units are made to live a long life of blowing hot, dusty, linty air through a long lossy pipe. With 15 feet of corrugated or flex hose, they do around 200 to 250 CFM. 4 or 5 hundred CFM is not uncommon with a short smooth run. The only thing I don't like about these things is that they are not variable speed. They have a built-in centrifugal start / run switch, so once they drop below a certain RPM, they switch to start. Not good for longevity.
|