FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => Member Projects => Topic started by: mmason on January 04, 2017, 04:46:42 PM
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Last spring I got this idea to build my own flowbench. I new nothing about them so I started reading about them on the internet. I ended up buying the plans from PTS flowbench Technology. He is a retired guy who built his own as a hobby and ended up designing one that he sells the plans for and also makes his own equipment to use with his bench. It is a orifice style flowbench with a digital manometer with a pid motor control for automatically controlling the motor speed.
It took me a couple months to finish it. It was a bit more than I had planned for but I finally finished it and ran a test run. There were a number of things wrong with it and I worked at it for a couple of weeks to try to figure it all out. Electrical problems and software bugs. I almost figured everything out when I ran out of time and had to shelve it because of other projects.
A week ago I went back at it and finally got it running. I did a test run to calibrate it with a test plate. The plate I used was rated at 500 cfm@28". There is a short video of me running the test below. I came pretty close to the 500 mark and I think now I can adjust the software to my Machine. After the test I called my wife and said I wanted her to be the first to know that I got it running. She said "who else could you call to talk about it without their eyes glazing over". Nice.... I also posted a few pictures of it being built. I now have got to get my velocity probe working and build a stand to hold things for flow testing.
I apologize to everyone's eyes in advance.
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/7DA4F46C-F152-453B-8C51-005C1A8E42A1.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/7DA4F46C-F152-453B-8C51-005C1A8E42A1.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/AF83EBE3-1C0E-47CF-AE15-FEA8E6F78A9D.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/AF83EBE3-1C0E-47CF-AE15-FEA8E6F78A9D.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/05964A19-3163-438E-A276-09561B8ABB68.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/05964A19-3163-438E-A276-09561B8ABB68.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/305684EB-B409-417F-BFFA-FB568CEDF561.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/305684EB-B409-417F-BFFA-FB568CEDF561.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/FC468547-17C6-4C02-B1C7-1A4D7B7C03AF.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/FC468547-17C6-4C02-B1C7-1A4D7B7C03AF.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/F1E06BA6-F9FB-4696-931C-71190B9C1D17.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/F1E06BA6-F9FB-4696-931C-71190B9C1D17.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/3257FABC-0993-4699-BBA9-83CCEA72190E.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/3257FABC-0993-4699-BBA9-83CCEA72190E.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/16A618E8-96FF-4109-B482-C3163AC26E9C.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/16A618E8-96FF-4109-B482-C3163AC26E9C.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/6DF89406-459B-4958-A46B-F7FE3480AF63.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/6DF89406-459B-4958-A46B-F7FE3480AF63.jpg.html)
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/86D964E5-872B-47A7-BA04-139E28B28338.jpg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/flow%20bench/flow%20bench%201/86D964E5-872B-47A7-BA04-139E28B28338.jpg.html)
Here is the Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx4q5UyQgCw
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I know nothing of flow benches or really even how they work, but do have a decent wood shop at home. My wife says the only reason I take on projects be it cars, home remodeling or woodworking is so I can add to the tool collection. I must say that is a very cool addition to any collection. Nice job.
Mike
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All of those holes should have a generous radius on them to prevent turbulence and variances in actual airflow. The motors on my SF-600 are actually sealed to the board with RTV to prevent loss of airflow and correct measurements. The wood should non-porous and smooth for the holes so that it will not be affected by humidity. Just a few cautions. You could radius the holes with a quarter-round router bit with 1/2" radius. Only the side away from the vacuum motors needs to have the radius. Joe-JDC
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Thanks for the compliment Mike. Thank you for your input Joe. I will look at every hole and see what I can do. I sealed the motors with a gasket but that was probably a bad idea. I will seal them with RTV.
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Very nice job, Michael! Looks professional. What software are you using?
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That is so awesome. I'm curious, what do you think you have in the homebuilt machine money wise?
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Jay, the software was made by Bruce at PTS. It comes with the equipment he sells. My impression is that it works very well. The only problem with it was that it came to you by downloading four files. The main program, a patch, a upgrade, and finally another patch if I remember right. Then one more program to move what was just installed into the x86 program file.
Drew, I bought all the bells a whistles he sold which came to about $1200. You could save about $600 if you controlled the motors individually and manually. I have eight motors at about $100 each. You could start off with four motors and add more later if needed. To build the box took three 4x8 sheets of boards. Then there was all the miscellaneous things like wire, screws etc. I think if you thought it threw there could be a lot more ways to save. One more thing. He charges $50 for the plans to build it. He gives you the basics for building a flowbenh which you can modify to your needs.
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Sure that is an investment, but compared to buying a SF600 or something that is way mo better.
Plus when I build something I *know* it. Car hobby isn't supposed to be practical anyway, it's fun and keeps us out of trouble.
Thanks for the input and links.
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Mmason, have you gotten to using this yet?
I'm curious as I'll be building one this year and was planning on using the PTS setup.
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Hi Drew, Yes I have used this quit a bit last spring and early summer. It works fine and I am completly happy with it. There is a little bug in the software that comes up once in a while that I can quickly fix. There may be a software update for it but I have not been to the PTS site in a while. Also Bruce at PTS is very helpful working out any problems you may have when building it. I will be using it again come January. Here are a few pictures from mine.
Here is a Medium riser head with no porting and the original hollow stem intake valve at .600 lift
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/E7F05513-213D-4A41-AEE5-10C027FAB68D.jpeg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/E7F05513-213D-4A41-AEE5-10C027FAB68D.jpeg.html)
here is the same head with a unported 427 manifold attached to it.
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/4B2158CD-7430-490E-8C61-2816D84DD29C.jpeg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/4B2158CD-7430-490E-8C61-2816D84DD29C.jpeg.html)
Here is the CHI 3V single plane manifold I am now running
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/8D28A92C-EE71-4ED6-B35B-E5D09328CF3D.jpeg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/8D28A92C-EE71-4ED6-B35B-E5D09328CF3D.jpeg.html)
The CHI 3v duel plane
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/AE80211D-2213-4661-9B6E-C128FCDC0BED.jpeg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/AE80211D-2213-4661-9B6E-C128FCDC0BED.jpeg.html)
and finally my RPM/Dove air gap duel plane which has a flow average of 350.
(http://i704.photobucket.com/albums/ww45/mason427/03DACDBB-4682-422E-8E0F-451CD4EEF149.jpeg) (http://s704.photobucket.com/user/mason427/media/03DACDBB-4682-422E-8E0F-451CD4EEF149.jpeg.html)
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Super cool. Thanks for the update. This is the nest project on my radar, so I've been thinking about it more than that which is healthy. :P
I dunno how many heads I'm going to do, more wanting to gauge improvements I make on carbs.
Great pictures.