Removing impeller form Harbor Freight DC

[Larry Blighton]

I purchased a Harbor Freight dust collector and intend to upgrade the impeller. I am having a serious issue getting the stock impeller off. I have never done this before and do not want to mess up the impeller (incase I need it for later) or the shaft. I purchased a set of gear pullers and still cold not get it to come off. Any suggestions.

[Bill Dufour]

Remove the setscrew and look inside to see if there is another one under the one you removed. HF, I doubt they went to the trouble and expense. Pry only on the boss not the fan blades. Can you slip angle iron between the fan backside and motor? A little heat will help. Not over 200F or less. Do not overheat the bearing grease. A CO2 extingusher or paintball gun can help with a short masked burst to the shaft only.
Bil lD.

[Steve Fish]

See if you can rent or borrow a puller with the slide hammer from the local auto parts store if it’s really stuck on there.as Bill said. Make sure that all the set screws are out or you will really bugger it up with the slide hammer. I’ve had to remove impellers from leaf vacuumes which are very similar in design with this method. I would set the machine with the shaft up for a few days and use several doses of penetration oil before I started hammering on it. Best of luck

[Steven Cooper2]

Have you run it as is?

I can think of numerous other things to upgrade before the impeller. I run this unit and a chip separator and its not bad. Plumbing and all of that will likely have a much larger effect on system performance until something substantially bigger comes along (<factor of 2 instead of 30%)

Bigger impeller means more load on the motor which may lead to overheating and breaker tripping.

[Jim Dwight]

I do not believe the Rikon impeller usually used to upgrade the HF will hurt it but I agree with the logic of trying the unmodified DC first. That is what I am doing, at least with respect to the impeller. I installed the motor and blower on top of a super dust deputy on the wall of my little shop. It discharges outside. So I modified it for the setup (and I would not use it with the stock bags) but not for impeller. I still might install the impeller some day but it seems to work fine. I need to get a particle meter and see how it is really doing.

Increase in airflow is more like 8 per cent from what I got out of a youtube where the guy tested. I probably gained at least that much by using 5 inch snap lock piping instead of 4 inch PVC. But even my runs to my jointer and planner using a long piece of flexible are working fine, at least for chip collection.

[Mike Weaver]

As others said, once the set screw is out, it should come off with a gear puller (pulling on the hub).

Seems to me mine took a little force to get started but popped off without too much trouble.

While the rikon impeller isn’t the only upgrade, it’ll definitely help.

I also opened the inlet to 6” (riveted on new takeoff - no clearance for bolts) and have it atop an Oneida SDD to eliminate as much inefficiency as possible.

Best of luck to you!

-Mike

[Jim Dwight]

I also upgraded the inlet to the blower of my HF to six inches and I transition the outlet to six inches. I heated the inlet to the super dust deputy to make it fit the 6 inch outlet of the HF blower (with a heat gun).

[Frank Pratt]

Does anyone know what the impeller upgrade does to the motor current? Seems like either the motor is undersized for the original motor, or the new impeller will soon burn out the motor.

[David L Morse]

Does anyone know what the impeller upgrade does to the motor current? Seems like either the motor is undersized for the original motor, or the new impeller will soon burn out the motor.

Yes, I do:

https://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=420094&d=1574452046

I can also show you the temperature rise versus current:

https://sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=420095&d=1543956975

How soon that will burn out the motor depends upon the insulation rating of the motor. Anybody want to guess? It's not on the nameplate. There is no nameplate.

[Frank Pratt]

How soon that will burn out the motor depends upon the insulation rating of the motor. Anybody want to guess? It's not on the nameplate. There is no nameplate.

Thanks David. So the FLA is a mystery? How can they sell something with no nameplate?

[David L Morse]

Thanks David. So the FLA is a mystery? How can they sell something with no nameplate?

They're not selling a motor. It's an appliance that happens to include a motor. Your dishwasher has a motor but there's no nameplate on the motor.

Compliance with the NEMA MG-1 standard is voluntary. There are no regulatory requirements to have a NEMA compliant nameplate as far as I know.