13 Dec 2003, 23:01, Greg Easthom (1:153/7715), wrote to Charles Angelich:

Hi Greg.

 GE>  You can also cut out the entire PS grill area
 GE> to boost the flow, and find an old XT-era thin-wire grill, or 
 GE> make one out of that "hardware cloth" stuff (1/4"
square mesh) to 
 GE> keep little fingers out of the external fan.

That's exactly what I had to do with my 3Hp compressor just last month.  I
was doing some sandblasting, and the compressor kept shutting down.  When I
gave up for the night, I studied the compressor and found the fan grille in
the motor shroud was about 2" smaller diameter than the fan itself.  

I cut the shroud grille out completely, and left a hole about 1/4"
larger than the fan.  Next day, it ran 8 hours continuous without a single
hangup.  I _am_ considering that hardware cloth solution to keep rags,
tools, fingers and whatever out of the fan.

Back to the subject though, those PSs with the fan grille stamped in them
can easily block 50% of the airflow.  It's rather simple to compare the
width of the punched out 'slots' to the width of the 'support metal' to see
how much space is blocked.    :-((

The ones with the wire grills _are_ much better, and usually quieter.


     Good luck...  M.

--- Msged/386 TE 06 (pre)