What you are bidding on is a DVD Demo of the Dust Hopper in action.
We know that EVERYONE who has seen the Dust Hopper in Operation has purchased a Dust Hopper and taken it home with them, that day.
We know you can't all come to Texas. So we are going to make a Demo DVD and selling the Dust Hopper DEMO DVD's.
Photos:
#1 to #3 is Dust Hopper #47. The first Powder Coated unit done. It is pretty, no doubt about it.
#4 to #9 Is Dust Hopper #42. That's our first shipped KIT and the First one sold without a live Demo. Both Dust Hopper and owner are doing well in New Jersey. John also built and installed his Dust Hopper faster than we could get him the instructions. Well Done John. You can see on this unit what we call the skirts. They help or stop what we call "BLOW OFF" from the top of the table, on 2 sides only.
#10 to #12 Is Dust Hopper #9. it was one of the first 11 made for testing. It's going to be removed and updated to a Version #3 (except for the chute base will be the Version #1) next week after we do the Demo DVD. We are selling this one and replacing it with a powder coated Super Dust Hopper Test unit #S-1.
Version #1 are units 1 to 11 they were and are test units.
Version #2 are units 12 to 36 they had a rubber boot added to the 4" PVC pipe and the chute base was changed.
Version #3 are units 36 to current, they had the parts catcher support changed to handle 3/8 or larger steel drop.
Version #3A We are testing, on #9, attaching a dust collector motor to the dust hopper and then exhausting it outside, this will reduce the cost of having to buy a dust collector. We think it will also increase the performance of the air flow. With NO changes to the Dust Hopper itself.
Version #4 The Super Dust Hopper. We have been asked to build 5 Super Dust Hoppers for cutting galvanized steel. This Super Dust Hopper will require some changes to the standard Dust Hopper. Galvanized Steel gives off a toxic fume when welded or cut with a plasma torch. OSHA has stuck their noses into plasma cutting.
If you have a PlasmaCam and you have cut 1 sheet of steel you know about plasma dust and smoke. This is NOT a PlasmaCam problem it's a plasma cutting problem. We have tried exhaust fans, 2 water tables, with and without exhaust hoods. Still, we have plasma dust all over the place.
Equipment failures: We have had from plasma dust: 4 computers, 5 keyboards, 3 monitors, FAU ( Heat & Air), 1 air composure motor, 3 radio CD players, we have had to have our gas generator cleaned out 3 times. Then there's the never ending cleaning of welders, plasma cutters ETC. Anything with a magnet or electrical motor needs cleaned out all the time. Last but not least, we could not have customers in the shop because of plasma dust.
Equipment Failures after a Dust Hopper was installed: NONE TO DATE & NONE REPORTED TO DATE BY OTHER OWNERS (1st Dust Hopper was installed in October of 2007) I've cut well over 300 sheets of 12GA to 20GA and have not cleaned out a welder or plasma cutter after the Dust Hopper was installed.
At one of the live Demo's I told the buyer I was sorry the shop was so dirty but that we had done 2 runs of dust hoppers ( 8 units, 27 sheets per run) plus had cut 1 other sheet and had not cleaned up yet. They told me that their shop was dirtier after 3 sheets than mine was and we cut 55 sheets.
Health problems: We tried dust masks, they work great until you take the mask off and see all the plasma dust under your nose. Of course when you blow your nose you can figure out where the plasma dust is going, INTO YOUR LUNGS. Plasma dust is unhealthy, there's no doubt about it.
Health problems after Dust Hopper was installed: NO dust mask, NO plasma dust under or IN the nose.
Water tables help but they are a mess. Just for fun take an air hose and hold it about 1 foot off the ground (the distance between the tip of the plasma torch and the water) and shoot a quick blast of air at the ground. It rolls the dust back up into the air. The problem is that you are shooting a stream of air from the plasma cutter tip under the steel you are cutting and it hits the water and some of the light plasma dust is being forced or blown out from under the steel into the shop.
So to control the plasma dust you MUST control the air. Your plasma cutter is shooting a stream of air under the steel you're cutting at about 75 PSI. If you can not catch that air and control it you have plasma dust being blown into your shop/air.
For fun get a large trash bag and air hose with an air chuck . Put the bag over your arm. point your hand and air chuck up in the air (with the bottom of the bag opened up) and give a very quick blast of air. The bag goes to the ceiling (this is almost the same thing that happens with a water table). So what is the air under the steel your cutting doing ? The same as the air you shot at the ground, it's rolling the dust back up into the your shop. To control the plasma dust you MUST control the air under the steel you're cutting.
The Dust Hopper unit itself works much like a cyclone dust collector, most of the plasma dust (about 95%) drops to the bottom of the chute and a grain hopper to clean the plasma dust out. The performance of the Dust Hopper is totally limited by the amount of air it's able to draw through it. With a 1600 CFM dust collector you get almost all the plasma dust, and very little smoke gets away from the table. You will get more plasma dust around your shop from cutting 1 sheet of steel than we get from cutting 25 sheets of steel with the Dust Hopper
The people who purchased #47 saw the demo and said, about, that their place would have been filled with smoke if they would have cut what we did in the demo. Plus the shop would have been filled with smoke well after they stopped cutting.
A 1600 CFM dust collector should move a 4'X4'X100' column of air every minute. The real world numbers of the dust collectors is that it moves about 50% of the rated CFM, so 1600 CFM is really 800 CFM. We are able to get better performance with our dust collector motor because we are able to remove some of the restrictions, like the dust bags.
We have 1 primed and assembled Dust Hopper left from the last batch, #53. We will be starting another batch soon.
The primed kit version, Boxed and ready to ship will be $1,349.00 Plus shipping. From here to LA or New Jersey shipping is about $400.00.
The primed assembled version will also be $1,349.00 For pickup only, NO crate.
You can check with your powder coater about cost, our powder coater charges us $450.00 each to blast and powder coat.
The Assembled Powder Coated version will be $1,799.00 for pick-up only. (add 5 days for pick-up time for the powder coating.) We probably will do a shipped version but we are a little short on time right now. We will need to wrap or protect the powder coating. We'll get it figured out.
Dust Hopper #9 will be for sale as a remanufactured unit spray painted and upgrades to Version #3 (rubber boot & parts catcher) except for the chute base. It works just fine with the old base, it's just faster to build with the Version #2 base. We are going to attach a dust collector motor to #9. So it will include the dust collector motor. All you will need to do is plumb the exhaust outside. Price not set on Dust Hopper #9 yet.
The Super Dust Hopper, ( est. $7,500 to 10,000 ) No price yet.
For information about what is included or any questions please feel free to email in2plasma@yahoo.com put "question" in the subject line of your email.
When thinking about purchasing the DVD DEMO just remember that EVERYONE who has seen the Dust Hopper in operation has purchased a Dust Hopper on the spot. View with caution or you'll be a Dust Hopper owner too!!!
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