How to Select a Vacuum Blower
December 8, 2011 at 3:31 pm | Vacuum Table,
Our vacuum tables can be plumbed with any model or size vacuum blower. Even if you decide to build your own table, you are still welcome to purchase vacuum blowers from Carlson Design. You will need to select a vacuum blower or blowers that meet both your building’s power requirements and can secure your material during plotting/cutting. To start — 3 phase power blowers are more powerful, efficient, and cost effective. Unless your building only has single phase power available (no big deal!) or you are working on a smaller vacuum table (12′ long or shorter), then we recommend a 3phase blower. If you only have access to single phase, you can plumb your table with multiple 1HP or 1.5HP single phase blowers. This is common in older facilities.
Most applications call for one 3HP or 5HP, 3phase, radial blower. For porous material (sail shade, fiberglass, etc…) or multi-ply cutting, it may be necessary to use multiple blowers, larger regenerative blowers, and/or require you vacuum bag your material with thin plastic sheeting.
Our radial blowers are high-volume, medium-pressure blowers. If you cover your table with non porous material and create a good vacuum seal, it requires very little vacuum to secure your material. Drag blades can shift material during cutting, especially with thicker material — for certain applications it may be necessary to use larger vacuum blowers to secure your material. For one-off or custom projects requiring a lot of vacuum, we recommend our Mini-Vacuum Blowers. They are inexpensive and provide a lot of suction for low cost– unfortunately they only last for 500hrs and are loud — if you need a lot of suction all the time, you probably need a regenerative blower.
See our industry guide and material cutting guide for help choosing the right vacuum blower for your application. When in doubt, feel free to contact Carlson Design, and remember you can never have too much vacuum.
Available Sizes: 1/3HP, 1HP, 1.5HP, 3HP, 5HP
Best Application: 1.5HP blowers best when 3phase power is not available
Strengths: Single phase blowers are inexpensive and relatively quiet. Adding additional blowers is easy if needed
Weaknesses: For best vacuum, requires a good seal. Not powerful enough for porous or heavier material
Available Sizes: 3HP, 5HP, 7HP
Best Application: Porous material or multi-ply custting
Strengths: Very powerful and efficient
Weaknesses: High price and requires 3phase power
Available Sizes: 0.7HP
Strengths: Inexpensive. High volume and lots of suction
Weaknesses: Loud. 500HR average life
Plumbing and Overhead cabling included with table purchase. Cutting surface sold separately. We recommend using flexible plumbing for most applications, however regenerative blowers require hard PVC plumbing.
